Name to a Face by Robert Goddard

What the cover says:
When Tim Harding agrees to do a favour for a tax-exile friend by representing him at an Auction in Penzance, he is unaware of the secrets that tie the ring he is sent to buy to three widely separated events: the loss of HMS Association with all hands off Scilly in 1707; an unsolved murder in Penzance thirty years later; and the seemingly accidental drowning of a journalist diving at the Association wreck site in 1999. Very soon he discovers that by taking on this apparently simple task he has allowed himself to be drawn into a web of conspiracies. Somewhere a perilous truth awaits him, coupled with a terrible realization: those who uncover the truth are not allowed to live...

Typical Robert Goddard fare, but no less enjoyable. As always, you only know what the hero knows which keeps the mystery going from start to finish. The main character is flawed but likeable, and you are rooting for him right to the very end. The plot is fanciful and complex, but very clever.


8/10