Jack Blackjack gets involved in another political intrigue and murder in 16th century London. The narrative moves between Jack and his employer John Blount, which is an interesting way of seeing the many ‘faces' of Jack. Jack is his usual deceitful rogue, so the story contains humour as well as historical detail – and captures your interest from the start.

Jack Blackjack…always the innocent perpetrator!

Ah Jack! Our beloved, narcissistic opportunist, devoted mostly to his own survival.
Because Jack does have his moments of wanting to be more than he is. Alas those moments are few and always end up differently to how he planned.
His latest misadventures takes up sixteen parts veering between Jack’s point of view and John Blount’s chronicles.
Queen Mary is supposedly pregnant and spymasters serving Mary, Elizabeth and Philip are plotting, weaving plans for what comes next. Even those on the same side are confusing each other as they move their strategies forward in secret. And our unlikely, somewhat loveable anti hero Black Jack is caught between them all. Jack’s accused of murdering three people, of course all is happenstance. When he innocently tries to clear himself he trips over so many plots it makes his head spin, which he’s doing already due to the amount of times he receives blows to the head in this tale! (In my opinion Jack’s end is going to come from dementia due to severe brain injury caused by concussion. Or he’ll be quietly eliminated in the alleyways of London. Or be slain by a cuckolded husband. Or…? Hmm! So many possibilities!)
Fascinating that we have Blount recounting his opinions about Jack, and almost has him killed. Well, he does pay Humfrie the assassin for that but Humffries fortunately holds his hand.
Jack accidentally succeeds in both foiling plots and supporting other plots at a dizzying rate. All on the eve of Queen Mary dying and Elizabeth taking over the throne.
Quo Vardis Jack?
I can hardly wait to see what will happen to one of my favorite rogue’s of chance as Elizabeth comes to power.
Underlying this tale is Jeck’s succinct understanding of the various powers and persons at play at this particular time which catapults this tale from reasonably interesting to immensely intriguing! Well done, a fascinating tale of intrigue, happy coincidence and a bumbling assassin whose main concern is self preservation.

A Severn House ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

You know, I don't think I've had as much fun reading a book in a long time!

Michael Jecks has long been one of my favourite authors, ever since his very first book, The Last Templar. I Iove the way he writes. With his Tudor mystery series, he has really showcased his ability to write a jolly good murder mystery - with an impressive dose of humour.

I hate to use the word unputdownable - is it even a word? - but this book really was! I read it in two days. I took it every where with me, so I could read even if I only had a few minutes, sat in the car or giggling to myself whilst sat in a cafe - the other patrons must have thought me very odd. But I could not wait to get to the end. I think I will have to give it a re-read, slower this time. So that I can savour the story.

Set in 1558, in the final months of the life and reign of Mary I, Death Comes in Threes really captures the atmosphere of a London unsure of its future. The queen is either pregnant or ill, possibly about to deliver a Catholic heir, or on the verge of dying and leaving the throne to her Protestant sister, Lady Elizabeth. Factions are at work preparing for one outcome - or the other - and aiming to guarantee the throne's security works in their interests.

And then Jack is accused of not one murder - but two!

Michael Jecks' self-absorbed hero, Jack Blackjack, is joined in the narrative by his employer, John Blount, and his neighbour, with whom he shares close relations - very close relations - Susan Appleby. The two new narrators offer an entirely different, and often surprising, view of our Jack. It is fascinating to read the three different interpretations of Jack's character and abilities.

In Death Comes in Threes, Jack is surrounded by enemies, accused of murder and caught up in conspiracies with people whose loyalties and motives are suspect, to say the least. The poor chap doesn't know who to trust!

The storyline is fast-paced and credible. With the queen's health in question, of the birth of an heir imminent, London is suffering nervous anxiety. People are preparing for what comes next; a male child or the queen's death. Or both!

Death Comes in Threes by Michael Jecks is not just a book - it is 8 hours of pure entertainment. I cannot recommend it highly enough. The entire series is a jolly good read, but this book is one of the best and a great way to start your 2025 reading.

Death Comes in Threes is a corker!

What a fabulous tv series these books would make!

I'm sorry, but as a woman I can't enjoy these Jack Blackjack books. It is tiresome in the extreme to read about a male character, even in extreme adversity, whose first and sometimes only thought is of women and sex. It would be really good to find at lease one female character in all of these books who means more that that to Jack Blackjack. Instead, the only thing any woman who crosses his path means to him is firstly a roll in the hay, and next someone who will attend to his creature comforts. Because of this these books - including this latest one - are a hard read for a woman. One can excuse it to a point but then it gets old very quickly, and then each time it happens, one sighs iinwardly. It wouldn't matter so much if it was done with the bold bawdiness of say, Henry Fielding's 'Tom Jones', but this is almost sleazy in its crass vulgarity.

This was not a book I enjoyed, and I will not suffer another in the series - sorry.

Thanks to Netgalley for a review copy of this book

This is a fast-paced, kind of funny book written in different points of view. Jacks middle name needs to be Trouble. It follows this dandy with a chequered past everywhere. This is my first book in the series, so some details went over my head, but it was fun.

#netgalley #DeathComesinThrees

London, the summer of 1558. Concern grows once more about the health of Queen Mary – she is pregnant once again, and the appearance of an heir would cause a significant shift in the corridors of power in London and beyond. Jack Blackjack, the assassin in the pocket of Princess Elizabeth, is more concerned with the disappearance of his new tenant, a Dutch merchant.

His primary concern is with the fact that the merchant owes him money, but it soon becomes about the fact that everyone seems to think that he killed him, and one of his paramours too. As Jack’s spymaster, Sir John Blount, joins the hunt for Jack, Jack himself finds himself at the centre of a plot against… well, who, exactly? And why?

