SHADOW OF THE HAWK

Again (Trumpets In The West -- 1947) an action-centered, period-mounted story -- this time of the Renaissance -- which just brushes in the background and is chiefly concerned with the immediacy of the adventure at hand. Alan Drayton, a pupil of Erasmus and quick with his sword as well as with his wits, undertakes a mission from the master to bring back from a Balkan monastery a rare manuscript of a Greek play. In so doing he runs afoul of the Venetian Duke of Molfetta who wants the manuscript for his own collection, takes on -- as a stowaway on the voyage from Venice to Greece -- Angela, a young girl, sees their ship set fire by pirates, is attacked by Turks -- and the Duke's agents, faces even grimmer experiences in the monastery, secures the manuscript only to lose it to the Duke... A good enough story which throws in a smattering of Renaissance learning and color.