Heartstone

A Matthew Shardlake Mystery

By: C. J. Sansom

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Length: 22 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Consistently appearing on US and UK best-seller lists, C.J. Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake mysteries have earned considerable critical acclaim, including a CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award. At the behest of a former servant to Catherine Parr, Shardlake travels to Portsmouth to investigate claims of unspeakable crimes committed upon a young ward of the court. There, Shardlake uncovers disturbing evidence even as England’s continuing war with France rages around him.

©2011 C.J. Sansom (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

History and performance

Sansom writes a great fictional novel in the heart of history. The performance picks up the emotions of the characters and it all comes together in a very believable form.

Different than other Shardlake mysteries...

I learned a bit about naval warfare in 1543, but for me it was a little too much. I intend to finish the series, though.

Another Matthew Shardlake mystery

C J Sansom has delivered another wonderful Matthew Shardlake mystery. The quality of these mysteries has, for me, varied from book to book with some (like Dissolution) keeping their secrets until the end while others (like Dark Fire) requiring far less effort for the reader to solve. This offering actually contains four distinct mysteries and Matthew has taken on the chore of answering all of them and, as part of solving them, becomes far too obsessed to be healthy. For the first time in all of these books I lost patience with Matthew Shardlake. Readers might expect him to place himself in some danger in trying to solve a mystery but here Matthew willfully ignores advice he knows is best, disobeys his Queen and purposefully antagonizes people who can do him harm. This is not the Matthew I have known throughout these books. He has always seemed well-centered and cautious, but not here.

On the positive side the main mystery, which involves the welfare of a child, is probably the most opaque and the resolution took me completely by surprise. The other mysteries, while less central to the main story line, were also interesting in their own way with some answers being more surprising than others.

Rating this book has been a problem for me. The mysteries are sufficiently interesting and difficult to solve to give this book a high rating but Matthew's behavior, which disturbed me more than it should have, made this book far less enjoyable than it could have been. In the end the wonderful narration by Steven Crossley was enough for me to give it 5 stars in spite of Matthew's erratic and disturbing behavior. One can only hope that the character sees his obsessiveness and returns to the more normal behavior pattern of the previous books.

as usual a great story . . . but a bit too long

I've liked all of the Shardlake books for their history and cleverness, Crossely is a great narrator. He, of course, is Matthew Shardlake, I wouldn't be able to listen to a Shardlake book if Crossely wasn't the narrator. I did think this book was a bit too long.

an excess of plotlines

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The book seemed to go on and on--and not in a good way. The numerous plotlines: Hugh/Emma, Coldiron/Josephine; Ellen; Catherine Parr; Henry VIII and conscription/taxes, the Battle of the Solent; Jack/Tamiesen's baby, etc., etc. are just too much for one book to sustain. The historical detail is well-researched and interesting, but, again, overwhelming as part of one story.

Wonderful performance and great story

Loved every minute of it. I listened to some chapters again and again! I loved the Tudor story

Loved it

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes I would recommend this book

Who was your favorite character and why?

Matthew he is just perfect interesting, human annd he totally engages the listner

Have you listened to any of Steven Crossley’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Excellent narrator

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Enchanting tale filled with villains,heroes, beautiful women brave men an enthralling story

Any additional comments?

WHEN is Audible going to bring the latest book in this series to the USA it is already out in th UK My credits are WAITING!

Wonderful!!

Would you listen to Heartstone again? Why?

Absolutely, not just Hearstone, the whole series... What a wonderful way to learn about history... a great series!!!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Matthew Shardlake for his "misplaced" belief on justice, and also his assistant Barrat (sp?).

What does Steven Crossley bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He bring reality to a world I wouldn't have a clue about...

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just a thirst for knowledge about how people living in that era thought, lived, loved, survived etc.

Any additional comments?

Great series... I hope a new book will be available soon.

Shardlake has begun to annoy

Overall I love C.J. Sansom's books. I love the historical details, the wonderful interweaving of fact and fiction, and the great plots. Heartstone, however, was about two hours too long with a few too many repeat visits to the "scenes of the crimes." And by the end of the book, I must say that Shardlake's constant jumping to incorrect conclusions, need to always be right, and gullibility finally began to wear on me. I won't abandon him and look forward to the next in the series but with a bit less excitement. I am pleased that in the last couple of books the author has stopped peppering every line of dialogue with "Gesu," "Christ's nails," and other Tudor expletives. Not sure that I like the "f" bomb with is now often dropped instead and wonder if it would have been widely used as a curse at the time. Steven Crossely, as always, is a superb narrator.

The best yet!

The pace was fast and the story was compelling. I enjoyed this story even more, as familiar characters expanded and new ones came on. I would highly recommend this entire series!