Death Comes Hot
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Jack Blackjack's search for an executioner's son ensnares him in a fiendish mesh of schemes in this lively Tudor mystery.
London. May, 1556. Hal Westmecott, one of the city's most feared executioners, reckons Jack Blackjack owes him a favour – and now he's come to collect his dues. Hal has ordered Jack to track down his long-lost son and, although Jack believes he's been set an impossible task, he's in no position to refuse.
But when Jack's search draws him to the attention of a ruthless nobleman, a dead priest's vengeful brother and finally to a bloodstained body in a filthy lodging house, he comes to realize he is an unwitting pawn in a mesh of schemes dreamed up by the most powerful people in England. Just who is a friend, who is a foe – and will Jack escape with his life intact?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Jecks's diverting fifth outing for Jack Blackjack (after 2019's The Dead Don't Wait), Jack, a cutpurse and rogue in 16th-century London, tries unsuccessfully to evade an unwelcome visitor, inept public executioner Hal Westmecott, who holds a knife to his throat. Hal, who blames Jack for selling him black powder that didn't ignite when he tried to burn a priest to death, forces Jack into searching for Hal's vanished wife and son. Jack's efforts on Hal's behalf lead to him being attacked and rendered unconscious. He also stumbles on a dead body, and a subsequent murder could have something to do with the rivalry between Catholic Queen Mary and her Protestant half-sister, the Lady Elizabeth. Never mind some confusing plot twists and the often frantic pace. The main draw is high-spirited Jack, with his Bertie Woosterish commentary ("I don't know whether you have ever experienced such a sensation. There is something particularly unpleasant about being brought up short by a length of steel at the Adam's apple"). Fans of offbeat Tudor mysteries will clamor for more.
