The French Executioner

October 27, 2014
Humphreys (Jack Absolute) breathes life into 16th century Europe with this fascinating tale of adventure and mystery as Anne Boleyn's executioner must fulfill his promise to the queen who has been marked for death. Executioner Jean Rombaud didn't expect Anne Boleyn to have ask for aything from him when he was summoned to England to execute her, but when Anne requests that he bury her six-fingered hand at a sacred crossroads in France, he agrees. There are others who believe in the magical powers of that hand and will do everything in their power to keep Rombaud from getting the hand. As he journeys to the destination, he becoems a prisoner on a ship, where he makes the acquaintance of two friends who assist him in his task. Humphreys has creatively combined historical fact with mystical fiction: the severed hand seems to have a life of its own and causes irrational behavior in those seeking it. Humphreys's characters are well drawn and deeply empathetic, and Rombaud's mission remains entertaining throughout. Agent: Jessica Purdue, Orion Publishing Group.

September 1, 2014
This unusual tale conjures visions of an Errol Flynn-type Hollywood swashbuckler. Jean Rombaud has a rather distasteful job by today's standards: He presides over formal executions by cutting off the heads of those condemned to die, providing they are rich enough to pay for his services. Jean is a French executioner and uses a flathead sword rather than an axe to sever the head from the body, which is faster and more accurate. This time he has been retained to preside over the May 1536 beheading of Henry VIII's wife, Anne Boleyn, the queen of England. In a meeting before her execution, she asks Jean to also sever her famous six-fingered hand (an attribute not all historians believe she possessed) and bury it in France. He agrees, and when the hand is stolen, he sets out to recover it. Along the way, Jean's journey becomes complicated by both camaraderie and love. Among the companions he acquires as he crosses the European continent are two fellow mercenaries-a Norseman and his part-wolf dog and a Muslim who has crossed some very bad people-a member of a famous German banking family and his pet raven; a young boy who may not be what he appears; and the boy's alchemist father, a captive of Jean's sworn enemy, the thief who took the hand for his own nefarious purposes. Humphreys, whose background includes choreographing sword fights for movies and television, tends to overdo the details involved in the many fights in which the band of adventurers engage. But while he takes a few small liberties with history, the tale's well-told, engagingly written, and includes a colorful immersion into a time when life was cheap and danger or death literally waited around every corner. A gory but fascinating, albeit overly long, look at the world in the early 16th century.

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September 15, 2014

The author of eight historical novels (Vlad; Shakespeare's Rebel; Jack Absolute) reimagines the life of Jean Rombaud, the eminent French executioner who beheaded Anne Bolyen in 1536. Having been summoned by King Henry VIII to execute his queen, Rombaud meets with his client/victim to discuss the details of the execution and identifies a compatriot. Resigned to her fate, Anne asks him to sever her six-fingered hand, along with her head, and bury the hand in the soil of their shared land. His vow to do so becomes a harrowing quest. As Rombaud makes his way to France, he acquires a retinue of misfits and honorable mercenaries who help him battle a debauched archbishop, hell-bent on obtaining the hand for his own nefarious purposes. VERDICT Published for the first time in the United States, this title was Humphreys's first novel and earned him a nomination for a CWA Steel Dagger for Thrillers Award in 2002. Set against the backdrop of the Protestant Reformation, his superbloody Princess Bride-like adventure is, at its heart, a tale of redemption, well earned and hard-won.--Laura Cifelli, Fort Myers-Lee Cty. P.L., FL

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