Queen Without a Crown

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The ninth gripping murder mystery to feature Ursula Blanchard, special aide to Elizabeth I - November, 1569. Happily married to her third husband, Hugh Stannard, lady-in-waiting Ursula Blanchard is hoping to give up her undercover work for Queen Elizabeth l in order to enjoy domestic bliss. But when Hugh unwittingly endangers possession of his ancestral home, Ursula is forced to take on a seemingly hopeless – but handsomely paid – private assignment, which the Queen spots is the perfect cover for a covert investigation into a group of rebel barons plotting to put Mary, Queen of Scots on the English throne . . .From BooklistUrsula Blanchard, lady-in-waiting and spy extraordinaire, returns in a new Elizabethan mystery steeped in suspense and historical detail. In addition to her duties as a Lady of the Bedchamber to her half sister, Queen Elizabeth, she also undertakes certain delicate missions for the Crown. Despite her marriage to Hugh Stannard, there is no escaping into private life for Ursula. On assignment in the north to ferret out a group of rebel noblemen intent on rescuing and reinstating the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, she is also privately commissioned by Mark Easton, Lord Sussex’s envoy, to solve a 20-year-old murder. As Ursula delves deep into the past to solve a tricky cold case, political passions in the present threaten to boil over. The worthy Ursula is an estimable heroine, and Buckley’s confident mastery of sixteenth-century British history lends an air of authenticity to her cleverly spun adventures. --Margaret Flanagan