The Mapmaker's Daughter (Thomas the Falconer)
Pilkington's fourth Thomas the Falconer mystery (after 2004'sThe Ramage Hawk) lightens up on the medieval peasant lingo that was sometimes confusing in earlier efforts, resulting in a trim and compact whodunit set in rural Elizabethan England. Terror "spreads far and wide" across Berkshire Downs as one after another tradesman is struck with a sudden violent illness causing vomiting, bleeding and death. On the fringe of Chaddleworth village are numerous suspicious characters: vagabond mapmaker Christopher Mead and his comely daughter, Grace, and showman-magician Paulo Schweiz with his flamboyant assistant, Kit Page, and performing ape. At his master's request, Thomas Finbow, veteran falconer and sometime sleuth, tries to find out who or what is doing the killing, but he's repeatedly distracted by problems with his wayward daughter and demanding mistress. There's a lot to learn about 16th-century country life in this neatly written tale, including the details of sport falconry and of diverting evenings at cozy pubs like Chaddleworth's Black Bear. Conjuror Paulo's spectacular sound-and-light show,Mundus Peregrinus, is a high point for both the local folk and the reader.(Mar.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.