The Purity of Blood

A woman has been found strangled in a sedan chair in front of a church. In her hand is a pouch containing fifty escudos and a handwritten - but unsigned - note bearing the words "For masses for her soul". Chief Constable Martin Saldana confides in his old friend and comrade-in-arms, Diego Alatriste. Still in danger from the powerful enemies he made in his first adventure, Captain Alatriste is now considering a return to Flanders where war has just resumed. But first, his old friend, the poet Quevedo, asks him for a favour. The daughter of one of his acquaintances must be rescued from a convent, where two powerful priests are seducing the young women in their charge. It is a dangerous mission, but for a man who lives by his sword, there is no choice but to fight...