Esta autora británica se especializa en ficción histórica, creando cautivadoras novelas de misterio ambientadas durante la era isabelina bajo el seudónimo de Fiona Buckley. Con su propio nombre, se adentra en las vidas de la realeza inglesa y explora sagas familiares a lo largo de los siglos en su serie 'Puentes sobre el Tiempo', que abarca desde el siglo XI hasta el XIX. Su obra ofrece a los lectores una inmersión profunda en el pasado, con vívidas representaciones de entornos y vidas históricas.
May 1589. When a strangled corpse is found and Ursula Stannard learns through her connections at Court that English vessels are being plundered by a trio of mysterious ships, she once again takes on the mantle of secret agent. But with someone willing to kill to protect their secrets and a bounty of golden cargo at stake, Ursula is in danger ...
February, 1586. When the queen's spymaster learns that Ursula is to visit her relatives in Devon, he asks her to find out what has happened to two of his local agents. On arrival in the small village of Zeal Aquatico, Ursula discovers that both spies in question have met with mysterious - and fatal - accidents. Or is there more to it than that?
March, 1588. As King Philip of Spain amasses a vast fleet of warships ready to invade England, Queen Elizabeth and her advisors seek a possible alliance with the Duke of Parma, Governor of the Netherlands. Ursula Stannard 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.
April, 1590. Ursula Stannard, the queen's half-sister and occasional secret agent, is summoned back to her childhood home, Faldene House, after Sir Francis Walsingham's funeral. But her return puts those closest to her in grave danger. Ursula's foes, the Mercer brothers, are set on revenge, and they'll go to any lengths to achieve it . . .
The queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, has ordered Ursula to keep an eye on her new neighbor, Giles Frost, who is rumored to be a spy. Events take a sinister turn when a body is found in the woods near Ursula's home
May, 1586. Ursula and her retinue return home from a lengthy trip to discover she has an unexpected visitor. Etheldreda Hope is a simple countrywoman who has come to Ursula with disturbing tales of strange goings-on in her rural village. Fearing that Etheldreda's reports of mysterious forest rites indicate a possible conspiracy to overthrow Queen Elizabeth in favour of her cousin, Mary Stuart, the queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, orders Ursula to travel to Etheldreda's home to find out what's really going on. On reaching Chenston village, deep in the New Forest, Ursula discovers an isolated, suspicious community; the locals deeply in thrall to the old pagan traditions and beliefs. But are these ancient customs harmless -- or are they part of a genuine conspiracy against the queen? And, if so, who is behind it? It's not until the night of Halloween that Ursula will discover the shocking truth
In this compelling debut of her historical mystery series, Fiona Buckley introduces Ursula Blanchard, a widowed young mother who has become lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. Armed with a sharp eye, dangerous curiosity, and uncanny intelligence, Ursula pledges...To Shield the Queen Rumor has linked Queen Elizabeth I to her master of horse, Robin Dudley. As gossip would have it, only his ailing wife, Amy, prevents marriage between Dudley and the Queen. To quell the idle tongues at court, the Queen dispatches Ursula Blanchard to tend to the sick woman's needs. But not even Ursula can prevent the "accident" that takes Amy's life. Did she fall or was she pushed? Was Ursula a pawn of Dudley and the Queen?Suddenly Ursula finds herself at the center of the scandal, trying to protect Elizabeth as she loses her heart to a Frenchman who may be flirting with sedition against her Queen. She can trust no one, neither her lover nor her monarch, as she sets out to find the truth in a glittering court that conceals a wellspring of blood and lies.
Pirates in Penzance? Queen Elizabeth's half-sister and secret agent Ursula Blanchard takes on a dangerous new mission involving mysterious disappearances and murder in Cornwall in this gripping Tudor mystery. 1594. Ursula Blanchard is attending on her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth, when she receives an urgent summons from Sir Robert Cecil. Cornishman Master Roskilly was fished out of the sea by Sir Francis Godolphin, and has a shocking tale of being snatched by pirates and put on a slave vessel to Constantinople before his audacious escape. And he's not the only one . . . Folk in Cornwall are mysteriously disappearing. But why are only exceptional or unusual individuals being kidnapped, and could there be a link to two recent murders? With the queen's annual progress stalled, Ursula agrees to go undercover to unmask those responsible, knowing that Queen Elizabeth would be the most prized captive of all . . .