Alex Bledsoe's Dark Jenny excerpt

Dark Jenny is the third novel featuring Eddie LaCrosse, the sword jockey written by Alex Bledsoe. The book will be out on March 29, 2011. You can take a look at my reviews of the first two novels featuring Eddie here (The Sword-Edge Blonde and Burn Me Deadly).

Macmillan posted the first chapter as an excerpt. Head on here.

chapter
ONE

Gary Bunson, Neceda’s slightly-honest-but-mostly-not magistrate, came into Angelina’s Tavern accompanied by a blast of winter air. Immediately an irate chorus erupted, some with language that implied Gary had carnal relations with livestock. Gary was used to that sort of response so he paid it no mind, and it stopped when he closed the door behind him. He shook snow from his long coat and looked around until he spotted me sitting with Liz at the bar.
“LaCrosse,” he said. “There’s somebody outside looking for you.”
“Me? Must be a mistake.”
“No mistake. He knew your name, and knew to find you here.”
As a private sword jockey who either helped find the skeletons or made sure they stayed in the closet, I got my share of visitors, but not on a day like this. It was the worst winter in Muscodian history, and Neceda had it harder than most, being right on the frozen Gusay River where the wind had room for a running start.
Liz Dumont, my girlfriend, said, “Expecting someone?”
I shook my head and asked Gary, “Who is it?”
“What am I, your secretary?” Gary snapped. He straddled the empty barstool on the other side of Liz. “He’s outside, go find out for yourself. Angie, get me something hot to drink, will you?”
Angelina, the tavern’s owner as well as its main hostess, said to me, “You must owe someone a lot of money if they’d come out in this weather.”
“I owe you more than I do anyone,” I pointed out.
“That’s true. But I always know where to find you.”
“Maybe it’s someone coming to hire you,” Callie the waitress said. Even dressed in winter clothes that covered her from chin to ankle, Callie’s beauty could melt icicles at ten paces. It was a shame those same icicles could probably outthink her.
Gary put both hands around the mug of hot tea Angelina placed in front of him. I watched the door expectantly. When nothing happened, I asked Gary, “So is he coming in?”
“Hell, I don’t know, the snow’s blowing so hard I could barely see him. He’s got some kind of box with him.”
“Box?”
“Yeah, you know, a box. Like a coffin or something.”

Here' s the blurb :

Murder, betrayal, and magic--just another day on the job for Eddie LaCrosse.

Freelance sword jockey Eddie LaCrosse is in the wrong place at the wrong time while conducting an undercover investigation on the island kingdom of Grand Bruan. When a poisoned apple kills a member of the queen's personal guard, Eddie becomes the prime suspect in the murder. He must do some fast talking to keep his head attached to his shoulders. While trying to clear his name and find the real killer, Eddie becomes embroiled in a nasty political scandal. Someone is trying to ruin Queen Jennifer and doesn't care who is killed along the way.