The Mapmaker's Daughter (Thomas the Falconer) - Hardcover

John Pilkington is an award-winning dramatist for both the stage and radio. He is also a scriptwriter for the daytime soap Doctors.

*Starred Review* Although his first love is falconry, Thomas the Falconer also enjoys sleuthing. His master, Sir Robert Vicary, allows and even encourages the falconer's amateur detecting. When the body of a laborer is found in a burned-out barn following a fire at a nearby farm, it at first appears the man died in the blaze. Soon, however, Thomas realizes that the victim was dead before the fire started. The cause? Severe poisoning. But who would want to kill a lowly laborer and why? As Thomas puzzles over the case, another murder occurs, again by poisoning. When a third murder follows, the village panics, fearing a plague or God's vengeance. His investigation takes him into the past and a single cataclysmic event that evolved into a chilling plot for revenge. Fortunately, Thomas' fine intuition and careful analysis of the facts help him solve the case and uncover both the chilling motive and the deadly murderer. Pilkington's latest takes this long-running and popular series to a new level. It is rich in period ambience, with authentic-sounding dialogue and realistic descriptions of the customs and mores of sixteenth-century England. The plot is intriguing and offers plenty of page-turning suspense, and the character of Thomas is richer and more fully developed than in past episodes. A good series steps up. Emily Melton
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