Shadow of Spain
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
As King Philip of Spain prepares to invade England, Ursula heads to Brussels on a desperate mission in this compelling Tudor mystery.
March, 1588. With England in a state of high alert as King Philip of Spain amasses a vast fleet of warships ready to invade, Queen Elizabeth and her advisors seek a possible alliance with the Duke of Parma, Governor of the Netherlands. But their plans suffer a major setback when one of their most reliable spies is found murdered in the Hertfordshire countryside, shot dead by a crossbow bolt as he was transporting secret correspondence between the queen and the duke.
The queen's half-sister and occasional secret agent, Ursula Stannard, is happy not to be involved for once. But when Ursula's ward Mildred elopes with the handsome yet mysterious Berend Gomez, Ursula is forced to follow the pair to Brussels, where she finds herself plunged into a hotbed of intrigue and rumour at the Duke of Parma's court, a place where no one is to be trusted.
Can Ursula rescue Mildred, effect an alliance with the duke, and stay alive in the process? The future of England depends on it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Buckley's solid 20th Tudor mystery featuring occasional secret agent Ursula Blanchard (after 2021's Forest of Secrets), Queen Elizabeth, Ursula's half-sister, summons her to a meeting at St. James Palace in the spring of 1588. Should the Spanish follow through on their threat to invade England, Ursula will have an important—and dangerous—role to play. Meanwhile, the queen seeks an alliance with the Duke of Parma, governor of the Netherlands. When Ursula learns that her onetime ward, 20-year-old Mildred Atbrigge, has eloped with a half-Spanish double agent, Berend Gomez, to Brussels, where the duke has his palace, Ursula has an excuse to go to Brussels and do what she can to serve the queen's interests while looking for Mildred. Does Gomez want to help the queen? And what are his true feelings for Mildred? Buckley does her usual fine job dramatizing the politics of the era, but newcomers should be prepared for relatively slow chapters devoted to the domestic activities of the series' many secondary characters. Fans of Elizabethan historicals will be satisfied.
