I'm loving this series as it's highly entertaining and well written.
I loved the vivid historical background, the excellent character development and the solid mystery that kept me guessing.
I can't wait for the next instalment.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Jack Blackjack, the Tudor hero of Death Comes Hot, gets involved in the intrigues against Princess Elizabeth under Queen Mary in this historical mystery. No one is who they seem. Everyone is violent and has a hand in the game of who has the child? Is the child the son of a torturer, of a Seymour, of Princess Elizabeth. The bodies as usual in Michael Jecks' mysteries keep dropping and Jack cannot seem to get ahead of his troubles. Read and enjoy.

The murky world of Tudor England comes to life in this novel. Jack Blackjack works as a rather reluctant assassin - well, reluctant to kill but happy for the spoils. He provides some gunpowder for the local executioner, Hal Westmecott, but finds himself in trouble when the powder fails to ignite and a priest has a slow, horrible death at the stake. Westmecott wants him to do some work as recompense, and the brother of the priest is also on his case.

Jack is a likeable rogue of a hero, and the story hinges on a rumour surrounding the Lady Elizabeth at this time which has never been finally proved either way. The story is well told and the reader is drawn into the time of Queen Mary, when it was dangerous to voice too firm an opinion on religion or the monarchy.

A fun read. Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The assassin you have when you're not having an assassin!

That's Jack Blackjack who's as an assassin in the pay of John Blount, who calls Thomas Parry master. Through an inordinate amount of bungling normally Blackjack ends up with someone else killing the mark. Blackjack takes the credit, which he's mostly happy to do as its lifted him out of poverty. He's become a man of substance, if a servant makes one that. The balancing act, the delusions that Jack juggles are all part of the black comic figure. Still when he finally does kill someone, even that has an awful comedic side.
This time jack finds himself in the thick of politics with a whiff of heresy. Not a comfortable place to be.
I must admit too becomming quite dizzy by Jack's tortured thinking as he tries to puzzle out the where's and whyfores, looking for illumination about who the enemy is. At times I felt like I'd sipped more than my fair share of questionable wine just like Jack. A headache seems a certainity. Once again the exploits of Jeck's self serving hero proves an amusing Tudor mystery gallop.


A Severn House ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

I did manage to read this to the end, but as I actually found the lead character quite annoying, it was often touch and go. I genuinely didn't care what happened to him and often thought him quite irredeemable stupid - the author gives so many clues to what's really happening that the reader is just begging for the lead to also grasp it. And there are a number of plot twists that really don't make sense and are somewhat unnecessary to the story.
A good idea, but how many books do you read when you want to smack the hero and walk away. That kind of cocky arrogance is just a turn off, and why does he keep talking to himself?!

Set in the reign of Mary Tudor, this is the fifth instalment in Michael Jecks' Jack Blackjack series. The old king has died and Mary is trying to reverse the reformation. Adherents of the new religion are frowned upon as Catholicism once again gains ground with the monarchy. This leads to the burning at the stake of a dissenting priest, which is where Jack comes into the story, having supplied some gunpowder to the executioner.

Written in the first person, Jack tells his story with humour and warmth. I am not enough of a historian to know whether Jecks' representation of Tudor life is accurate, but to me the era seemed well drawn and real.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its whimsical humour. Jack is a lovable rogue - more than a rogue, in fact...he is an assassin, albeit a reluctant one.and one who tends to outsource his work. The plot cantered along at a decent pace and kept me reading despite its very linear approach.

Jecks has a charming, easy to read style and his voice fitted this book well. I will certainly be reading more.

Michael Jecks takes one on an historical romp through the London of the first Mary - Bloody Mary.
Jack Blackjack is a bit of a hapless hero always managing to be in the wrong place at the wrong time but that is half the fun of this endearing novel.
Dare I say two of my favourite characters are Hector and Peterkin. I strongly recommend you read the book to find out why.

Hal Westmecott was the executioner in the time of Queen Mary. When he confronts Jack when one of his executions went wrong Jack feels that he should do Hal a favour rather than feel the sword. This is the start of Accidental Assassin Jack’s search for the boy he believes is Hal’s son. He will come to the attention of the ruthless Seymour family and be dragged into a plot that leads all the way to the Queen. Jack is not your usual hero stumbling from one murder to another even though he has been employed as an Assassin. He is none the wiser on who is leading him astray in this enjoyable mystery. The story keeps a good pace and takes you to the depths of Tudor England.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Jack Blackjack, the professional assassin with an aversion to killing people, is always looking for a way to make a quick profit. Selling some gunpowder to the executioner, Hal Westmecott, seemed like a problem-free enterprise – the executioner would strap a small pouch of powder around the neck of the priests sentenced to the fire to ensure their suffering was brief. But when the powder turns out to be damp, Westmecott decides that Jack owes him a favour.

