The Elusive Pimpernel is a historical espionage novel. In September 1793 Frenchagent and chief spy-catcher Chauvelin journeys to England as an official representative of the French government tasked with looking after the interests of French citizens, but this is only a cover and his real task is to trick Sir Percy Blakeney into returning to France, where he can be apprehended and put to the guillotine...