title: To Ruin A Queen : An Ursula Blanchard Mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's Court
author:  Fiona Buckley 
description: Readers with a taste for melodramatic suspense will relish this solid historical, the fourth in the Ursula Blanchard series from the pseudonymous Buckley. Upon learning that her daughter has been kidnapped, Ursula hastens home from France to England. The kidnapping, however, proves to have been a ruse. A plot is afoot in Wales to blackmail Queen Elizabeth, and Ursula must go undercover to learn the particulars and prevent a scandalAor worse. Aided by her manservant Brockley, Ursula contends with such challenges as her near-death during childbirth, a haunted watchtower, an attempted rape, a menacing witch and repeated instances of sexism. (The oppression of women is vividlyAif rather insistentlyAportrayed.) Buckley (Queen's Ransom) fills the plot with harrowing twists: Ursula and Brockley are accused of murder and thrown in a musty dungeon; Ursula and two comrades face what appears certain death, trapped in an abandoned lodge high in the Welsh mountains. Ursula's steely nerves, keen intuition and abiding devotion to the queen see her through it all. Buckley takes a Chaucerian interest in characters from all social strata, their garments, physical distinctions and manners. At times, such pedantic details stop the plot cold. In addition, some readers will be put off by the author's habit of withholding key information from them while revealing it to the characters. Buckley's loyal following, however, should make this as much a success as previous books in the series. (Dec. 4) <br />Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  “Royal courts are glittering places. But there can be many dangers there.”
  
  The words of Juan, the shipwrecked Spanish sailor Lady Alys Drury nursed back
  to health, echo in her mind as she puts on another courtly smile.
  
  Then Alys locks eyes with a handsome man amid the splendor of Queen
  Elizabeth’s Christmas court—Juan is posing as courtier John Huntley! Alys is
  hurt at Juan’s deception until she learns he’s an undercover spy for the
  crown... Amid the murky machinations of the court, can true love still conquer
  all?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Praise for Amanda McCabe
  
  “McCabe sweeps readers into the world of the Elizabethan theater, delighting
  us with a lively tale and artfully drawing on the era’s backdrop of bawdy
  plays, wild actors and thrilling adventure.”
  
  —RT Book Reviews on The Taming of the Rogue
  
  “Including a darling little girl, meddling relatives and a bit of suspense,
  McCabe’s story charms readers.”
  
  —RT Book Reviews on Running from Scandal
  
  “McCabe highlights an unusual an