C J Sansom's new novel "Heartstone"

is the fifth in a series about a Tudor lawyer called Matthew Shardlake. Part of the
novel takes Matthew to Portsmouth in the year 1545. The French fleet is waiting
off the Isle of Wight and Henry VIII is in the city to see his navy fight off the
invasion attempt. A very well thought-out plot has Shardlake aboard the Mary
Rose during her last sortie.

There is a wealth of detail about Henry's navy. The author visted Portsmouth and
its Mary Rose museum during his research. It was interesting to read his description
of the great ships, with their castles fore and aft heavily manned with soldiers and
sailors, and to compare these with the ships that fought the Armada only 43 years
later.

As a Portmouthian myself I thoroughly enjoyed this tale and thought it worth a
mention.

Regards, Mick.

I want to read that so bad. Will it be out of context if I read the book on it's own without reading the other 4 first. Have also visited Mary Rose in 97 and it was awesome. I remember watching Peter Duncan on Blue Peter diving to see it as a wreck in the eighties!

No, it can stand alone. Heartstone contains references to events recorded
in the earlier novels but these are easily understood without you having to
read the other books in the series. But, be warned, Sansom is a fine writer
and you may end up buying all of them!