Queen of Ambition

November 12, 2001
Ursula Blanchard, lady-in-waiting and espionage agent to Queen Elizabeth I, shows her usual flare in dealing with murder and intrigue in Buckley's fifth engrossing Elizabethan mystery (after 2000's To Ruin a Queen). In the early summer of 1564, Ursula is at Withysham, her country manor house, where she and her eight-year-old daughter are waiting for the plague to end in France so that they may join her husband at their home in the Loire Valley. Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth is preparing a Royal Progress to Cambridge University. Ordered to court earlier than expected, Ursula learns that the queen's Secretary of State, Sir William Cecil, is fearful about a student play to be presented to the queen just after she enters the town and greets the public. Ursula and her good friend, Rob Henderson, are sent ahead to investigate. Going undercover in her housekeeper's dress, Ursula takes a job at the pie shop frequented by Cambridge students and across the street from where the play is to be performed. A student death, complicated ciphers and a runaway wife make for a suspenseful story. As in previous novels in the series, the author expertly blends historical fact and fiction. Although the conclusion may not satisfy some readers and minor characters are merely names, the challenging plot and winning heroine will satisfy existing historical fans and should attract new ones. (Jan. 3)FYI:Fiona Buckley is the pseudonym of British author Valerie Anand.