Heartstone (Matthew Shardlake 5)

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When Shardlake is summoned to Court, he meets with Queen Catherine (Parr) and discovers a new case on which to work. 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.

Then unexpected news arrives: riding like a dark dragon on the winds from the south, an ambassador from the Silent King of Els, has left the shores of the distant desert kingdom for the first time in centuries.In Heartstone, the fifth instalment in the series, Shardlake's attentions are drawn to the plight of two orphan children whose inheritance seems to be disappearing at the hands of a greedy guardian, and a mature woman suffering agoraphobia which prevents her from leaving the asylum where she has dwelt for nineteen years. 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.

Heartstone, as bristling as its predecessors with outlandish deaths, suspicious behaviour, jeopardy and plots of fiendish deviousness, plunges you into catastrophic upheavals caused by Henry's foreign policy. Matthew has taken on a case as a favour to the Queen (Catherine Parr) to look into a case involving a ward of the courts and despite the country being on the brink of invasion must travel south to Hampshire to investigate.Elle Katharine White infuses elements of Austen’s beloved novel with her own brand of magic, crafting a modern epic fantasy that conjures a familiar yet wondrously unique new world. The Court of Wards handles the mentally infirm as part of their oversight and Ellen’s residence before incarceration was along the route Shardlake must follow. Nor does she anticipate the mystery that follows them from Merybourne Manor, its roots running deep as the foundations of the kingdom itself, where something old and dreadful slumbers . I will say, I thoroughly appreciate the evolution of both Shardlake and Barak (especially Barak in this book) as well as the ever growing cast of characters around them. Born with a spinal curvature, he is routinely abused by citizens as ugly, deformed, a product of the Devil.

I did not like Richard Rich in the previous novels, but the way Sansom portrayed him in this one made my skin crawl and now I loath him. With war coming and soldiers preparing for battle, Shardlake’s inquiries will prove explosive in all senses of the word. Shardlake remains a keen legal mind and appears to have the respect of many senior officials at Court, which is significant with the history he possesses.The servant’s late son, Hugh’s former tutor, was convinced that something was terribly wrong in the Hobbey household, and it is up to Shardlake to find out if the tutor was right — and if Hugh’s situation had anything to do with the tutor’s death. Sansom is both a qualified lawyer and a PhD in English History, so he is able to insert credible elements from both aspects of his professional life into the narratives.