A Rescue For A Queen (An Ursula Blanchard Elizabethan Mystery) by Fiona Buckley

Ursula Blanchard #11

by Fiona Buckley

The eleventh enthralling adventure to feature Ursula Blanchard, reluctant spy in the service of Queen Elizabeth I. February, 1571. Ursula is once more plunged into affairs of the state when she escorts her foster daughter Margaret to the Netherlands to meet her suitor. The queen’s spymaster, Sir William Cecil, learns that the wealthy Italian banker Roberto Ridolfi will be hosting their forthcoming wedding – a man who he fears may once again be plotting to put Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne. But Ursula is also about to come face-to-face with her greatest enemy – and the exiled Countess of Northumberland is not the only figure from Ursula’s past to put in a surprising appearance. 

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, Historical Mystery, British Literature, Adult

Hardcover

First published May 1, 2013

About the author

Valerie Anand is a British author of historical fiction. Under the pen name Fiona Buckley she writes the series of historical mysteries, set in the reign of Elizabeth I of England, featuring "Ursula Blanchard" (whose full name is Ursula Faldene Blanchard de la Roche Stannard). Under her own name she writes historical fiction based on the royalty of England and the Bridges over Time series which follows a family from the eleventh century through the nineteenth century.

Series:
* Ursula Blanchard

Reviews

[Barbara Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read. Ursula is the half sister to Elizabeth I and is an aide to her by being a "spy" for her working with Cecil, Lord Burghley. This novel is based mainly in Europe where Ursula has been sent, under the cover of escorting a young lady to her wedding in the Netherlands. She is entrusted in finding out who is involved in a plot to put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne of England, a plot which unfortunately Cecil believes the Queen's own cousin, the Duke of Norfolk, maybe involved. At times Ursula and her party are chased by the Inquisition as they try to head back to England with vital information for Cecil and the Queen.

[Joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited to discover that Fiona Buckley had started publishing new books in the Ursula Blanchard series. I only wish that my excitement had continued as I read through these later installments in the series.

One of the hallmarks of a good series is that you become familiar with, and really get to know, the recurring characters that the author has created. Unfortunately, Buckley seems to need to remind the reader - or maybe herself - of who each member of the cast is every single time that they appear. One solution to this problem would be to reduce the cast included per novel. Another would be to trust that the reader remembers that Fran Dale and Roger Brockley are married, that Dale does not always trust Brockley and Ursula, and that Brockley and Ursula almost became more than manservant and mistress one specific night many many years ago - without having to mention it over and over again. Seriously, it comes up so much that, with Ursula being the narrator, you begin to feel that the lady doth protest too much.

Also, Ursula is at her best when she is trying to ferret out information for Queen Elizabeth. In this installment, it feels as if there is no specific information that she is trying to obtain. They are simply playing a game of putting her in deeper and deeper peril until such time as their enemies may reveal themselves and she can report back. Meh. Also, the book harkens back to the early books in the series and has Ursula be rescued from a kidnapping by good old Matthew de la Roche. Which is fine, but feels tired by this point in the series.

Although I didn't find this book to be especially satisfying, it did cure me of wishing for more installments of the series. The sparkle and suspense of the earlier books is sorely lacking.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Sometimes I become impatient with background info meant to apprise the reader of facts that took place in previous novels in the series. But I keep coming back to this series for the schooling I receive about the political intrigue surrounding the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. By the end of this novel I was quite caught up in the flight for Ursula’s life out of Spain and away from the Inquisition in a country she was coerced to travel to in an effort to gain information about supporters of Mary Queen of Scots and their attempt to raise an army against Elizabeth through foreign powers.
Fascinating and to be continued in the next in series..

[Ruhani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this. The story revolves around a plot to put Mary Stuart in the English throne but the story is set mostly in Netherlands and Spain. An easy read with the story moving across three countries. Love Ursula and her team and how they handle their own personal issues amidst the spying and intrigue going on all around them.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I'm being generous in giving three stars. Like other readers here, I loved the original series and was thrilled when Fiona Buckley revived the series! But I don't feel the magical spark that the earlier books had. I'm frankly sick of Dale being so hysterically jealous of Ursula and Brockley. Maybe I'm naive, but I think there is more than one kind of love, as even Dale admits in this current book. Brockley loves Dale or he wouldn't have married her. And unless there is a cruel streak to Brockley that we haven't seen, he would never deliberately hurt his wife, even though his conflicting feelings for Ursula are very real and true as well. There can be an intense love and even attraction between two people in the kind of situation that Brockley and Ursula are in, but it doesn't follow that they have to act on it (which they got close to once, but aren't we all human and haven't we all been tempted by the forbidden?). Dale is just so insecure in her marriage I just want to slap her at this point and tell her to get over it.