Book nine of the Jack Blackjack series – you can find reviews of all of them on my blog, just follow the links down below – and it’s more of the same sort of thing. Of course, this is a very high quality “sort of thing”, so if you’ve enjoyed the previous books, you’ll enjoy this one just as much.

To explain for new readers, following the events in Rebellion’s Message, Jack Blackjack, a cowardly womaniser, is hired by Sir John Blount to act for Princess Elizabeth as an assassin. The point is that Jack has never deliberately killed anyone and isn’t really capable of doing so, despite being frequently being put into a position of having to do so. You’d think Blount would have figured it out after eight books, and now, for the first time, we get sections of the book from Blount’s point of view and get to see Jack through his eyes. There’s a third narrator as well for a few sections, which gives a view of another side of Jack as well. There’s a genuine surprise, I think, in Blount’s true opinions of Jack.

It’s hard to classify what sort of mystery novel this is. There is definitely a whodunit to be resolved but this is far more about the route to Jack finding some resolution so that people stop trying to kill him. Having said that, we do see a little more than self-preservation from Jack this time, as he is genuinely upset by the murder of his lover. All in all, this is probably closer to noir in form, with a layer of humour and history on top of it. All in all, it’s a lot of fun, just like the rest of the series.

If you are looking for a light-hearted series in which the hero gets cheated, beaten up, arrested, and thrown in the mud—and I lost count of how many times he was knocked on the head—and still manages to come out on top having done his duty for Queen (or Princess) and country, look no further than the Jack Blackjack series.
A novel such as Death Comes in Threes, featuring murder and weapons smuggling, might easily make a dark and heavy read. With the narration of the hapless hero Jack, however, the story maintains a comic side. Thankfully, there are occasional chapters from the points of view of Jack’s boss and his paramour. These serve to explain to the reader the bigger picture and, in some cases, correct the skewed version of events we have heard from Jack himself. Also, as a keen historical fiction reader I could tell that there is a lot of knowledge about Tudor London lurking beneath the surface of the story, but it never comes bobbing up to distract the reader from the plot. Michael Jecks spins a fast-paced and entertaining tale with a twist around every corner. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I must caution you, stepping outside the door of your home and taking a stroll down the streets in 1558 London, may be at your peril. At least it is for Jack! How he manages to survive through the whole story is anyone’s guess. I would like to step inside the book and shake some sense into Jack. Whichever way he seems to turn, he gets himself in a tight spot and also, he seems to have a knack at putting other lives in jeopardy.

I enjoyed reading Jack’s adventures and his troubles he finds himself in is hilariously comical, and it is highly entertaining how others perceive the kind of man they believe Jack to be and when we read what Jack is thinking in the moment, it’s not like how others perceive him or is it? More times than not, the reader must discern if this was an actual character flaw in Jack or some clever ruse.

Jack is questioned or interrogated so many times, I don’t know how he keeps a clear mind with all his excuses. I couldn’t stop chuckling. My goodness! He says anything to just stay alive which is understandable in his situation.

What a fun historical mystery!

‘I have been an expert in running for most of my life.’

If you enjoy light-hearted (mostly) historical mysteries, then allow me to introduce Jack Blackjack, opportunist and fixer who fancies himself as a ladies’ man. This is the ninth book in a series entitled ‘A Bloody Mary Mystery’. The series opens in 1554, with this novel set in 1558.
London, 1558. London is busy with growing trade, Jack Blackjack is prospering, and Queen Mary’s health is again a hot topic, as is the succession. Alas, when Jack’s new tenant, a Dutch merchant, goes missing and Jack’s current female companion is found murdered, he immediately falls under suspicion. And not only the authorities are after him!

The story shifts between different points of view, and it is interesting to understand how others view Jack. There is plenty of intrigue: concerns about the Queen’s health leads to concerns about her likely successor and there are those who seek to influence possible outcomes. Jack, despite constantly (or so it seems) focussing on possible bed partners, seems to simultaneously impress and confuse people in positions of power.

This is the third novel I have read in this series and while Jack Blackjack is really not my kind of hero, I like the way Mr Jecks captures the tension created by the religious differences between Queen Mary and the Lady Elizabeth and the intrigues of those who support them.

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

Tudor England was not an easy place and it's not easy at all for Jack Blackjack who has worked for the Queen. There's a murderer out there and he's working too close to Jack for comfort. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. I'd not read the earlier books in the series so this was a standalone that occasionally left me a bit at sea. That said, it's a fine historical mystery.

Great light hearted read.
Blackjack gets in a tangle in Tudor England.
He is being accussed of two murders to people he has recently been seen with and whilst trying to prove his innocence with his usual mix of bravado and luck he also stumbles on a plot to seize the throne.
Just how can he get out of this fix without loss of life.

3.75* for this one in overall. Enjoyable read for sure, fast one. I do like stories about Jack Blackjack, but this time poor man has less luck then before and is more confused then ever before. Will we see him in another book? I hope so :)

Britain in the late 1500s was not a pleasant place to live. Serfdom was just coming to an end and wages were pitifully low. Anyone with property was a target to all of the oppressed population. One needed bodyguards to go to the pubs or houses of ill repute and were always a target of the poor. Jack Blackjack was one of those targets.

Jack maintained a number of houses and had many enemies. He was a dandy who enjoyed the favors of many of the young ladies in the village. He had worked with both Lady Elisabeth and Queen Mary and had received a Royal pardon for his crimes which did not sit well with his enemies.

This novel reveals a time in history when individual life was not worth much. Being well armed with swords and knives as well as cudgels was essential. Living in this part of the past would not be a welcoming environment. Enjoy Jack’s escapades. 4.5 stars – CE Williams