Jack Blackjack, vanity may sometime be his downfall but not just yet!
Dead Don't Wait, The (A Bloody Mary Mystery #4)
by Michael Jecks.
It's 1555 and Jack our bumbling non assassin is back. A fellow who has ideas above himself, who's only interested in swiving, the cut of his coat, drinking wine' keeping his head on his shoulders, and who more often that not gets taken in by a soft word from the ladies. I am constantly exasperated by Jack but can't seem to stop turning the pages to see what situation he falls into next. He seems to always go from the frying pan into the fire and just as he's about to be burnt alive, he miraculously lands on his feet. More by luck than intent.
A priest has been killed at St Botolph just outside of London. Jack has been accused of the murder and is called on by the coroner Sir Richard of Bath to accompany him to the crime scene, to be present at the inquest. Even the getting to St Botolph's is so essentially Jackish that one can't help to be both amused and appalled.
This is a time when Queen Mary is on the throne and all must once again follow Catholicism. But the problem is that the married Priests must repudiate their families to retain their living. Many of them did, and this priest is one such person. Jecks builds the story around these events with a few extras thrown in. It seems Kings and Queens are constantly throwing their people into array, and this result of religious fervor is just another in a long list of problems that those in power inflict on their people.
The village is a hotch potch of suspects. There's the Priest's abandoned wife, her children, the inn keeper, the incestuous Miller, the missing Miler's daughter, and a few others.
Add to this Jack has his own problems with a couple of vicious shake down artists who keep pressing Jack for more money or they will geld him, and things become complicated on all fronts.
A Severn House ARC via NetGalley
*****
by Michael Jecks.
A priest has been killed at St Botolph just outside of London. Jack has been accused of the murder and is called on by the coroner Sir Richard of Bath to accompany him to the crime scene, to be present at the inquest. Even the getting to St Botolph's is so essentially Jackish that one can't help to be both amused and appalled.
This is a time when Queen Mary is on the throne and all must once again follow Catholicism. But the problem is that the married Priests must repudiate their families to retain their living. Many of them did, and this priest is one such person. Jecks builds the story around these events with a few extras thrown in. It seems Kings and Queens are constantly throwing their people into array, and this result of religious fervor is just another in a long list of problems that those in power inflict on their people.
The village is a hotch potch of suspects. There's the Priest's abandoned wife, her children, the inn keeper, the incestuous Miller, the missing Miler's daughter, and a few others.
Add to this Jack has his own problems with a couple of vicious shake down artists who keep pressing Jack for more money or they will geld him, and things become complicated on all fronts.
A Severn House ARC via NetGalley
*****
Comments
Post a Comment