When we think of Elizabethan England, we tend to think of the Golden Age of England. A time of discoveries and for the arts to flourish under the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I. However, there is a darker side. It was also a time of espionage, fears of invasions from other countries, and the hatred between Catholics and Protestants. The dangers of the Elizabethan underworld have reached the queen, as there is an attempt on her life. Can Jack, the son of a crime boss, change his life and find the culprit before they find him, or will he be betrayed by those he calls his friends? Amie McNee explores the seedy underworld of Elizabethan England in her novel, “To Kill a Queen.”

I would like to thank Crooked Lane Books and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this novel. I am a sucker for a good historical mystery, and if it is set in Tudor England, even better. I read the premise of this novel and decided to give McNee a try.

The year is 1579, and Queen Elizabeth I is entertaining her final suitor, the Duke of Anjou. The city is all abuzz with rumors of wedding bells. Everyone except Jack, a young coroner apprentice, who is the son of a crime boss. Jack is helping the Justice of the Peace, Ben, and his mentor, coroner Damian, try to solve a case of a wife beaten to death by her husband. It is a pretty open and shut case, so Jack was surprised to receive another case so soon. A soldier died protecting the queen from an assassin. Now, Jack, Ben, and Damian must find the assassin before it’s too late.

It seems like your typical murder case set in a period setting, but that’s where McNee mixes things up. We get to meet Jack’s father, Axe, the crime boss, and we find out that Jack is not their real identity. Not many know Jack’s true identity, except for his lover Jenny and Damian. Jack’s friend Harry is a common resident of Bedlam, but he is now out, and Jack has to take care of him. When associates close to Jack end up being killed, there is a sense of urgency that Jack has to find the murderer before they find Jack. There are a lot of twists and turns, and the reveal of the whodunnit was shocking, but the conclusion of the book did not fit well with the tone of the rest of the book.

Overall, it was a decent novel, even though it felt more Oliver Twist than Tudor. It was nice to see the typical Tudors step to the side so that we can focus on other stories in Elizabethan London. If you want a detective novel with an unlikely protagonist, filled with twists and turns, and set during the Tudor age, I recommend you read “To Kill a Queen” by Amie McNee.