Reluctant Assassin, The
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
When Ursula’s young son is kidnapped, she is lured into an impossible dilemma.
March, 1581. Queen Elizabeth is once again being urged to consider marriage to the Duke of Alençon, a French Catholic twenty years her junior. The prospect of the match is causing unrest throughout the kingdom.
Ursula Blanchard however has more immediate matters to worry about when her 9-year-old son is snatched away while out riding. If she is ever to see him again, Ursula must undertake an impossibly difficult and dangerous mission – and commit an act of high treason. Can she rely on her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth, for help?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Buckley's uneven 16th Tudor mystery (after 2017's A Deadly Betrothal), gentlewoman Ursula Blanchard's nine-year-old son, Harry, disappears one day while riding near her house in the English countryside. The subsequent frantic search triggers Ursula's kidnapping. The rogues who seize her, who claim to be "loyal servants of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth," blackmail her into undertaking a murderous mission in exchange for Harry's life. The improbability of this scheme is a major plot weakness, and crucial events that take place outside of Ursula's immediate surroundings lead to an awkward break in her first-person narrative. More successful are the depictions of real-life figures of the period, such as spymaster Francis Walsingham and ambitious society fixture Bess Hardwick. But the most fascinating character is the imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, who exudes a powerful charm. The action builds to an exciting climax in which all the series regulars are well employed. Essentially a thriller, this entry shows that Buckley is better suited to straight mysteries.
