Time, March 1913. Place, at Salzburg. The King Otto I of Albania is admitted to a lunatic asylum.
The tale begins in Constantinople in October 1912, on the eve of the First Balkan War, when Albania declared itself independent after 400 years of Ottoman occupation. As chance would have it, Otto Witte – actor, salon-artiste and conman – bears a striking resemblance to Prince Halim Eddine, one of the Sultan’s nephews, tipped in diplomatic circles as an acceptable if outside contender to ascend the new throne.
Assisted by his sword-swallowing travelling companion Max Hoffmann and Ismail Arzim, a friend in the Turkish military high command, he stages his audacious coup, bluffing his way through the enemy lines to Tirana in Albania and stepping in boldly to fill the royal power vacuum. His reign lasts for five days until the swindle is uncovered – by which time he has survived an assassination attempt, mobilised an army to oust Serbian and Montenegrin intruders, and set up his own harem. When his luck deserts him he runs for his life, is arrested at the Austrian border without any papers, and is eventually consigned to the Salzburg lunatic asylum.
An absorbing picaresque novel, based upon a true story.

Andreas Izquierdo

was born in Euskirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, in 1968. He grew up as the son of an engineer and a Spanish nurse. After graduating from high school he moved to Cologne to study. Later he worked in a publishing house specializing in books on sport. Today Izquierdo works as a freelance author in Cologne and is a member of an association of crime fiction authors called Syndikat. Recently his work »King of Albania« received the Sir Walter Scott Award 2008 for Best Historical Novel.

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