Also: I hope I'm not the only person who wishes Matthew de la Roche would fall off a cliff and die a horrible death. WHY did Fiona Buckley have to throw HIM into the mix yet again? Yes, I can understand Ursula having a physical and emotional obsession over him - clearly the chemistry between them is magnetic. But if she can show such restraint with Brockley, WHY can she not do the same with Matthew? It's like she loses all her common sense and wisdom as soon as he walks in the door, even though he's a Catholic conspiring left and right to have her half-sister Elizabeth I dethroned and executed (whom she's so loyal to and risks her life for in more and more absurd ways as this series drags on). She KNOWS he's trouble and KNOWS it's a bad idea - and sleeps with him anyway and gets pregnant by him AGAIN even though she keeps saying she's terrified of dying in childbirth. To put it crudely, if you sleep with a guy and he doesn't withdraw before he's done, you are playing Russian Roulette with the stork. She's a grown woman and she KNOWS this but that doesn't stop her. Oh well, she's human, as are we all - and humans do dumb things. Human nature never ever changes haha.

Forgive my rant, I'm mostly venting out of disappointment and frustration. I think I'm done with this series. I think at some point I'll read the individual books I loved so much way back when. But the new ones? I think I'll just conveniently forget they exist.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 11th installment in Fiona Buckley's Ursula Blanchard series was better than her previous effort "Queen's Bounty," which was frankly boring.

Unlike other readers I don't have a problem with Buckley re-introducing Matthew de la Roche in "A Rescue for a Queen" (you just KNEW he was going to show up again after Ursula found out he was still alive, or else what was the point of bringing him back?) or Ursula's sleeping with him again (because let's face it, lust can make us do really stupid things) or with Dale's hysterical jealousy of Ursula and Brockley (I actually know some people like that).

What I do have a problem with is the way Ursula can't stand up to Cecil and the Queen and "Just Say No" to the way they manipulate her into going on really lame missions in a quest for vague information which puts her into dangerous situations.

Cecil has said that he doesn't really like sending women on dangerous missions and Queen Elizabeth presumably doesn't want to put her half-sister in peril, so they should understand if Ursula tells them, "Sorry, not this time."

But I guess if she did that, Buckley wouldn't have a series to write about anymore, would she? It just seems like the way they maneuvered her into this latest mission was a little too much.

The coincidences are also a little too much in this book (Roberto Ridolfi just HAPPENS to be related to the man Ursula's ward intends to marry and is hosting the wedding. How convenient!) but coincidences seem to be a stock in trade of mystery writers.

I started reading this series not because I'm a fan of mysteries per se, but because I'm fascinated with the Elizabethan era and was interested in how Buckley would portray a female espionage agent in that time.

I thought she did really well in the earlier books of the series (read "To Shield The Queen," "Queen's Ransom," "To Ruin A Queen," and "A Pawn for A Queen"), but it seems like the latest books are getting a little contrived.

I will still keep reading this series for now to see if Buckley manages to recapture the spark that made me fall in love with it in the first place, but I think I'll borrow the next book from the library before deciding whether to spend money on it.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps I should stop reading these books, despite my deep affection for them, because I find them really frustrating. They look and sound a bit like the books I love, but are shallower, or more repetitive.

[Kimberly Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the inside flap: "February 1571. When Ursula's foster daughter Margaret receives a proposal of marriage from a Dutchman she barely knows, her estranged parents ask Ursula to escort her to the Netherlands to meet her suitor. But Ursula's journey has a deeper purpose. When the Queen's spy-master Sir William Cecil (Lord Burghley) learns that banker Roberto Ridolfi will be honoring the wedding celebrations, he asks Ursula to find out what he's (Ridolfi) up to. For Cecil fears that Ridolfi may be plotting to put Mary Queen of Scots on the English Throne.

And, so, once again, Ursula finds herself reluctantly engaged in affairs of the state. her reluctance is well-founded; for in the Netherlands she will come face to face with her greatest enemy - and the exiled Countess of Northumberland is not the only figure from Ursula's past to put in a surprising appearance."

