Pierre Benoit (1886–1962) is a French writer and a member of the Académie française (1931). The setting of Benoit’s adventurous—action novels ranges from the chambers of Versailles to the expanses of North America, from the jungles of Indochina to the deserts of Africa. Dynamic and built on exotic material, they are distinguished by psychological depth, eroticism, and mysticism. The second volume includes the novels “Koenigsmark,” “The Road of the Giants,” “For Don Carlos,” and “The Salt Lake.”