Severn House Publishers
Featuring: Queen Elizabeth; Ursula Blanchard; George Harrison
218 pages ISBN: 1780290977 EAN: 9781780290973 Kindle: B073QBL6BM Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
We start the adventure in July, 1579, as our heroine the
widowed Ursula
Blanchard searches a fir wood in Surrey
for a missing lad - or his body. I've read several books in
the series named for this redoubtable lady, and A DEADLY
BETROTHAL is number fifteen but a fan of historical
mysteries can jump in anywhere. Mistress Blanchard, also
known as Stannard, introduces herself, as a minor relative
of royalty, someone useful to the Crown on occasion.
This trip to Surrey is at the behest of Ursula's aunt, who
has a family tangle that needs to be resolved. Heading off
with a couple of servants, her little boy Harry and her
favoured black mare, Ursula is expecting only some stifling
society, but ends up involved in the doings of a furrier
George Harrison, who had one family and left them for a
richer widow. Now he's come back to his wife and expects to
be looked after in his old age. The cheek of him! George
has the further impudence to pass on a scurrilous rumour
about a young woman in the family, causing her a lot of
trouble.
Another marriage is being proposed, between Queen Elizabeth
and Francis, Duke of Anjou, to ally England with France.
The Queen is uneasy about the matter and asks the
trustworthy Ursula to attend her at Hampton Court. Nice to
be in demand, but Court fashions tend to be expensive. To
assist her with costs, Ursula is asked to pass messages by
the Queen's spymaster - a request she really can't refuse.
I always feel impressed by the attention to detail in these
mysteries by Fiona Buckley. From the ruling Norman family
trees to the embellishments on gentlemen's fashions, legal
issues and good stabling for mounts, not forgetting the
lives of working folks, we feel immersed in the period. A
further trip brings us to Cornwall to visit a land
inheritance and a tin mine. I was interested to learn that
if a silver mine was found, the Crown took it over, so a
tin mine was much preferred by the landowner. I did feel
that we spend a lot of time setting up these situations as
Ursula has to go travelling everywhere, meeting new people
constantly. That doesn't make A DEADLY BETROTHAL tedious
however; and an upset is never long in coming. Death is
rightly demonstrated to be a tragedy for a family. Ursula
herself does not come out unscathed, but we'll see her in
another adventure.
Queen Elizabeth’s proposed engagement to a Catholic
Duke is causing turmoil throughout the kingdom in the
gripping new Ursula Blanchard mystery.
July, 1579. Called upon to help a family friend who is
horrified at the return of her errant husband after an
absence of thirty years, little does Ursula realize that
her involvement in the Harrison family’s domestic dramas
will lead to a case of cold-blooded murder.
Matters become even more complicated when Ursula is
summoned to court to assist in negotiations for Queen
Elizabeth’s possible engagement to the Duke of Alençon.
The proposed marriage between the queen and a French
Catholic twenty years her junior is causing unrest
throughout the kingdom. There are many who oppose the
match – but would someone kill in order to prevent it?
Tensions increase when a prominent nobleman is accused of
murder. Ursula is convinced the man is innocent – but can
she prove it?
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy