The Silent Murder

Master of Defense #4

by Peter Tonkin

Peter Tonkin
London, 1595.

The Master of Defence Tom Musgrave rushes to the aid of a young messenger, the victim of a sudden, apparently unprovoked attack in the street outside his house.

In the dead boy’s possession Tom finds a bloodied letter intended for his eyes only.

And he manages to piece together a worrying message.

The missive contains a desperate cry for help from the beautiful Countess Cotehel, who is mute as a result of a terrible trauma.

Then a second body is found – belonging to another of the Countess’s servants.

When a horribly mutilated portrait of the Countess also turns up, Tom realises that she is in grave danger.

Tom and his apprentice rush to her aid, following her to the gloomy Castle of Cotehel in Cornwall, only to find that discovering who is threatening her, and why, is far more difficult than they’d supposed…

‘The Silent Murder’ is the thrilling fourth instalment of Peter Tonkin’s ‘Master of Defence’ series, featuring the Elizabethan sleuth and sword-master Tom Musgrave.

“Love, lust and Elizabethan politics enliven Tonkin’s briskly paced puzzle…” - Kirkus Reviews

“Everything a fan of historical mysteries could hope for” - Kirkus Reviews

“Riveting tale full of fast action” - Publishers Weekly

Peter Tonkin was born in Northern Ireland, and was raised in the UK, Holland, Germany, and the Persian Gulf. He has written thirty novels including ‘The Point of Death’ and ‘The Coffin Ship’.

Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

Genres: 16th Century, Historical Fiction

235 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Peter Tonkin's first novel, KILLER, was published in 1978. His work has included the acclaimed "Mariner" series that have been critically compared with the best of Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes.

More recently he has been working on a series of detective thrillers with an Elizabethan background. This series, "The Master of Defense", has been characterised as 'James Bond meets Sherlock Holmes meets William Shakespeare'. Each story is a classic 'whodunit' with all the clues presented to the reader exactly as they are presented to the hero, Tom Musgrave. The Kirkus Review described them as having 'Elizabethan detail, rousing action sequences, sound detection...everything a fan of historical mysteries could hope for."

Reviews

[Voirrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

My only problem with this book is that there are no more in the series - at least as yet...

Tom has an apprentice - and what an apprentice! And we revisit the characters and story of the first book in the series.

I cannot say for sure that the description of Cornwall is as good as that of the borders - but knowing how good the 'feel' of the borders was in the third book of the series I would think it is - it certainty feels right to me. And the story fits well into the history of the period, especially with regards to the Earl of Essex.

I would dearly like to know if the note in the last pages is ever delivered - and what the recipient thought of it.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

1595 On the body of a dead messenger Tom Musgrave finds a letter addressed to him asking for help from Lady Margaret, Countess Cotehel. On the discovery of another body, Musgrave and his apprentice Ben Jonson follow her trail to the Castle of Cotehel in Cornwall. But is the situation as simple as they first thought.
An entertaining and well-written historical mystery with its likeable main characters. Another good addition to the series.

[ELzabeth Livingstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.

As with previous adventures the storyline and characters never fails to keep the reader involved. The introduction of the wordplay and other articles of defence are fascinating.

[Brian William Noyce · Rating 1 out of 5]

Slow reading

Had to read paragraphs over because of the pros, old fashioned language not my cup of tea. Will not read more.

[Peter Barrass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read n I,ve got another

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this so difficult to get into. I couldn't get past the first five chapters or so. The language, although I presuming trying to be evocative of the time is clunky and forced. Every other paragraph is littered with a shoehorned classical reference that just sounds odd rather than clever... I wasn't even intrigued enough by the mystery to carry. This could have been good, a Elizabethan Sherlock Holmes, but fails - dramatically.

[MRS V JOHNSON · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

I found this quite thrilling but did get a little caught up in all the descriptive narrative and struggled to visualise the action.