His actions and the actions of others involved in both cases lead to Shardlake and Barak becoming mixed in the middle of the battle between the French and the English. 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. These two cases seem like they could not be more different, however, they push Shardlake and Barak on a collision course with Shardlake’s arch-nemesis, Sir Richard Rich. Matthew takes this case and decides that while he is in the area, he will explore the mysterious back story of a woman who he befriended while working at Bedlam a few years ago, Ellen Fettiplace. The case involves a ward named Hugh Curtey and his estates possibly being mismanaged by his protector Sir Nicholas Hobbey. Luckily, it is at this time that Matthew gets a case from his new patron, Catherine Parr, and he desperately needs Barak’s help. Of course, being Barak, he causes a bit of trouble with a military officer and finds himself in a bind.

They are expecting their second child any day now, which after the events of “Revelation” you are rooting for them. We dive into this particular novel with a rather happy, yet stressful time for Barak and his wife Tamasin. I don’t usually fangirl over historical fiction characters, but Sansom has made me love the escapades of Shardlake and Barak. All I knew was that it involved Shardlake and Barak, so I had to jump in. Unlike the fourth book, I did not know what the title of this book was referring to so I was going into this one blind, which I love. Sansom’s fifth Shardlake mystery, “Heartstone”. With the prospect of a French invasion looming over their head, can Shardlake and Barak solve both cases before the French and the English can start fighting? This is the scenario of C.J. Of course, Shardlake never makes anything easy for himself and he takes another case of Ellen Fettiplace, a woman he met while at Bedlam. 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. However, things do not go well when Henry VIII’s invasion of France is an epic failure and the French decide to retaliate by sending a mighty fleet to invade England. The year is 1545 and King Henry VIII has declared war on the French.

Heartstone by C.J. Sansom