It’s 1545 and Henry VII has gotten England into a war with France; seeing as it’s Tudor-Era England, war with France, Spain, Scotland, or England itself is not really that surprising. It looks like the French will land their invasion force at Portsmouth. Too bad that Portsmouth is around the area Matthew Shardlake is being sent by his patron, Queen Catherine Parr. A servant in Parr’s former household has come to the Queen for assistance; the servant’s son has allegedly killed himself after swearing out a complaint of abuse in the Court of Wards against the Hobbey family, who have taken in a former student of the man, Hugh Curteys. Catherine Parr charges Matthew to get to the bottom of it, so off he goes dragging his assistant Jack Barack behind. Don’t mind that Jack’s wife Tamsin is pregnant for the second time (the first ended in stillbirth), and she’s getting close to her due date; Shardlake has been charged to investigate by his crush Queen, so off they go. While there, maybe they can swing by Ellen Fettiplace’s, a woman who first appeared in the previous book, Revelation, home village to uncover why she is in Bedlam, so that Matthew can shove her care off on someone else and doesn’t have to just flat out say, “Sorry, it’s totally unrequited.” Of course once they get to the Hobbey Estate, it’s apparent that things are not what they seem; can Matthew solve the two mysteries and get out of Dodge before either the Invasion or Henry, who is still loathing him after the events of Sovereign (it has been four years by this point, let it go!) wind up killing him?
This book seemed to drag on the most. Shardlake also seemed to make it his mission in life to piss off as many people as humanly possible in the shortest time he could. I don’t want to know how many people might still be alive if he had just quit when he was ahead; he honestly did far more harm than good. Truly wonderful is that countless people tell him to stop, things are not going to turn out well, and when they don’t, Matthew just gives surprised Pikachu face. It is still interesting how hard Sansom hammers the point home that Henry VIII made some really stupid-ass decisions as King.
(How many people, if they wouldn’t have gotten killed for it, would have loved to say this to Henry during the events leading up to this book?)
And how much he stresses that Elizabeth was no great beauty, but she was far more capable and intelligent than Edward. I am starting to wish that Shardlake had a Steven Martin in Roxanne kind of reaction to people pointing out that not only is he a hunchback (Is he? That’s never come up in a book before), but that he is also unmarried. The fact that so many people, a lot of them Shardlake’s social superiors, comment on those facts seems to say that Matthew is living rent-free in a lot of people’s heads, people who claim to never think about him. I’ve read far too many books, because the big reveal at the heart of the mystery I sussed out within three pages of Hugh being introduced. I will say that the solution to the mystery of Ellen did not go where I thought it would; there were parties involved that I think was a bold choice for Sansom, and I will say I think that decision was to hammer home how truly much a prick the character is. The research that Sansom put into what occurred in England at the time: what a soldier’s life was like, what they ate, what they owned; what Portsmouth was like during the sea battles, The Great Harry and The Mary Rose, and what happened when it sank, is truly impressive. I also appreciated that Sansom pushes for donations to the museum that is displaying what they’ve managed to recover of The Mary Rose. One question I have though, is what was Richard Rich’s plan going to be if Shardlake had not returned to Portsmouth; it all kind of falls apart then. Though I suppose he would have figured something else out.
I’m going to finish up the series (there are only two books left), but I’m slightly glad that there are only two; I’m starting to find Matthew Shardlake a bit “little bit goes a long way”.