Queen Without a Crown

At the start of Buckley’s solid ninth Elizabethan historical (after 2004’s The Siren Queen), Mark Easton, a messenger, brings news to Elizabeth I about a plot to free Mary, queen of Scots, from captivity in England. Easton also has a personal request for Ursula Stannard (formerly Blanchard), lady-in-waiting to her half-sister, Elizabeth, and retired spy. More than 20 years earlier, Easton’s father, Gervase, was suspected of tampering with the food of a womanizer with designs on Easton’s mother. Gervase committed suicide after coming under suspicion, but left a letter swearing his innocence of the crime that Easton just happened upon. Ursula agrees to help Easton clear his father’s name, but she has an uphill battle, as few of the original witnesses are still alive. Readers not expecting Buckley to equal the quality of a Rory Clements or C.J. Sansom will be satisfied. (Feb.)