Heartstone

Starred review from November 1, 2010
Few contemporary authors are as adept as Sansom at blending a whodunit with a sweeping historical epic, as shown by his fifth mystery featuring English attorney Matthew Shardlake (after 2009's Revelation). In 1545, as a French fleet threatens invasion, the English queen, Catherine Parr, asks Shardlake to look into a matter for an old servant, whose son committed suicide shortly after filing a protest about the wardship of a boy the son had tutored. Soon after accepting this assignment, Shardlake is assaulted by a gang of thugs, who warn him to drop the matter. On his own, he also probes the past of a Bedlam inmate, Ellen Fettiplace, who was institutionalized 20 years earlier after being raped. Both cases turn out to be extremely complex, and Shardlake, who puts justice above his personal interests, ends up with several murders to solve as well. Strong prose makes Tudor England instantly accessible, and the clockwork plotting sustains deep interest throughout.

December 15, 2010

Matthew Shardlake, the hunchback serjeant of the Tudor courts, undertakes his fifth series of cases (Revelation, 2009, etc.).

Henry VIII is marshaling forces for a war with France, but no one will conscript a crippled lawyer. Instead, Shardlake is commanded by the queen when his longtime patron, Queen Catherine, asks him to investigate corruption in the Court of Wards. Shardlake's task is to go to the Hampshire estate of the Hobbey family and investigate their custody of the teenaged Hugh Curteys and his dead sister Emma. This assignment dovetails neatly with his personal obligation to an agoraphobic, Ellen Fettiplace, who cannot bring herself to leave the asylum of Bedlam. Matthew hopes to uncover the terrible events that cost her her wits, events that handily transpired not far from the Hobbey manor. Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak ride from London to Hampshire with the king's recruits, only to find that Hugh Curteys is apparently satisfied with his foster family. Dogged investigation of the Hobbey estate reveals nothing—until Abigail Hobbey is shot through the head during a stag hunt. Meanwhile, a long-dead body, newly discovered, may hold the key to healing Ellen. Can Shardlake and Barak bring justice before the French invade?

The characters are sympathetic and the quirks of the historic courts interesting enough, but the plot is so tangled in the tedium of troop movements and provisions that it drags on longer than Catherine and Henry's marriage. Best for historical sticklers, military fans and encyclopedists.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 1, 2010

Set in the summer of 1545, Sansom's fifth novel (after Revelation) in his award-winning Tudor series opens as England is tensed for a French invasion. Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer dangerously out of the King's favor, is hired by Queen Catherine Parr to investigate the death of her servant's son. On the journey south to interview witnesses, Shardlake discovers a connection between the Queen's case and a friend who was mysteriously imprisoned in Bedlam decades earlier. Familiarity with prior novels in the series is not necessary, as Sansom details Shardlake's history and troubled past with the King with the same narrative ease with which he explains England's political and legal systems and frequent warring with France. The author also expands on the riveting plot by exploring the ethical and moral considerations of the law and its interpreters. VERDICT Enjoyable for mystery, thriller, and historical fiction readers, this is also recommended to fans of all things Tudor (Showtime's The Tudors; Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl; Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall).--Catherine Lantz, Morton Coll. Lib., Cicero, IL

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2011
In 1545, times are perilous for London counsel Matthew Shardlake and for his country. While the English, heavily taxed and with their coinage debased by Henry VIII, prepare for a naval attack from the French at Portsmouth, Shardlake takes on a case at the request of Catherine Parr on behalf of her former servant, whose son committed suicide after discovering monstrous wrongs against a teenage ward he once tutored. As the 43-year-old, hunchbacked Shardlake seeks to uncover secrets in the wards household, he also investigates the past of a presumably sane woman kept for years in Bedlam. Even with the queens patronage, the dogged Shardlake is threatened bodily while pursuing answers to both cases, which ultimately pit him against his old court nemesis, Sir Richard Rich. The heft of this fifth in the Shardlake series may be intimidating, but Sansoms supple and action-packed prose should keep readers engaged. The novel vividly captures the Tudor scene, from its corrupt politics to the stench of its streets and the horror of battle. Historical mystery at its finest.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)