In "The Fate of a Crown", Baum wrote an adventure novel that combines elements of political intrigue, melodrama, and mystery story. He set the book in Brazil in 1889, during the revolution that brought the Empire of Brazil to its end. Baum chose the rather daring strategy of including major historical figures of the period, Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca, Floriano Peixoto, and even Emperor Pedro II, as characters in his fiction. (This may have been an additional good reason for releasing the novel under a pen name.)