{"title":"Mystery At Queen Elizabeth I's Court","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"queen-s-ransom-book-fiona-buckley-9780671032937","title":"Queen's Ransom","description":"Ursula Blanchard is the essence of iron cloaked in velvet -- a heroine to reckon with, said Kirkus Reviews of Fiona Buckley's intrepid sleuth. And the sharp-witted Lady of the Presence Chamber will need every ounce of her courage if she is to carry out her latest mission on behalf of Queen Elizabeth I without betraying her own heart.\u003cp\u003eEager for a respite from intrigue and moral ambiguities, Ursula agrees to travel to France to help her first husband's father bring his young ward home to England. But duty soon calls. Fearing that the pro-Catholic forces threatening to tear France asunder will spread to Protestant England, the Queen instructs Ursula to personally deliver a secret letter to Catherine de Medicis, offering to mediate the crisis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot only will the perilous journey separate her from her young daughter, it will bring Ursula closer to a man she can neither trust nor forget -- her estranged second husband, Matthew de la Roche, avowed Catholic and enemy of Elizabeth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs it becomes clear that someone seeks to thwart her mission, she realizes she can trust no one but herself, and that only she can uncover the truth hidden in the shadows of treason, greed, and desire that darken her way.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49503965806865,"sku":"GOR001796535","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49661655548177,"sku":"GOR010027266","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0671032933.jpg?v=1750742636"},{"product_id":"doublet-affair-book-fiona-buckley-9780671015329","title":"The Doublet Affair","description":"A tantalizing re-creation of Elizabethan life and manners told with intelligence and wit, raved \u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e upon the publication of \u003ci\u003eTo Shield the Queen, \u003c\/i\u003e the volume that introduced twenty-six-year-old Ursula Blanchard, Lady of the Presence Chamber to Queen Elizabeth I, and one of the most entrancing mystery heroines to come along in many a season. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eYoung Ursula knows it can be treacherous easing herself into the petty foibles at court, but now, having once saved the Virgin Queen from political disaster, she faces an even greater challenge. Sortie of Ursula's old acquaintances may be plotting to overthrow Elizabeth in favor of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the re-establishment of the Catholic faith. Ardent, some would say fanatical, believers will stop at nothing -- smuggling, counterfeiting, civil war, perhaps murder -- to further their cause. One of Elizabeth's spies is already dead and the clues to his death point in a troubling direction. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMost disturbing to Ursula is whether her old friends Ann and Leonard Mason could be mixed up in a treasonous plot against the Queen. There have been rumors that all is not as it should be with the Masons. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSecretary of state Sir William Cecil needs his own spy in the Mason home and Ursula is the obvious choice, She knows the family, she can justify her visit by helping to care for the Masons' five children, and she can perhaps use her newly acquired skill at lockpiching to uncover some surprising truths. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTorn between her devotion to Elizabeth, still a young woman like herself, and her longing to be reunited with her exiled Catholic husband, Matthew, in France, Ursula makes a difficult bargain that balances personal happiness against duty to Queen and country. Her journey takes her into dangerous territory eventually into the underground cells of the Tower of London itself Whatever happens, she will never again be quite as trusting or quite as secure.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49643831165201,"sku":"GOR013698325","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49711402647825,"sku":"CIN067101532XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51694068498705,"sku":"CIN067101532XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/067101532X.jpg?v=1751231193"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/mystery-at-queen-elizabeth-i-s-court-book-series.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}