Scribner, Dec 2004, 24.00, 288 pp.
ISBN 0743237528
The Duke of Norfolk is attempting to matchmake his secretary Edmund Dean with Ursula Blanchard's daughter Meg. While Ursula isn't crazy about the idea, she, her husband and their servants head to London to get their servant Gladys away from the villagers before she is declared a witch. While at Norfolk's home Ursula realizes that the man wants to marry Mary, former queen of Scots, both for love and political power if she can win back the Scottish throne.
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Two men in Norfolk's home are murdered and Ursula believes it has something to do with putting Mary on the Scottish throne and making her Elizabeth's heir. Sir Cecil has Ursula go to the banker Roberto Rodolfo's house to act as a companion to his wife. Rodolfo is the middleman between Norfolk and the Spanish Ambassador. While Ursula is spying she comes across encrypted papers involving a plot to put Mary on Elizabeth's throne after Elizabeth is killed. Sir Cecil uses Ursula to defuse the situation before the lords in the north make war on their sovereign by taking Norfolk and Leicester out of the equation.
Although Mary Queen of Scotts is not present in THE SIREN QUEEN, plots and counter plots revolve around her and influence the course of politics during Elizabeth's reign.
Harriet Klausner
The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner
