I enjoy historical mysteries. They are a fun way to read a popular genre while getting a refresher on the ambiance of whatever period
they are set in. to that end, I picked up a copy of Michael Jecks’ Death Comes in Threes
on the recent acquisition rack at our local library and found out rapidly
that I had come upon a loser. It was touted as one of a series of Bloody Mary
Tudor mysteries and was set in England in the late 1550’s. Mary is on the
throne and Elizabeth I is waiting in the wings.
The main character is Jack Blackjack, a resourceful low-life
who lives easily in the lowest brothels as he does in gentleman’s
residences. He is supposedly a secret assassin for the young Elizabeth but
while defending himself from two murder charges he also manages to get himself
seen as a supporter of Bloody Mary.
The narrative is first person and plods along through a
revolving sequence of characters. Mostly
we hear the story from Blackjack himself, but we also get chapters narrated by
a bawdy housewife and his ostensible employer. The joking self-deprecating
style gets tiresome quickly and the plot seems full of ridiculous coincidences and pasteboard minor characters. Even though the 16th
century London place details are accurate, they don’t make up for the less-than-convincing plot.
About halfway through I started skipping whole passages without
feeling deprived of anything. I should not have finished it, but I did.
I give it a 1 out of 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment