The Doublet Affair

Elizabethan sleuth Ursula Blanchard returns in a worthy follow-up to To Shield the Queen (1997). Ursula, lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I, is the only female spy employed by the queen's right-hand man, William Cecil. A widow with a small daughter, she has been forced into a clandestine marriage with Catholic aristocrat Matthew de la Roche, who has escaped the Protestant Elizabeth's clutches and returned to France. Ursula is requested by the queen and Cecil to retire temporarily from court and to stay--and spy--at the home of Leonard and Ann Mason, who are suspected of harboring sympathies for the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots. Working undercover as a governess, Ursula seeks to gather information on a conspiracy that may involve a London clockmaker and the Masons' tutor. She is helped significantly by her married servants, Fern Dale and Roger Brockley, whose homespun wholesomeness provides a nice foil to the intrigues of the bluebloods who drive the tale. Witty and courageous, Ursula finds her life threatened but forges on, unraveling the conspiracy and, ultimately, making a fateful decision regarding her future. Once again, Buckley pens an intricate tale rich in period detail and vivid characters. Among writers of historical mysteries, she stands out for the attention and skill she brings not only to suspenseful plotting but to the setting that supports it. (Nov.)