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    Murder too Soon, A: A Tudor mystery
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    Murder too Soon, A: A Tudor mystery
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    Murder too Soon, A: A Tudor mystery
    Ebook289 pages4 hours

    Murder too Soon, A: A Tudor mystery

    By Michael Jecks

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Jack Blackjack is ordered to eliminate a spy in Princess Elizabeth’s household in this engaging Tudor mystery.

    June, 1554. Former cutpurse and now professional assassin Jack Blackjack has deep misgivings about his latest assignment. He has been despatched to the Palace of Woodstock, where Queen Mary’s half-sister Princess Elizabeth is being kept under close guard. Jack’s employer has reason to believe that a spy has been installed within the princess’s household, and Jack has been ordered to kill her.

    Jack has no choice but to agree. But he arrives at Woodstock to discover that a murder has already been committed.

    As he sets out to prove his innocence by uncovering the real killer, Jack finds the palace to be a place steeped in misery and deceit; a hotbed of illicit love affairs, seething resentments, clashing egos and bitter jealousies. But who among Woodstock’s residents is hiding a deadly secret – and will Jack survive long enough to find out?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSevern House Publishers
    Release dateSep 1, 2017
    ISBN9781780108988
    Author

    Michael Jecks

    Michael Jecks is the author of more than thirty novels in the Knights Templar medieval mystery series, and four previous Bloody Mary Tudor mysteries. A former Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association, he lives with his wife, children and dogs in northern Dartmoor.

    Read more from Michael Jecks

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    Reviews for Murder too Soon, A

    3.5/5

    8 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Instructed to perform the distasteful task of assassinating a lady suspected of being a spy, Jack Blackjack is amazed when he stumbles over the said lady already dead. To keep suspicion off himself, Jack must be on his toes and untangle the multiple threads of deceit that surround him. This being my first introduction to Jack Blackjack, I was immensely amused by him. I found him to be relatable in how he had second thoughts about his choices. He had doubts about his decision to work for his employer. As many things that went wrong with his life, he just keeps going.As to the mystery, it had the twists and turns that I love. Jack, to be honest, seemed to stumble over what he needed to work things out in the end.The plot is delightful. I would recommend this to historical readers who enjoy enjoy tales set before Elizabeth becomes queen. I received a free ebook copy from the publisher for reviewing purposes.
    • 5/5
      There's trouble and then there's Jack!Ah Jack, Jack! Always a hair's breadth from serious trouble and yet like a cat with nine lives you land on your feet--sort of.Jack Blackjack, the consummate con artist has his master John Blount fooled into thinking he's an assassin. So when Blount actually sends him off to kill Lady Margery Throcklehampton, one of Lady Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting, Jack's not happy. (Elizabeth is under what amounts to house arrest by her sister, Queen Mary). Although on the bright side this takes him out of London and away from Thomas Falkes, whom he owes money to and who is not happy. As Jack muses, Falkes "wanted to personally skin [him] alive–and he was not a slave to metaphor." But when Jack finds himself caught in the middle of a struggle for the Tudor throne, Woodstock was no place Jack wanted to be. When he trips over the dead body of the lady he's sent to murder, things take a grim and complicated turn. Jack becomes a suspect for a murder he didn't commit, that his master now thinks he actually did, fulfilling his assassin's role, thereby keeping himself on Blount's payroll, and yet this was a "murder to soon." (Very clever title by the way). Jack continues to play a role in this latest charade, earning himself the acknowledgment of the Lady Elizabeth, but eventually at what cost?Jack is a character of many facets, fool comes to mind most often but then there's, cut purse, gambler, ladies man, intuitive thinker and a survivalist. One day his luck might just run out!An engaging read with a rapscallion, likeable character as the centrepiece. I love the understated self-deprecating humour of Jack. He's definitely a charmer! Michael Jecks' insights into the Tudor period with the various swirling forces parrying for leadership and change, or just protecting the status quo is fascinating.A NetGalley ARC
    • 2/5
      It's 1554 and Jack Blackjack (a former thief), is now employed as an unlikely assassin by John Blount who thankfully for Jack sends him to Woodstock, the place of imprisonment of the Lady Elizabeth to kill a spy in her household.
      Soon after he arrives the murder occurs and as he is First Finder he must prove his innocence by determing who is the guilty party.
      As I didn't take to the character of Jack and it seemed that whatever could go wrong did, this did tend to spoil my enjoyment of the tale.
      A NetGalley Book