Ursula Blanchard mysteries

Lady-in-waiting Ursula Blanchard is sent by Queen Elizabeth I to visit a scholar's home where she was the children's governess. Ostensibly a social call, the trip is to investigate a report of a plot to overthrow the queen.

After receiving a threatening letter from the Countess of Norhumberland, Ursula Blanchard, special aide to Queen Elizabeth I, witnesses a series of strange events in her household and is soon accused of being a witch.

July, 1573. Recently widowed, Ursula Blanchard is living a quiet life on her Surrey estate, caring for her infant son. But her peaceful existence is shattered when Ursula's neighbour Jane Cobbold is found dead in her own flowerbed, stabbed through the heart with a silver dagger - and Ursula's manservant Brockley is arrested for the crime. Determined to prove Brockley's innocence, Ursula seeks help from her old mentor Lord Burghley. But when a second...

"February, 1577. Sir William Cecil has a dangerous new mission for Ursula Blanchard. He has asked her to visit Stonemoor House on the bleak Yorkshire moors, the home of a group of recusant women led by Abbess Philippa Gould. In their possession is an ancient book, and the Queen's advisor, Dr. John Dee, is eager to get hold of it. However, while the Abbess is anxious to sell the book, others such as her half-sister Bella believe it to be heretical...

When Ursula's young son is kidnapped, she is lured into an impossible dilemma. March, 1581. Queen Elizabeth is once again being urged to consider marriage to the Duke of Alençon, a French Catholic twenty years her junior. The prospect of the match is causing unrest throughout the kingdom. Ursula Blanchard however has more immediate matters to worry about when her 9-year-old son is snatched away while out riding. If she is ever to see him again, Ursula...

"When the queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, learns that Ursula is to visit her relatives in Devon, he asks her to find out what has happened to two of his local agents, who have been strangely silent recently. On arrival in the small Devon village of Zeal Aquatico, Ursula discovers that both spies in question have met with mysterious--and fatal--accidents. Or is there more to it than that? What did the two spies find out that got them killed?...

"As King Philip of Spain prepares to invade England, Ursula heads to Brussels on a desperate mission ... March, 1588. With England in a state of high alert as King Philip of Spain amasses a vast fleet of warships ready to invade, Queen Elizabeth and her advisors seek a possible alliance with the Duke of Parma, Governor of the Netherlands. But their plans suffer a major setback when one of their most reliable spies is found murdered in the Hertfordshire...

"April, 1590. Ursula Stannard, the queen's half-sister and occasional secret agent, has just left Sir Francis Walsingham's funeral when she is summoned back to her childhood home, Faldene House, by her aunt. Uncle Herbert has died suddenly from natural causes, but Ursula's arrival in the Sussex Downs triggers a shocking sequence of death and devastation. Through her service to the queen, Ursula has made dangerous enemies. The formidable Mercer brothers...