The Fencing Master - Arturo Perez-Reverte

In Madrid, in 1868, Don Jaime, fencing master and anachronistic man of honor, is working on his Treatise on the Art of Fencing. One day he is approached by a mysterious woman who seeks to learn the secret of "the unstoppable thrust," a supreme moment at the very heart of the art of fencing. All too soon he finds himself in the vortex of a plot that includes seduction, secret political documents, and more than one murder. Rich in historical detail of a decaying world that agonizes-as does fencing itself-over the ideals of honor and chivalry, The Fencing Master is superb literature and a true page-turner.