A Pawn for a Queen: An Ursula Blanchard Mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's Court [Mass Market Paperback]

Fiona Buckley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ursula Blanchard Mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's Court | Publication Date: November 1, 2003

A quiet life at Withysham with her young daughter is all that widowed Ursula Blanchard desires. But as the waiting woman and spy for Queen Elizabeth I, she forfeits her needs for the sake of those she is pledged to protect -- even at her own peril....

Ursula's relatives enlist her help when her cousin, Edward Faldene, heads to Scotland carrying a dangerous weapon: a secret list of families loyal to Elizabeth's rival, Mary, Queen of Scots. Desperate to stop the treasonous mission, Ursula rides north in haste to intercept her cousin. It is a journey made without royal permission, and one made in vain....Ursula arrives in Edinburgh too late -- and finds herself tracking a killer inside the Scottish queen's court. Whom can she trust? Mary, the enemy, who is in fact kind and charming? Her genial courtiers? The aristocrat who vies for Ursula's heart? Every player falls under suspicion in a sinister game in which, for a queen, everyone is a pawn.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Against her better judgment, Ursula Blanchard (To Shield the Queen) goes to Scotland to head off her cousin Edward, who is bearing a seditious list of families loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots. But she finds Edward dead, and her efforts to locate the murderer-and the list-lead her into the dark heart of Anglo-Scottish politics and the clutches of one very fiendish laird. Though Ursula's ventures can seem far-fetched, rousing writing and a tension-filled plot carry the day. For most collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The sixth installment in the Ursula Blanchard series is another cleverly plotted whodunit, jam-packed with action, suspense, and court intrigue. Ursula, widowed lady-in-waiting and secret agent for Queen Elizabeth I, sets off for Scotland planning to convince her cousin not to commit treason. By leaving England without permission, however, she endangers her own favored position with the queen. Once in Scotland, Ursula discovers her kinsman has been killed, embroils herself in the political schemes of Mary Queen of Scots, and becomes the object of desire of an obsessive Scottish nobleman with questionable loyalties to the crown. A pawn in an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse, Ursula must rely on her wits alone to protect the queen, solve a murder, and extricate herself from a potentially disastrous relationship. Like Edward Marston in his Nicholas Bracewell series, Buckley adeptly captures the spirit and the drama of the Elizabethan Age. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Pocket; Reprint edition (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743410319
• ISBN-13: 978-0743410311
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,393,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars powerful Ursula Blanchard mystery, December 20, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Pawn for a Queen : An Ursula Blanchard Mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's Court (Hardcover)

In 1565, Ursula Blanchard mourns the death of her husband Matthew de la Roche at her English estate Withyshem given to her by Queen Elizabeth I for her services to the crown. Ursula is ready to retire from her life as a secret agent when her relatives the Faldenes ask her to find their son, her cousin Edward, who is traveling to Scotland to give a list of English sympathizers to Mary, Queen of Scots.

Even though she has little love for the Faldenes, Ursula doesn't want to see her cousin hang for treason nor does she want the list to fall into Mary's hands. Ursula and her tirewoman Fran Dale and her manservant Roger Brockley travel into Scotland only to find Edward dead, the victim of an assassin's blade. Instead of going home, Ursula chooses to stay in Scotland to track down the list and find out who killed her cousin. This decision will cost her dearly.

The heroine of this tale acts like a modern day woman with her independence, decisiveness and willingness to go after what she wants.. Her sense of loyalty to family and her queen is admirable even though by going to Scotland without royal permission she knows she could be accused of treason. Fiona Buckley is a gifted storyteller who recreates with accuracy an era long gone but quite vivid in the minds of readers. Fans of this series will be delighted to know that the sixth Ursula Blanchard mystery has a startling revelation as well as a wedding to attend.

Harriet Klausner

5.0 out of 5 stars Ursula and the Scots, October 19, 2009

By 

Sandra T. Maxwell "Celtic girl" (Salem, Virginia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Pawn for a Queen: An Ursula Blanchard Mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's Court (Mass Market Paperback)

Once more, Fiona Buckley's Tudor era woman spy, Ursula Blanchard, is on the road. She has two reasons to head north to the wilds of England and on into Scotland: Her aunt and uncle with whom she had lived as a "dogsbody" (an old term for 'servant')now recognize her as someone they must have search for their son,who has gone to Scotland to deliver a list of names of those against Queen Elizabeth and for her Cousin, Mary Stuart, once the Queen of France, now Queen of Scotland. Ursula hopes to catch up with her cousin and destroy the list. After all, she is Queen Elizabeth's and Secretary of State William Cecil's spy and she is loyal to that. She finds her cousin has been killed, the list is gone. Since part of her trip requires her to see Mary Stuart, she gets an invite to Holyrood. She is almost caught up and Mary's wiles, but manages to stay alert to her reason for being there. This book is hard to describe unless you have some knowledge of both Queens and why Mary Stuart was so appealing. A very interesting part of the story concerns a Scottish Lord who falls for Ursula, kidnapping her. He tells her he will tell her who killed her cousin - and who has the list, if she will marry him. She makes a counter-offer: I won't marry you, but I will sleep with you for the information. I almost felt sorry for the burly Lord; but to find out what happens, you'll have to read this book for yourself!

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A new fork in the road., December 20, 2002

By 

Cecile - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Pawn for a Queen : An Ursula Blanchard Mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's Court (Hardcover)

The prologue starts with the impending wedding of Ursula to an unknown person. What follows is the story of how she came to her decision to remarry soon after the death of her French Catholic husband Matthew de la Roche.
Ursula goes on an unathorized trip in pursue of her traitor cousin Edward at the behest of her estranged Aunt and Uncle. After an exhausting trip to Scotland to stop Edward from delivering a list of Catholic sympathizers to Queen Mary, see finds her cousin murdered.

Ursula set out to investigate his death in the courts of Mary of Scotland and the her "supporters". There she expriences unwanted attentions from a suiter that culminates in a dual. An not unexpected revealation is made about Ursula's paternaty and all ends with her proposal to a character she meets on her adventure to Scotland
This book takes the series in a new direction. Though she claims to want a change of pace from her secret agent days she seems hardly sure. Since the marriage hasn't occured, so there is a cliffhanger at the end (or beginning).