Reverte-Pérez Books

The fifth novel in the adventures of Captain Alatriste, a seventeenth-century swashbuckler and "a twenty-first-century literary phenomenon." ( Entertainment Weekly ) In the cosmopolitan world of seventeenth-century Madrid, captain Alatriste and his protégé Íñigo are fish out of water. But the king is determined to keep Alatriste on retainer-regardless of whether his "employment" brings the captain uncomfortably close to old enemies. Alatriste begins an affair with the famous and beautiful actress, María Castro, but soon discovers that the cost of her favors may be more than he bargained for-especially when he and Íñigo become unwilling participants in a court conspiracy that could lead them both to the gallows . . .

The clue to a murder in the art world of contemporary Madrid lies hidden in a medieval painting of a game of chess. In 20th-century Madrid, Julia, a picture restorer preparing the painting for auction, uncovers a hidden inscription in Latin that points to the crime: Quis necavit equitem?

The second swashbuckling adventure in the internationally acclaimed Captain Alatriste series Captain Alatriste, Madrid’s most charismatic swashbuckler, returns in Perez-Reverte’s acclaimed international bestseller. The fearless Alatriste is hired to infiltrate a convent and rescue a young girl forced to serve as a powerful priest’s concubine. The girl’s father is barred from legal recourse as the priest threatens to reveal that the man’s family is “not of pure blood” and is, in fact, of Jewish descent—which will all but destroy the family name. As Alatriste struggles to save the young hostage from being burned at the stake, he soon finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a conspiracy that leads all the way to the heart of the Spanish Inquisition. A literary thriller that delivers adventure and rich historical detail, Purity of Blood captivates to the final page.

On the eve of the Revolution of 1868, old-fashioned gentleman and master of fencing, Jaime Astarloa, is above the rumours of political exploit and the Queen's love life. But even he is distracted when mysterious, beautiful young Adela arrives at his door and asks him to take her on as a pupil.

The third in the bestselling Captain Alatriste series.

Murderous goings-on in a tiny church draw the Vatican into the dark heart of Seville.

Intense and turbulent, this is a book about war, love and the human capacity for both violence and empathy. It asks very profound questions about human nature and the role of the artists, but it also has the intensity of a psychological thriller as the painter trades stories with the man who has come to kill him.