Heartstone (Matthew Shardlake 5)

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If Heartstone is not quite vintage Sansom, that is perhaps because the author has set (and maintained) such a high standard. Great solid story in historic setting on the hunchback lawyer Matthew Shardlake, in times of Henry VIII.

Sansom can blend the two cases with military movements and the French invasion to heighten the danger and intrigue.Shardlake and Barak embark on their road journey south and experience all sorts of indignities and challenges along the way.

Of course, being Barak, he causes a bit of trouble with a military officer and finds himself in a bind.

His interest in Ellen Fettiplace, 35yo resident of The Bedlam asylum, is complicated by her romantic attraction to him, and he feels guilty that he cannot reciprocate. The novel is well-paced and offers more English history with a Tudor flavour, as the country prepares for another battle. Not only is there an intriguing network of mysteries ( seriously, at one point, Shardlake is investigating at least three different deaths that happened in three different places), but they are all connected to each other in all sorts of clever ways too. A virtuoso twisting together of Tudor history and murder mystery that bristles with skulduggery, suspicious behaviour and sinister deaths.

You feel like the books are true escapism and that you can visualize the world that the author has created using a combination of facts and fictional ideas. Sent to investigate corrupt dealings - by Queen Catherine Parr, ) hunchback lawyer Matthew Sheldrake is faced with murder, high level political deceit, the imminent invasion by the French, old debts that have to be settled and getting to the bottom of why a friend is confined to the Bedlum asylum. Events will converge on board one of the King's great warships, primed for battle in Portsmouth harbour. For example, Shardlake spends quite a bit of time in a manor house that teems with dark secrets and hidden threats. He comes from a wealthy family, but when a disagreement happens, he goes to work for Matthew Shardlake.Mixing a few characters from the history books alongside a handful of entertaining newbies, Sansom develops a wonderful cast to propel the story forward in many directions. In the other case, I felt strongly that the crime could not have been successfully pulled off, nor did I believe the motivations of the person responsible. Asked to investigate claims of ¿monstrous wrongs¿ committed against a young ward of the court, which have already involved one mysterious death, Shardlake and his assistant Barak journey to Portsmouth.