Ursula Blanchard mysteries

"Ursula Blanchard is 'audacious, intensely loyal, and beguiling,' said Publishers Weekly of Fiona Buckley's historical sleuth in her mystery series debut. Now, the young, widowed lady-in-waiting is back, once again defending her mistress, Queen Elizabeth I -- this time from a plot to overthrow the Queen and usurp her throne, a task that will test Ursula's sharp wits and investigative skills to the limits. Torn between her duties and her personal life,...

As the adventures of Ursula Blanchard, secret agent for Queen Elizabeth I, continue, she finds herself in France reunited with her husband, Matthew de la Roche, in a passionate but flawed relationship. But when Ursula learns that her daughter Meg has mysteriously disappeared, she immediately sets out on a frantic and dangerous search. The trail leads back to England, to Vetch Castle, an eerie keep owned by the enigmatic Philip Mortimer.

An aide to the Tudor queen faces treachery—and accusations of witchcraft—in this series of “intelligent, historically accurate Elizabethan-era whodunits” (Booklist).
 
Ursula Blanchard is rudely shaken on receipt of a threatening letter from the exiled Anne Percy, Countess of Northumberland, whose treasonous plot against Elizabeth I Ursula helped foil a few months previously.
 
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"July, 1573. Recently widowed, Ursula Blanchard is living a quiet life on her Surrey estate, caring for her infant son. But her peaceful existence is shattered when Ursula's neighbour Jane Cobbold is found dead in her own flowerbed, stabbed through the heart with a silver dagger - and Ursula's manservant Brockley is arrested for the crime. Determined to prove Brockley's innocence, Ursula seeks help from her old mentor Lord Burghley. But when a second...

Ursula Blanchard must acquire a mysterious medieval manuscript in the latest enthralling historical adventure. February, 1577. Sir William Cecil has a dangerous new mission for Ursula Blanchard. He has asked her to visit Stonemoor House on the bleak Yorkshire moors, the home of a group of recusant women led by Abbess Philippa Gould. In their possession is an ancient book, and the Queen's advisor, Dr John Dee, is eager to get hold of it. However, while...

"March, 1581. Queen Elizabeth is once again being urged to consider marriage to the Duke of Alenc̦on, a French Catholic twenty years her junior. The prospect of the match is causing unrest throughout the kingdom. Ursula however has more immediate matters to worry about when her 9-year-old son is snatched away while out riding. If she is ever to see him again, Ursula must undertake an impossibly difficult and dangerous mission - and commit an act...

"February, 1586. When the queen's spymaster learns that Ursula is to visit her relatives in Devon, he asks her to find out what has happened to two of his local agents. On arrival in the small village of Zeal Aquatico, Ursula discovers that both spies in question have met with mysterious - and fatal - accidents. Or is there more to it than that?"--Back cover.

March, 1588. With England in a state of high alert as King Philip of Spain amasses a vast fleet of warships ready to invade, Queen Elizabeth and her advisors seek a possible alliance with the Duke of Parma, Governor of the Netherlands. But their plans suffer a major setback when one of their most reliable spies is found murdered in the Hertfordshire countryside, shot dead by a crossbow bolt as he was transporting secret correspondence between the...

April, 1590. Ursula Stannard, the queen's half-sister and occasional secret agent, has just left Sir Francis Walsingham's funeral when she is summoned back to her childhood home, Faldene House, by her aunt. Uncle Herbert has died suddenly from natural causes, but Ursula's arrival in the Sussex Downs triggers a shocking sequence of death and devastation. Through her service to the queen, Ursula has made dangerous enemies. The formidable Mercer brothers...