There was a glaring error of blatant stupidity on Ursula's part which led her into the trap set by Anne Percy.. as well as the deliberate betrayal of Ursula's jealous retainer Fran Brockley. That knocked off one star!

The twist was a reintroduction of Ursula's past, which was well written.

[Cybercrone · Rating 2 out of 5]

No e-pub version showing again! That's what I read.
This book didn't manage to hold my attention at all.
I only gave it 2 stars because she seems to have done a lot of research, some of which was interesting. Other than that, the "plot" was simplistic, very easy to guess what happens next. The characters were bland and uninteresting, and the writing itself was just blah.
This is one series and writer I won't be sampling again.

[Kathleen Buckley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have enjoyed the series. I like historical novels with period detail, and I particularly like that the characters change over the course of the series, as people do in real life. The characters are likable (I really can't like a book if I can't like the characters) and seem generally not untrue to the period.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two and a half stars. I enjoy this series but found this book disappointing. Ursula and company traveled from one place to another, constantly saying it was time to go back to England, and then disaster would strike, preventing them from leaving, and leading to a new crisis. I hope this isn't a sign of a deterioration in this series.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Rescue for a Queen is a story that just goes on and on and then just stops. It is advertised as a thriller, but many of the situations that Ursula found herself in and rescues just seemed unbelievable. Consequently the book receives a good solid three stars for being a good story but not one that would be recommended.

[Vicki Kohl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buckley captures the sickening fear and anxiety Ursula and her attendants feel as they are far from help in Catholic Italy and the Spain of the Inquisition. But some of Ursula's actions and decisions seem too foolish for someone who wants to so desperately get out of the espionage business and to go home.

[Volare · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book as much as the previous ones. The story was too convoluted, with too many plot lines all thrown in, everything except the kitchen sink. Going to the Netherlands, getting abducted by the Duchess of Northumberland, I won't go on because there will be spoilers.

I just can't abide Dale and her complaining anymore.

I hope the next installment is better.

[Michell Karnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ursula a lady during the Elizabethan era is sent on a mission by Lord Burhley and her half sister the Queen to find evidence that Norfolk is planning to aid Mary Stuart in her quest for the Scottish throne and Elizabeth's as well. This mystery is well done and I hope to read more by this author.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book deeply flawed and terribly frustrating. Dale and Brockley are acting like two middle-schoolers in their first relationship. Ursula has the moral fortitude of a banana. And, by the way, it is not usually that easy for a woman in her mid-thirties to get pregnant THAT easily.

[Judy King · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stumbled onto this book, the 11th in a series of mysteries from the 1500s. Now I'm anxious to uncover earlier (and later) stories in this well-written saga about the Englishwoman who not only solves crimes, she occasionally takes on intelligence gathering for the crown.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

While interesting to travel to the Netherlands in this adventure, there were two drawbacks. How Ursula can keep traveling with a maid who is jealous and almost gets her killed is beyond me. The second is a surprise meeting first husband Mathew and what happens, is implausible.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series continues to be very entertaining and always fun.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Annoying, selfish, unlikeable main character. Story was interesting in places and dragged in others. Not sure I would read another in this series.

[Kristina Deluise · Rating 4 out of 5]

please see my deluise book series channel on you tube for the review

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

When her ward, Margaret becomes betrothed to a Dutchman, Ursula, accompanied by her servants, the Brockleys, travels to the Netherlands to see Margaret both wed and settled. Once there, she discovers that her presence can be useful to Cecil, in investigating a potential plot against Queen Elizabeth. Despite danger to herself and her servants, Ursula reluctantly undertakes the mission, never guessing how long and dangerous the road home may become. Recommended.

[Jane Bigelow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read one of the Ursula Blanchard series in quite awhile, and I wonder if that's one reason I enjoyed it more than some of the other Goodreads readers seem to have done. I enjoy the period details--accurate, where I'm able to judge--and the way that even minor characters such as Master van Weede have real personalities. And oh, my, can Buckley ever do suspense! Kidnappings, counter-kidnappings, runs for the border, oh yeah.

I love Ursula, even when she makes bad decisions. Indeed, sometimes I love her because she makes bad decisions. Lust overcomes good sense. Well, if I had an ex-husband (or is he?) like Matthew de la Roche, I might have the same problem! Handsome, witty, and capable of daring rescues, the man's certainly attractive even if his rescue methods are a bit cold-blooded.

