We start the adventure in July, 1579, as our heroine the widowed Ursula Blanchard searches a fir wood in Surrey for a missing lad - or his body. I've read several books in the series named for this redoubtable lady, and A DEADLY BETROTHAL is number fifteen but a fan of historical mysteries can jump in anywhere. Mistress Blanchard, also known as Stannard, introduces herself, as a minor relative of royalty, someone useful to the Crown on occasion.

This trip to Surrey is at the behest of Ursula's aunt, who has a family tangle that needs to be resolved. Heading off with a couple of servants, her little boy Harry and her favoured black mare, Ursula is expecting only some stifling society, but ends up involved in the doings of a furrier George Harrison, who had one family and left them for a richer widow. Now he's come back to his wife and expects to be looked after in his old age. The cheek of him! George has the further impudence to pass on a scurrilous rumour about a young woman in the family, causing her a lot of trouble.

Another marriage is being proposed, between Queen Elizabeth and Francis, Duke of Anjou, to ally England with France. The Queen is uneasy about the matter and asks the trustworthy Ursula to attend her at Hampton Court. Nice to be in demand, but Court fashions tend to be expensive. To assist her with costs, Ursula is asked to pass messages by the Queen's spymaster - a request she really can't refuse.

I always feel impressed by the attention to detail in these mysteries by Fiona Buckley. From the ruling Norman family trees to the embellishments on gentlemen's fashions, legal issues and good stabling for mounts, not forgetting the lives of working folks, we feel immersed in the period. A further trip brings us to Cornwall to visit a land inheritance and a tin mine. I was interested to learn that if a silver mine was found, the Crown took it over, so a tin mine was much preferred by the landowner. I did feel that we spend a lot of time setting up these situations as Ursula has to go travelling everywhere, meeting new people constantly. That doesn't make A DEADLY BETROTHAL tedious however; and an upset is never long in coming. Death is rightly demonstrated to be a tragedy for a family. Ursula herself does not come out unscathed, but we'll see her in another adventure.

Book Summary

Queen Elizabeth’s proposed engagement to a Catholic Duke is causing turmoil throughout the kingdom in the gripping new Ursula Blanchard mystery.

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 Alençon. The proposed marriage between the queen and a French Catholic twenty years her junior is causing unrest throughout the kingdom. There are many who oppose the match – but would someone kill in order to prevent it?

Tensions increase when a prominent nobleman is accused of murder. Ursula is convinced the man is innocent – but can she prove it?