Living by the sword

In the fencing master's house, one had only to close the shutters in order for time to stop in its tracks.

Arturo Perez-Reverte, The Fencing Master

In a mystery-suspense novel about a man who teaches fencing, you know that sooner or later the fencing is going to be for real. Arturo Perez-Reverte does not disappoint in The Fencing Master, one of his earliest and best novels (1988).

Don Jaime, a man of advanced middle age, is a respected fencing master in Madrid in 1868, a time when a sword is no longer the weapon of choice. Fencing is being seen more as a sport or a physical fitness routine than as means of self-defense or the way to settle matters of honor. He misses the old days, but continues to teach a few students.

These are restless times in Spain as talk of rebellion against the queen is heard on the streets and in the cafes. Don Jaime has little interest in all that.

Then he gets an unexpected pupil, a beautiful woman, already skilled in fencing, who asks him to teach her a certain maneuver he has taught only a few, a dangerous but usually effective way to decide a fight with another skilled opponent. With some reluctance, for as a traditionalist Don Jaime believes swordsmanship is a man's business, he agrees. She is, after all, very beautiful.

When he introduces her to another of his students, he loses her to him. Then that man is found dead, a victim of a wound from a sword like what would result from the trick Don Jaime taught the woman. He doesn't tell the police, but suspects she might be the killer. That is, until a woman's body is recovered and identified as the woman in question.

From there the plot moves along at a fast pace, culminating in the most exciting sword fight not found in The Princess Bride.