Purity of Blood (2006)

Fans of Arturo Pérez-Reverte will dive eagerly into the second of his Captain Alatriste novels (a five-book series already published to enormous acclaim in the author's native Spain). Filled with fabulous historical detail, the thriller follows Alatriste, a 17th-century mercenary from Madrid who is hired to free Elvira de la Cruz from a convent that a priest, ''a pervert,'' has transformed into ''his private seraglio.'' In between the flash and clanging of swordplay and the acrid bursts of fire from harquebuses, Alatriste, with the assistance of the famous Spanish poet Francisco de Quevedo, navigates the perilous dungeons and courtyards of Inquisition-era Madrid. Purity of Blood is absolutely riveting from beginning to end.