The Merchant Murderers
5/5
()
About this ebook
"Superb . . . a fast-moving and gripping plot"- Publishers Weekly Starred Review
August, 1556. Jack Blackjack is on a simple mission: make it back home to his beloved London. It should be simple, right? Wrong. He's made it as far as Exeter, but before he can secure a fresh steed in that hellish city, he's faced with a dead priest, ruthless thieves, and a devious Dean who's determined to see the back of Jack. That suits Jack just fine - he wants to leave!
So when wealthy merchant Wolfe, offers passage to London via sea, Jack jumps at the chance . . . and unwittingly into further danger! With thieves, pirates and potential murderers at every turn who can Jack trust? Will he uncover the truth behind the dead priest and missing merchant ships? But more importantly, will he ever make it home to London with his purse strings and limbs intact?
Set during the brief but exceedingly troubled reign of Queen Mary I, elder half-sister to the future Elizabeth I, (1553-1558) the Bloody Mary series features the amoral former cutpurse turned paid assassin, Jack Blackjack, as its cowardly, lecherous, yet strangely likeable amateur sleuth protagonist. The joke is always on Jack as he lurches from one crisis to the next, never quite sure what's going on, yet always - just about - managing to keep one step ahead of his many enemies and those who, for whatever reason, are trying to kill him.
Michael Jecks
Michael Jecks gave up a career in the computer industry when he began writing the internationally successful Templar series. There are now twenty books starring Sir Baldwin Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock, with more to follow. The series has been translated into all the major European languages and sells worldwide. The Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association for the year 2004–2005, Michael is a keen supporter of new writing and has helped many new authors through the Debut Dagger Award. He is a founding member of Medieval Murderers, and regularly talks on medieval matters as well as writing.
Read more from Michael Jecks
The Last Templar: A Knights Templar Mystery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Moorland Hanging: A Knights Templar Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Merchant's Partner: A Knights Templar Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Leper's Return: A Knights Templar Mystery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Templar Mysteries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Merchant Murderers
Titles in the series (7)
Murder too Soon, A Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Missed Murder, A Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath Comes Hot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Don't Wait Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Merchant Murderers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Moorland Murderers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murdering the Messenger Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related ebooks
Urban Legends From Every State Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Angels of Mons The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Black Cat Weekly #19 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Bodmin Moor Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Dayton Ghosts & Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKarl Drinkwater's Horror Collection: Collected Editions, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Empty House and Other Ghost Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Haunted Wigan Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Haunted Salisbury Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBloody British History: Plymouth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHoney Let's Kill The Kids: Killing Children, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFreaky Fly Day: Ravenspell, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCall in Pinkerton's: American Detectives at Work for Canada Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Tales for a Dark Night Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe King's Bishop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cincinnati Curiosities: Healing Powers of the Wamsley Madstone, Nocturnal Exploits of Old Man Dead, Mazeppa’s Naked Ride & More Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSchwatka's Search: Sledging in the Arctic in Quest of the Franklin Records Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Huddersfield Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swamp Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mangle: A Sage Adair Historical Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScarecrows Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTarget Manhattan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCassius M. Clay: Freedom's Champion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhosts & Legends of Licking County Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDid T. Rex Have Feathers?: Questions and Answers About Dinosaurs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat Girls Are Good For: A Novel Of Nellie Bly: The Adventures Of Nellie Bly, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meet the Tudors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hysterical History Joke Book Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Historical Mystery For You
Murder Under a Red Moon: A 1920s Bangalore Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The ABC Murders: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Librarian of Crooked Lane Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Watchmaker's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eight Perfect Murders: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mystery of Mrs. Christie: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stranger in the Lifeboat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories: A Miss Marple Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Courting Dragons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sentence Is Death: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tread of Angels Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Things in Jars: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Word Is Murder: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guardian of Lies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Speaks the Nightbird Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Jew in Prague Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spider's Web Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Anatomy of a Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Universal Harvester: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Girl from Rawblood: A Gothic Horror Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Apothecary's Poison Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Between Earth and Sky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Herb of Death: A Miss Marple Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries Volume One: Whose Body?, Clouds of Witness, and Unnatural Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death: Grantchester Mysteries 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Seance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Merchant Murderers
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jack’s back!Ah Jack! The trials and tribulations of this vain, self deceived rascal never fail to amaze me. He attracts trouble like bees to a honeypot. After his recent troubles with the tin miners of Cornwall, Jack’s headed away from London to France on the off chance that he’s bound to be caught up with the wrong side of the political machinations of his masters.He fled to the Cathedral town of Exeter, where he learns that Queen Mary is still in power, Lady Elizabeth is not in the tower, and he, as he is employed circuitously by the Lady Elizabeth as an assassin, can safely head for home.Swaggering around town, sure of his own importance as a elegant ”man of London,” disdainful of the plebeians he encounters, well naturally pride comes before a fall. His purse is stolen, he finds the dead body of the ex priest Roger Lane. Powerful merchants and their henchman take an interest in him. He finds some fair weather friends, and he’s pursued by an attractive young thing with marriage on her mind (shudder!). This is not all, (because of our surety that Jack always goes from one torrid situation to another), Jack sets sail for London only to find himself betrayed. He returns (miraculously by sheer good luck—again!) to Exeter, and after another set of extenuating circumstances finally flees Exeter for London and home! I’m exhausted and Jack even more so!I swear Jack has more lives than a cat. Somehow by sheer dumb luck he always lands on his feet, His self absorption never ceases to amaze me. His drinking and womanising always trips him up.Mind you he also can show kindness to the unexpected person, like Edith the child who first tried to rob him.A somewhat, loveable rogue with an inconsistent conscience is perhaps one way to describe him.Funny and horrifying. I shake my head continually. You either love him or hate him.A Severn House ARC via NetGalley. Many thanks to the author and publisher.