One Head Too Many

Master of Defense #2

by Peter Tonkin

Book by Tonkin, Peter

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, 16th Century

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

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

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the middle of a football game, the pig's bladder used as a ball comes to be replaced by a woman's severed head, turning up seemingly out of nowhere. Shortly after, Tom Musgrave and his friend Talbot Law discover a woman's headless body - but it doesn't match the head that was the original subject of their investigation. And then there's the coded message hinting at a conspiracy to commit murder that may or may not be related to the beheaded women...

Never a dull moment with these books. An atmospheric historical mystery that comes with plenty of twists.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

1594, while Tom Musgrave is rescuing a girl from a mob of apprentices playing football, the ball is replaced by a head. With his old friend Talbot Law, the Bishop's Bailiff they investiage the crime.
An enjoyable mystery.

[Peter Barrass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoying these books

[Voirrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another adventure for Tom Musgrove, Master of Defence. Another thickly detailed tapestry of characters starring, in particular, the London of the later years of the reign of Elizabeth the First; for Peter Tonkin writes in such a way that the reader can see, hear, smell and taste the world in which the characters live... and die.

I do love some of these characters - with their split loyalties, suspect loyalties, and changing web of who reports to who, and who is, or is not, in favour at court. I must admit that, after Tom, my personal favourite is Thomas Wolsingham, although I cannot quite say why!