cover image A Web of Silk: An Ursula Blanchard Mystery

A Web of Silk: An Ursula Blanchard Mystery

Fiona Buckley. Crème de la Crime, $28.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-78029-113-0

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)