Peter Tonkin graduated from The Queen’s University, Belfast in 1975 having studied under Prof Rev W L Warren (History), Seamus Heaney and Alexander McCall Smith (English). He published his first novel, Killer, to international acclaim in 1978. He then divided his time between writing, teaching (English, History, Media, Philosophy, Classics and Law) and examining (A Level Law for the Oxford & Cambridge board).
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He has published 30 novels in the Mariner series of action-adventure-thrillers. He then moved on to the Master of Defence series of six murder mysteries set during the reign of Elizabeth I. Since retiring from full-time teaching, he has also written the Caesar’s Spies series of five thrillers set in Ancient Rome, covering the period between the death of Caesar and the death of Brutus.
He is currently working on the Trojan Murders series, which began with Beware of Greeks followed by the recently released Vengeance at Aulis, the third volume of which The Anger of Achilles will be his 50th published book. These are closely based on the legends surrounding the Trojan War and seek to recreate the stories as mystery-thrillers with exciting and realistic characters, setting and action but without the interference of the gods and goddesses which people the more contemporary versions of Homer and other giants of ancient Greek literature.
In many ways I came to writing historical novels late in my literary career; strangely so, for I have always been fascinated by history. The first book I ever wanted to never end was Carola Oman’s Robin Hood the Prince of Outlaws. A little later, a childhood accident put me in hospital for 6 ...
‘A hit!’ The referee’s judgement echoes round the room as the ringing clash of the rapier blades dies.
Tom Musgrave disengages and steps back along the fencing piste, out of the wide measure called larga misura where his opponent’s rapier could still reach him with a lunge but his dagger could
The Roman
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‘Roman Liburnian!’ called the lookout.Captain Barzan of the Cilician pirate trireme Thalassa looked up, saw the direction of the pointing arm and the sleek Roman vessel it was indicating. He turned to the helmsman, ‘Come two points south. We can catch him before he ...
In Peter Tonkin’s new novel, the third instalment of The Trojan Murders series, Odysseus greets King Euenos and asks, “Do you remember me?” The answer is yes. This is a world we are familiar with, a well-trod path through history and literature. But using this beloved setting as backdrop to ...
Sons of Rome by Simon Turney and Gordon Doherty.The first thing that strikes the reader at the outset of this masterful novel is that two distinct voices narrate it. Not only are these the voices of the two protagonists Maxentius and Constantine, friends in boyhood, foes as men—both ...
There is a possibly apocryphal story about the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. It goes like this. Someone congratulated Rowan Atkinson about his portrayal of Mr Bean bumbling about amidst the antics of the parachuting Queen and the visitation of James Bond. But Rowan Atkinson was ...
Peter Tonkin proves again there is much to explore within the dramatic reign of Queen Elizabeth I. His first novel in The Queen’s Intelligencer series, Shadow of the Axe, focuses on the fascinating events that led to the Essex Rebellion of 1601, and the rival factions of Robert Cecil and the ...
A Choir of Crows is the 12th novel in Candace Robb’s enormously successful series of Owen Archer mysteries. It follows A Conspiracy of Wolves but, like all the others, it stands on its own. In A Choir of Crows, Candace Robb carries her readers back to the winter of 1374 and to her brilliantly ...
Shadow of Treason, the latest addition to Peter Tonkin’s The Queen’s Intelligencer series, offers a thrilling insight into the Protestant and Catholic divide during the reign of James I. A discord so deep that a fervent group of Catholics would assemble and attempt to reshape the country’s ...
Desperate Valour is the sequel to Timothy Ashby’s 5* bestseller Ranger, though it works perfectly well as a ‘stand alone’. It follows the adventure of Major Alexander Charteris (known as ‘Chart’), a mixed-race, English-educated son of an aristocrat and a West Indian slave, commissioned as an ...
It follows on directly from the first, The Capsarius (which incidentally has one of the most gripping openings I have read recently). Equally enthralling, this follows legionary capsarius or doctor Titus Cervianus, with his tent-mates, his cohort and his legion, the Twenty Second Deiotariana, ...
We are in a modern suburban house occupied by a boy and his father. The boy is a teenager, with an enquiring mind and a predilection for bad jokes. The somewhat inept father is usually the butt of these and the banter adds to the humorous lightness of touch that characterises the nine episodes ...
River of Gold is the eleventh novel in Anthony Riches’ best-selling Empire series and its considerable strengths are all the more impressive because of it. The plot has a familiar structure (as in Thunder of the Gods, for instance). The opening presents us with an overwhelming danger appearing ...
What prompted you to chose the period you wrote your first book in?My first historical novel, The Point of Death, was set in the Elizabethan period because my MA thesis was about Shakespeare, who also influenced my second series of Roman spy stories because I was fascinated by the ...
Doherty & Turney, Gordon Doherty and Simon Turney are the authors behind the Rise of Emperors books, the first of which is Sons of Rome. The two writers, both successes in their own right, have teamed up to write this new series. Peter Tonkin, author of
Peter Tonkin, you clearly have a passion for the Elizabethan era, when did this interest start?I have always been fascinated by history. One of my earlier memories (aged 6?) is sitting in my bedroom in Holland (as my father was posted
Peter Tonkin, can you first tell us about your latest Poley novel - and who Poley is?Robert Poley (who appears on the historical record between 1568 and 1602) is one of the three men in the room with Christopher Marlowe on ...
Paul Wreyford, many congratulations on the book. Why did you choose these particular figures – Henry VIII, Napoleon, Shakespeare and Cleopatra to name but a few?I just went for some of the most famous people in history and from a wide range of eras. Everyone will have at least heard of them all and will probably ...
Congratulations on the publication of your memoir, Natural Causes. What made you decide that now was the time to write a memoir about your experiences as a wildlife filmmaker and environmental activist?Thankyou Ella. I think my career coincided with a sort of Golden Age for wildlife film-making. I graduated from ...
Peter Tonkin, It’s that time of the year ...
Peter Tonkin, It’s that time of the year ...
