Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
The Doublet Affair
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon UK PB Amazon UK HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Fiona Buckley
Class/Genre: Mystery Historical
Series: Ursula Blanchard # 2
Scribner, Nov 1998, $21.00, 304 pp.
In 1561, Lady Ursula Blanchard is elated that her beloved spouse Matthew is willing to take her back after she left him to perform a duty for Queen Elizabeth I (see TO SHIELD THE QUEEN). Ursula quickly makes up her mind to retire from spying and quietly live with her husband and daughter. However, to leave England for France where her husband resides requires Elizabeth's blessing and her majesty knows that Matthew wants to put Mary on the throne. Instead the Queen rejects Ursula's request and tasks her with an assignment.
Ursula accepts a job as companion to the children of Ann and Leonard Mason. The Queen and her advisor Sir William Cecil believe the couple is planning treason against her highness. Elizabeth wants the details and Ursula is her dupe to obtain them even if it places her life in jeopardy.
The second novel in the Ursula Blanchard historical mysteries is a great amateur sleuth tale that takes readers inside the political treacheries that swirl throughout the higher echelon of sixteenth century England. The authentic story line is a winner that will please fans of the sub-genre. However, it is the characters and their interplay that turns Fiona Buckley's THE DOUBLET AFFAIR into a delectable novel is must reading.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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