For me, the reminders of who's who came in handy. I can readily see that they might be annoying to someone who's reading the series in more rapid succession. It's the problem that any long-running series faces: P.G. Wodehouse used to suggest that his constant readers go have a walk in the garden while he brought the new folks up to date. He would then do so with a neat little bit of exposition which you could skip if you really wanted to, though it was so witty that I never did. Current authors are strongly discouraged from doing this; slipping it in bit by bit is thought more natural. I'm not sure I agree.

I don't find Dale's jealousy repetitive. I think it's progressing. And I wonder what the author is going to do with that and certain other issues in the next book. We're getting close to the point where Elizabeth I was forced to overcome her reluctance to execute another anointed queen and order Mary Stuart's death.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The eleventh enthralling adventure to feature Ursula Blanchard, reluctant spy in the service of Queen Elizabeth I. February, 1571. Ursula is once more plunged into affairs of the state when she escorts her foster daughter Margaret to the Netherlands to meet her suitor. The queen’s spymaster, Sir William Cecil, learns that the wealthy Italian banker Roberto Ridolfi will be hosting their forthcoming wedding – a man who he fears may once again be plotting to put Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne. But Ursula is also about to come face-to-face with her greatest enemy – and the exiled Countess of Northumberland is not the only figure from Ursula’s past to put in a surprising appearance.

Ursula is a realist who gets unintentionally used by the court of Queen Elizabeth to spy. As people reveal their intentions, she is ever more in danger. SPOILER:

She is also a bit modern- sleeping with a former husband and getting pregnant, which she accepts. She is a bit of an agnostic in a pious world.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Ursula, her schemes, the characters, and the detail. I really appreciate the historical accuracy, even though the Spanish Inquisition repulses me beyond belief. I enjoyed the change of pace, in that Ursula not only has to find information but who is also traitorous to the Queen. I appreciate the new perspective that Elizabeth's decision to execute her sister, Mary, came after long, exhaustive periods of trying for alternative means to a solution. It caused me to do research to see if this was rather a writer's device or historical representation, and I'm glad to know that Fiona has stuck with the more truthful representation of details in her Ursula stories. I will continue reading the series and appreciate the change of pace.

[Jenni · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with a lot of the other reviewers...this is not the best book in the series. At times the story was fantastic and characteristic of the writing I've enjoyed in her other books. Several times, though, the writing seemed off...maybe poor editing? Transitions between time were especially weak...suddenly a chunk of time would pass in the story with a poor accounting of what occurred. The foreshadowing was clumsy and silly...this author has done much better in the past. I love Ursula's character but even I am tiring of her supposed rejections of missions. If she's not willing to continue this work, end the series. It's not entertaining to read her objections to a new adventure.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good entry in the series! Ursula is sent to the Netherlands as an escort for an English girl marrying a farmer from Brussels, BUT, while there she runs into some people from past adventures who definitely wish her ill - as well as her long-lost former husband! Her adventures this time land her in a disused wine cellar enroute to the Inquisition in Spain, from which she is extricated by said former husband - only to travel further into danger....

It all ends well in the end, as Ursula and her band of servants and friends foil yet another plot to dethrone Elizabeth and set Mary of Scots on the throne instead.

[Lalla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This the 11th adventure in the series of Ursula Blanchard and her adventures in protecting queen Elizabeth from plots to overthrow her. This story is very well written as Ursula travels to the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal to unravel a plot by Catholics to put Mary, Queen of Scots on the throne of England. The reader learns much about the religious conflicts that still raged during this time and the fear and terror of the Inquisition in Spain.
I like the way the author has the ongoing characters mature and change throughout the series.
This series combines good storytelling with an in depth look at this period of history. I am looking forward to next in the series.

[Martin Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really gripping in places, but I felt like I joined the story late. This is not the first in the Ursula Blanchard series and it would certainly have helped to have a bit more of the backstory. However, once you get over that, this turns into a pretty good story. Rather daring stuff from the heroine and her servants (who don't seem to know their places!) No real depth to the locations and sense of the time, but you find yourself caring for the well-being of the characters (the main "good" ones anyway).

[Karen Douglass · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read other books in this series, of which this is number eleven. The premise is that the protagonist, Ursula Blanchard, is the illegitimate half sister of Queen Elizabeth I. In service to her sister Ursula routinely becomes embroiled in dangerous missions to foil the queen's many enemies. As historical fiction, these books are believable, with the huge exception that I don't think any woman could behave as Ursula does. But the story is fun anyway and the language clear and imaginative.