Of the four Perez-Reverte novels I've read to date, The Fencing Master is my favorite. Don Jaime Astarloa, the titular protagonist, is complex and well drawn — he is one of the last vestiges of a simpler and more honorable time, and when he is drawn into a murderous plot by a mysterious woman, the reader is also drawn in. The pace is perfect and the resolution satisfying. It may not be great art, but it's a ripping good yarn.