The Net of Steel

In Buckley’s tense 22nd Ursula Blanchard mystery (after 2022’s Golden Cargoes), Elizabeth I’s resourceful half-sister and lady-in-waiting is rattled by enemies from her past. At the outset, Ursula is riding high in her late-Tudor milieu: she’s a landowner and happy grandmother on excellent terms with the queen. Shortly after her Uncle Herbert’s funeral, though, people close to Ursula start turning up dead: Herbert’s wife appears to poison herself and a friend is killed in a mysterious riding accident. As Ursula and her 18-year-old son, Harry, grapple with their shock and grief, evidence emerges that the deaths might be connected, and someone with a vendetta against Ursula for her activities on behalf of the queen might have even more ominous crimes planned. The pacing is superb, with twists and betrayals keeping the action at a boil. While the sheer number of characters accumulated over this long series may prove daunting at times, lovers of Tudor fiction will enjoy the carefully researched details of daily life woven into the suspense. This highly entertaining historical mystery delivers. Agent: David Grossman, David Grossman Literary. (May)