Heartstone (Matthew Shardlake 5)

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Shardlake must piece together a coherent account of what happened years earlier from fragmentary evidence and hearsay. I might fangirl a bit during this review, but I will try my best not to spoil this series for anyone else.

It really is a wonderful way to get a feel for things; the fanatical times, the wars, the changes that were happening at a startlingly rapid pace. Sansom's attention to historical detail is rightly praised: he scrupulously avoids the jung-ho military jingoism common in other authors of historical fiction.

This time, the backdrop is Portsmouth and surrounding countryside as the French prepare to attack during the summer of 1545. Catherine Parr is on a mission of her own and enlists the help of Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak to investigate the wardship of Hugh Curtey, who is under the protection of Sir Nicholas Hobbey. The real heroes are the average people, reminding the reader that under all the glitz and glam of the Tudor court, there were regular men and women were trying to survive during such tumultuous times. Discover the joy of reading with us, your trusted source for affordable books that do not compromise on quality.

Once arrived, Shardlake and Barak find themselves in a city preparing to become a war zone; and Shardlake takes the opportunity to also investigate the mysterious past of Ellen Fettipace, a young woman incarcerated in the Bedlam. I feel like Matthew, Barak and Guy are old friends now and I can't wait to see what they are up to next. But as Henry's death follows shortly after the events of this book, I fear it may really be the last Shardlake story. That Shardlake is seriously endangered in a particular spot at the wrong time by a particular protaganist was no surprise.The main story is a gargantuan 626 pages in length, with a few pages of historical notes afterwards.