"The grimmer aspects of Elizabethan London come alive in Peter Tonkin's . . . Master of Defence series" Publishers Weekly
Peter Tonkin's bestselling Elizabethan murder mystery novels The Point of Death, A Head for Murder, A Midwinter Murder and The Silent Murder featuring sleuth and sword master Tom Musgrave are collected together in a single volume.
The Point of Death
London, 1594. The opening night of 'Romeo and Juliet'.
Mercutio is found murdered in the middle of the play - but it is real, not stage, blood that flows from his body.
Tom Musgrove, is hired by the theatre owners to solve the murder case as quickly and quietly as possible.
As Tom plunges into the mean streets of Elizabethan London he soon realises he has jumped blindly into a web of murderous intrigue, which has already claimed the lives of Kit Marlowe and Francis Walsingham.
A Head for Murder
London 1594.
Tom Musgrave rescues a beautiful girl from under the feet of a mob playing football on London Bridge.
But her breathless thanks are drowned by horrified screams. The football has vanished.
In its place, a severed head is rolling down into Southwark, into the jurisdiction of Tom's old friend, the Bishop's Bailiff Talbot Law.
The skull has fallen from the Great Stone Gateway, where the heads of recently executed traitors are displayed. But the decapitated victim was no traitor and her head, like her sex, is markedly different from the others up there.
Tom and Talbot begin their investigation with a search down-river. All too swiftly they discover a woman's headless body....But this body does not match the head.
A killer is at work. And no one knows where they will strike next.
A Midwinter Murder
Christmas 1594.
Tom is called away from the dress rehearsal of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' to receive terrible news: his brother John has been found dead, frozen with terror in the branches of a tree.
Rumour has it that the Barguest, a mythical monstrous hound, is loose on the Scottish Borders . . .
Tom rides north to investigate - only to find himself embroiled in a dark, deadly political conspiracy, where even his swordsmanship and logic may not help him...
The Silent Murder
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...
Praise for Peter Tonkin
"A good thriller, recommended" - Library Journal
'Tonkin is a superb storyteller who creates big, brash, swashbuckling adventures with taut suspense, fast-paced action and tough, resourceful characters.' Booklist
"A welcome aura of old-fashioned expertise" - Publishers Weekly
Genre: Historical Mystery
Peter Tonkin's bestselling Elizabethan murder mystery novels The Point of Death, A Head for Murder, A Midwinter Murder and The Silent Murder featuring sleuth and sword master Tom Musgrave are collected together in a single volume.
The Point of Death
London, 1594. The opening night of 'Romeo and Juliet'.
Mercutio is found murdered in the middle of the play - but it is real, not stage, blood that flows from his body.
Tom Musgrove, is hired by the theatre owners to solve the murder case as quickly and quietly as possible.
As Tom plunges into the mean streets of Elizabethan London he soon realises he has jumped blindly into a web of murderous intrigue, which has already claimed the lives of Kit Marlowe and Francis Walsingham.
A Head for Murder
London 1594.
Tom Musgrave rescues a beautiful girl from under the feet of a mob playing football on London Bridge.
But her breathless thanks are drowned by horrified screams. The football has vanished.
In its place, a severed head is rolling down into Southwark, into the jurisdiction of Tom's old friend, the Bishop's Bailiff Talbot Law.
The skull has fallen from the Great Stone Gateway, where the heads of recently executed traitors are displayed. But the decapitated victim was no traitor and her head, like her sex, is markedly different from the others up there.
Tom and Talbot begin their investigation with a search down-river. All too swiftly they discover a woman's headless body....But this body does not match the head.
A killer is at work. And no one knows where they will strike next.
A Midwinter Murder
Christmas 1594.
Tom is called away from the dress rehearsal of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' to receive terrible news: his brother John has been found dead, frozen with terror in the branches of a tree.
Rumour has it that the Barguest, a mythical monstrous hound, is loose on the Scottish Borders . . .
Tom rides north to investigate - only to find himself embroiled in a dark, deadly political conspiracy, where even his swordsmanship and logic may not help him...
The Silent Murder
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...
Praise for Peter Tonkin
"A good thriller, recommended" - Library Journal
'Tonkin is a superb storyteller who creates big, brash, swashbuckling adventures with taut suspense, fast-paced action and tough, resourceful characters.' Booklist
"A welcome aura of old-fashioned expertise" - Publishers Weekly
Genre: Historical Mystery
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