To Shield the Queen

Buckley makes use of some happily anachronistic narration in a lively mystery series kickoff set in 1560. Impoverished but well-born, Ursula Blanchard is blessed not only with the sharp tongue and quick wit characteristic of Elizabethan England but also with a very modern self-awareness. Ursula, newly widowed at 26, also has enough skills--both literary and mathematical--to impress her majesty, Elizabeth I, into taking her on as a lady-in-waiting. Can the young queen, 18 months into her reign, control the schemers and plotters, the sowers of religious dissent and the scandalmongers who permeate her court? To dispel rumors of an unsuitable alliance with her master of horse, Robin Dudley, and to assure the court that she means his ailing young wife no harm, the queen sends Ursula herself to care for the woman. Despite Ursula's vigilance, Amy Dudley dies under suspicious circumstances. Was she murdered? Ursula and her two loyal but sometimes exasperating servants, after some haphazard but fruitful sleuthing, uncover a complex plot that hints at treason. In her first mystery, former journalist and editor Buckley shows a deft hand with strong characterization and creates a plot that spins merrily and wickedly through palace, manor house and intensely beautiful countryside. Ursula is a force to be reckoned with--audacious, intensely loyal and beguiling. Her relationship with the young queen is just one of the elements that make this a promising series debut. (Nov.)