"The Siren Queen" by Fiona Buckley

My introduction to Fiona Buckley’s Ursula Blanchard historical mystery series, THE FUGIVITE QUEEN, delivered a basic story one could deduce from the title.  Mary, Queen of Scots, perennial enemy to Elizabeth I, attempts to escape from her captivity and fly to Catholic France where she enjoys support.  Here, within THE SIREN QUEEN, this same theme is expounded – and with more gravitas than might initially be anticipated.

The story begins easily enough.  The year is 1569.  Ursula, her third husband, Hugh, and their retinue make a visit to Howard House, the home of the Duke of Norfolk.  One of the duke’s secretaries, Edmund Dean, has been mentioned as a potential suitor for her daughter Meg.

Ursula, though, is unimpressed.  Being the adept judge of character she has become through her stealth work of spying for the English Crown, she views the man as a fraud.  He does and says all the right things, while what hides behind his eyes is deceit and deception.

Sadly, Meg is hopelessly infatuated with the man.

Yet, however urgent the future betrothal of her daughter may be, it takes second place to the immediacy of the events at Howard House.

Two men are murdered during their stay: one, a courier, by the name of Julius Gale, employed by Roberto Ridolfi, was waylaid on route; and Walt, a houseboy to the Duke, is hung upon a meat hook. 

While the murders are left to the jurisdiction of the local constables, Ursula feels it of prime importance to inform William Cecil, Elizabeth’s Secretary of State, Gale was carrying one letter in a ciphered code and another from the Duke to Mary Stuart.  From her talks with the duke, she learned the man was enamored by the woman – a woman he had yet to even meet – and held hopes to marry her if Elizabeth would permit it.

Mary was indeed the siren queen who carried all the necessary wiles to charm and allure men into her bidding. 

One of these men was Ridolfi, whom Ursula meets on the pretense of meeting Edmund Dean’s parents (Dean remained persistent in his intent to woo Meg) and within whose house Cecil places her as one of his spies.

There is a grander story going on here than the infatuations of the Duke of Norfolk and Edmund Dean.  There is a stealth plot, politically and religiously, geared to threaten England and Elizabeth’s throne.  It is something Ursula stumbles upon quite by the hand of providence, placing her back into service to Cecil and her half-sister the queen.

In my past readings, I cannot say I have encountered any tale that has so well illustrated the divisions between Protestants and Catholics during that era.  The strife between these two sides of the Christian faith, not having experienced it myself here in 21^st century America, was a fact I always simply took for granted.  Here, what Buckley manages, is a picture of that animosity, suffusing the tension of those days into her story.  It is subtle, yet integral, to the execution of the plot.

I also found myself quite impressed with the dimensionality of Ursula Blanchard.  This was a woman whose multiple roles play significant parts.  She is more than a citizen in service to her country and her queen.  Ursula is a mother helping her daughter find a suitable beau.  She is a wife comfortable in her life with her more tranquil third husband, while quietly reminiscing over the strengths and weaknesses of her previous two.  She is an employer to her servants the Brockleys, not seeking to cause any division in their relationship because of a supposed one-time attraction between her and Roger.  She is a protector of Gladys Morgan, the old woman everyone mistakes for a witch because of her haggled appearance and propensity to curse any who cross her moods.

Two-thirds of the way through the story, where Ursula is gathering information that unravels what plot Ridolfi, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Leicester, and others are involved in, revelations of her personal life unexpectedly intrude, causing an upheaval in her relationship with Cecil and Elizabeth, while Edmund Dean remains a thorn in her side, pursuing her daughter, who has become infatuated with his ‘style-over-substance’ approach.

There are a handful of pages within the unraveling of all this action where a reader cannot help but feel for the trauma she suffers.  Buckley handles this with a deft hand that refuses to cater to the over-sensationalizing commonplace in lesser stories.  The circumstances speak for themselves, and Ursula’s emotions are given voice.  A marvelous bit of writing.

I have no hesitation recommending Fiona Buckley’s THE SIREN QUEEN to any reader seeking out a quality story.  It tells more than just the Ridolfi plot – an actual historical event – but likewise develops a strong cast of characters who become soundly infused into the England of those days.  Can this tale be topped?  I will be eager to see what may be next.