Ursula Blanchard mysteries

Happily married to her third husband, Hugh Stannard, lady-in-waiting Ursula Blanchard is hoping to give up her undercover work for Queen Elizabeth l in order to enjoy domestic bliss. But when Hugh unwittingly endangers possession of his ancestral home, Ursula is forced to take on a seemingly hopeless - but handsomely paid - private assignment, which the Queen spots is the perfect cover for a covert investigation into a group of rebel barons plotting...

Ursula, traveling to the Netherlands to escort her foster daughter to meet her suitor, also investigates whether or not a wealthy Italian banker is plotting to put Mary, Queen of Scots on the English throne.

January, 1576. Widow Ursula Blanchard is in no position to refuse when Sir Francis Walsingham decides she must wed Count Gilbert Renard in order to build a strategic alliance with the French. Soon after the count arrives at her country home to pay court, one of Ursula's household staff is found dead. An accident - or something more sinister?

"July, 1579. Called upon to help a family friend who is horrified at the return of her errant husband after an absence of thirty years, little does Ursula realize that her involvement in the Harrison family's domestic dramas will lead to a case of cold-blooded murder. Matters become even more complicated when Ursula is summoned to court to assist in negotiations for Queen Elizabeth's possible engagement to the Duke of Alencon. The proposed marriage...

"August, 1582. The queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, has ordered Ursula to keep an eye on her new neighbor, 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...

"May, 1586. Ursula and her retinue return home from a lengthy trip to discover she has an unexpected visitor. Etheldreda Hope is a simple countrywoman who has come to Ursula with disturbing tales of strange goings-on in her rural village. Fearing that Etheldreda's reports of mysterious forest rites indicate a possible conspiracy to overthrow Queen Elizabeth in favour of her cousin, Mary Stuart, the queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, orders...

The queen's half-sister, Ursula Stannard, returns to solve another Tudor mystery in this page-turning tale of suspicious riches, murder and hidden treasures - can she find the golden cargoes?--

"1594. Ursula Stannard is attending on her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth, when she receives an urgent summons from Sir Robert Cecil. Cornishman Master Roskilly was fished out of the sea by Sir Francis Godolphin, and has a shocking tale of being snatched by pirates and put on a slave vessel to Constantinople before his audacious escape. And he's not the only one . . . Folk in Cornwall are mysteriously disappearing. But why are only exceptional or unusual...