It seems a simple quest – find Westmecott’s wife and son. But it rapidly becomes more complicated than that. For one thing, the priest’s brother isn’t happy with Jack either. But more importantly, it seems that the woman and boy that Jack is trying to find seem not to be who Hal claims them to be. Jack needs to find out exactly what is going on – and why everybody seems to be trying to kill him…

Reading is hard sometimes. Every September, my reading drops off, coinciding with the start of term. This year, as you might expect, things are even more difficult, with more preparation, general anxiety and basically coming home and needing to do something that doesn’t require concentration. Like reading.

But there are certain things that help. Primarily, your favourite authors releasing new books. So massive thanks to Len Tyler (see my previous review) and Michael Jecks, both friends of the blog, both for the simple reason that they write damn fine, and, most importantly, damn readable books. I can’t guarantee that these two titles have kicked my current reading malaise, but be assured – when I started reading these books, I just couldn’t put them down.

The Jack Blackjack books are a curious beast. While Michael’s other primary series, (The Last Templar Mysteries seems to be the current series title being used for the beautifully covered re-releases) are amalgams of mysteries and historical novels, whereas the Jack Blackjack novels seems to be a strange cross-breed of thrillers and… well, farces.

Basically, as Jack’s investigations are quite heavily motivated by saving his own skin, but just as things seem to straightening themselves out, another complication sends him down another peril-filled rabbit-hole. And while the reader can guess some of the upcoming plot twists and turns (but by no means all of them), quite frankly the reader won’t care. Because the book is so damned fun.

Jack’s narration is an utter joy to read. A combination of lust, wit and general panic, he is the ideal storyteller for this sort of tale, and his turns of phrase repeatedly brought a smile to my face. All in all, this is one of the most entertaining books that I’ve read all year. Yes, there’s not much of a whodunit at the heart of it (although, to be fair, there is something clever about it), this is an excellent thriller told in an enthralling voice. Exactly what I needed right now…

We are back in the religiously confused reign of Mary Tudor in the 1550's in a mystery that once again features the almost lovable rogue and purse snatcher Jack Blackjack - who his employer thinks is a cold blooded assassin but in reality Jack is a coward of the first order. In this instalment, Hal Westmecott, the fearsome but incompetent official executioner wants Jack to find his young son and wife - but as usual, nothing is what it seems. Jack runs foul of the powerful Seymour family, when no-one seems sure who is on whose side - Mary's or the future Queen Elizabeth's - and once again Jack is in fear of his life. Written with a deft and amusing hand, this light-hearted caper is great fun and a welcome addition to the series. Page-turningly entertaining and undemanding - which is meant as great praise.

Jack 'Blackjack' is forced to find a missing wife and son of the local executioner. But things don't add up and Blackjack soon finds himself in danger. Who does he trust? Who is friend and who is foe?
Set in Tudor London, this is book 7 in the Bloody Mary series, but you don't have to read them in order, you can read this as a stand alone story.
This was an enjoyable read, it's full of twists, turns, and intrigue.
Blackjack is a likable character. I found him a bit naive for a 'hit man', he's not your average hero.

If you're looking for a new historical mystery series to enjoy—particularly if you're interested in Tudor history—you won't go wrong with Michael Jecks' Jack Blackjack series. Jack is, to put it bluntly, the Tudor equivalent of a fixer and hit man for powerful men men who are hoping to bring about the rule of Elizabeth I. The era is bloody (hence, Bloody Mary) and priests who refuse to follow Mary I's rigid Catholicism are regularly burned at the stake.

Jack's current task in this violent world is to track down the former wife and son of an executioner, but things are not as they seem: the identity of this woman, her child, the executioner, and other players is not what Jack is originally told. Trying to find the woman and to understand the politics underlying her disappearance takes Jack through a twisting series of subplots.

There are several books in this series preceding Death Comes Hot, but I had no trouble stepping into the middle of things. I'll go back and read the earlier titles, but you can start wherever you'd like.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions are my own.