Will Revill Thrillers

by John Pilkington 3 books in this series

The Will Revill thrillers follow a former artillery captain drawn into covert service for the Crown between 1589 and 1591. Revill has seen enough organised violence to distrust easy appeals to duty, yet his military skills and vulnerable family connections allow powerful councillors to keep forcing him back into dangerous work.

The trilogy moves from England in the aftermath of the Armada to the French Wars of Religion and then to Elizabeth I's summer progress. Thomas Heneage and Robert Cecil connect Revill's fictional missions to the machinery of Elizabethan government, while artillery, diplomatic betrayal and assassination plots keep the novels close to the military and intelligence crises of the period.

Reading order

Books in this series (3 books)

1. A Reluctant Assassin

John Pilkington

First published 2022

4.0(2,210)

England, autumn 1589. Former artillery captain Will Revill has returned from war in the Low Countries and wants no more killing, but Sir Thomas Heneage, Elizabeth I's Vice-Chamberlain, orders him to arrange the death of Sir Abel Stanbury. Heneage refuses to explain the accusation and secures…

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2. A Reluctant Traitor

John Pilkington

First published 2022

4.2(1,667)

Normandy, January 1590. Captain Will Revill and his companion Tom Bright are serving with the English forces supporting the Protestant Henry IV during the French Wars of Religion. As fighting continues against the Catholic League led by the Duke of Mayenne, Revill receives another clandestine order…

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3. A Reluctant Hero

John Pilkington

First published 2023

4.4(1,566)

England, August 1591. Will Revill hopes to leave espionage behind, but Robert Cecil assigns him to the household of the Catholic Lord Ballater during Elizabeth I's annual royal progress. Cecil believes that one of Ballater's servants intends to attack the queen as the enormous travelling court…

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