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A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
A Missed Murder by Michael Jecks
3.0
‘The man was plainly alarmed as he should be. He was about to die.’
London, 1555. Queen Mary is married to Philip II of Spain and hoping for children. Not everyone is happy with this return to Catholicism: there are plenty who support Queen Mary’s half-sister, the Lady Elizabeth. Enter Jack Blackjack, a former cutpurse, who is now an assassin for John Blount, one of the Lady Elizabeth’s supporters. Jack is a rather unlikely assassin: murder makes him so squeamish that he engages another to do the actual killing. What could possibly go wrong?
Jack is ordered to kill a man. He makes the necessary arrangements with his partner, and then receives a message not to go ahead with the murder. Can he stop the murder in time?
I kept turning the pages of this novel as Jack lurches from one crisis to the next. Even good plans can go awry and actions, as Jack learns, frequently have unintended consequences. Jack ends up having to deal with two bodies as well as some very angry men with sharp, pointy swords. If you inhale deeply enough, you will smell an abundance of testosterone as well as the streets of London.
I really can’t take Jack Blackjack seriously, but that didn’t stop me enjoying this novel. Jack is an opportunist with a roving eye. He’s motivated by money and sex and consequently, he needs all his skill in self-preservation to survive.
I’ve read and enjoyed some of Michael Jecks’s other novels, but this is my first exposure to Jack Blackjack. It’s part murder mystery, part historical fiction and all action.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
London, 1555. Queen Mary is married to Philip II of Spain and hoping for children. Not everyone is happy with this return to Catholicism: there are plenty who support Queen Mary’s half-sister, the Lady Elizabeth. Enter Jack Blackjack, a former cutpurse, who is now an assassin for John Blount, one of the Lady Elizabeth’s supporters. Jack is a rather unlikely assassin: murder makes him so squeamish that he engages another to do the actual killing. What could possibly go wrong?
Jack is ordered to kill a man. He makes the necessary arrangements with his partner, and then receives a message not to go ahead with the murder. Can he stop the murder in time?
I kept turning the pages of this novel as Jack lurches from one crisis to the next. Even good plans can go awry and actions, as Jack learns, frequently have unintended consequences. Jack ends up having to deal with two bodies as well as some very angry men with sharp, pointy swords. If you inhale deeply enough, you will smell an abundance of testosterone as well as the streets of London.
I really can’t take Jack Blackjack seriously, but that didn’t stop me enjoying this novel. Jack is an opportunist with a roving eye. He’s motivated by money and sex and consequently, he needs all his skill in self-preservation to survive.
I’ve read and enjoyed some of Michael Jecks’s other novels, but this is my first exposure to Jack Blackjack. It’s part murder mystery, part historical fiction and all action.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith