To Kill a Queen

The bawdy criminal underworld of Elizabethan England provides a rich backdrop for this rewarding historical mystery from McNee (Regrettably, I Am About to Cause Trouble). Jack is the gender-fluid child of Axe, a ruthless master criminal. Desperate to make her own way, Jack breaks with her father and, dressed as a man, begins assisting London’s justice of the peace and coroner in investigations. While gathering evidence to help condemn a wife killer, Jack learns that one of Queen Elizabeth’s guards was shot and killed while standing close to the monarch on a river barge. With the city and court in an uproar, Jack sets out to help find the royal assassin. She soon finds that many people close to her—including her father, her best friend, and a barmaid she’s befriending—are hiding secrets related to the case. The pace is brisk, the twists are well handled, and the historical details are transporting, though some of the dialogue feels wildly anachronistic (“The pope has no sex appeal,” one character claims). For the most part, though, it’s a rip-roaring good time. Agent: Margaret Danko, High Line Literary. (Nov.)