A Web of Silk (Ursula Blanchard Series #17)

by Fiona Buckley

Overview

Ursula’s quiet life on her Surrey estate is thrown into chaos by the arrival of a new neighbour in this absorbing Tudor mystery.

August, 1582. The queen’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, has ordered Ursula to keep an eye on her new neighbour, Giles Frost, who is rumoured to be spying for King Philip of Spain. Arriving at Knoll House on the pretext of teaching his two daughters embroidery, Ursula’s secret mission is to feed false information to Frost to pass on to the Spanish.

Walsingham has assured Ursula that she’ll be in no danger. But events take a decidedly sinister turn when a body is found in the woods near Ursula’s home, a stained glass window is smashed and a bridal dowry is stolen.

What secrets are contained within the Knoll House … and is Ursula being lured into a lethal trap?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780291130
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	06/01/2019
Series:	Ursula Blanchard Series , #17
Edition description:	First World Publication
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	860,047
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Fiona Buckley is the author of sixteen previous Ursula Blanchard mysteries, and a historical saga, Late Harvest. Under her real name, Valerie Anand, she is the author of numerous historical novels, including the much-loved Bridges Over Time series. Brought up in London, she now lives in Surrey.

Editorial Reviews

04/08/2019

Set in 1582, Buckley’s engrossing 16th Ursula Blanchard mystery (after 2017’s A Deadly Betrothal) finds the widowed half-sister of Elizabeth I—now going by Ursula Stannard, the surname of her late husband—working once again for the queen’s spymaster, Francis Walsingham, who asks her to pay an extended visit to Giles Frost, a merchant suspected of aiding the Spanish. Ursula is to travel to Frost’s manor, Knoll House, for the ostensible purpose of teaching his daughters embroidery. Her real job will be to feed Frost misleading information about England’s naval resources, which, Walsingham hopes, will help deter Spanish aggression. Just before Ursula departs, an acquaintance, Julius Stagg, begs her to search for the costly silver saltcellar he claims Frost stole from him. Though Stagg’s tale strikes Ursula as unlikely, she agrees. At Knoll House, she does Walsingham’s bidding and searches surreptitiously for the stolen object, but the discovery of a dead body complicates her mission. Though this outing’s plot is less dramatic than others in the series, fans of Tudor historicals who value authentic period color will be rewarded. (June)

Publishers Weekly

2019-03-18
The fallout from a previous exploit comes back to haunt Queen Elizabeth's half sister.

Mistress Ursula Stannard, who'd like to lead a quiet life caring for her estates and raising her son, Harry, is disturbed by a visit from Sir Robert Dudley, who tells her that he's just sold neighboring Knoll House to widower Giles Frost, a Catholic merchant. When Ursula receives a message from Walsingham, the queen's spymaster, she knows something unpleasant is coming her way. Before she can answer his summons, her servant Roger Brockley, her partner in many a dangerous adventure, finds his son, Philip Sandley, shot dead by a crossbow. Although Philip had been involved in the kidnapping of Harry (The Reluctant Assassin, 2018), Brockley grieves his only child and vows to find his killers. When Ursula travels to Greenwich Palace, Walsingham asks what seems like a small favor: for her to go to Knoll House with her companion, expert needlewoman Sybil Jester, and teach her new neighbor Frost's twin daughters, Joyce and Jayne, to embroider while dropping false information about the British fleet that Frost will pass on to the Spanish. But first she must take up the problem of a stained glass window in the local church that is so gruesome that it disturbs children and parishioners alike. She hires Master Julius Stagg, a designer and creator of stained glass, to replace the window, which someone's just broken. On a visit to the studio he shows her a magnificent chest that holds a stunning silver salt cellar he's giving his niece Eleanor as a part of her wedding dowry. Soon thereafter, Stagg and a tearful Eleanor beg her to search for the chest, which they claim has been stolen and hidden at Knoll House. Despite her misgivings and the advice of her friends, Ursula agrees—a mistake that will put her and Brockley in far worse peril than some of her most harrowing tasks for the queen.

More cerebral than many of Ursula's prior escapades but still an authentic Elizabethan cliffhanger.

Kirkus Reviews

'The entry in Buckley's authentically detailed mystery series will please fans of historical whodunits and Elizabethan-era-fiction.'

Booklist

'The entry in Buckley's authentically detailed mystery series will please fans of historical whodunits and Elizabethan-era-fiction.'

Booklist

'More cerbral than many of Ursula's proir escapades but still an authentic Elizabethan cliffhanger.' Kirkus Reviews

'Engrossing... fans of Tudor historical who value authentic period color will be rewarded.' Publishers Weekly

'The entry in Buckley's authentically detailed mystery series will please fans of historical whodunits and Elizabethan-era-fiction.' Booklist

From the Publisher