1522, at Cardinal Wolsey's Hampton Court, Irish lawyer, Hugh Mac Eganis, is interrupted in his drawing up of a marriage contract between the son of his employer, James Butler and Anne Boleyn by the discovery of a body.
Thoroughly enjoyed this, a well-written story with rounded characters and a good mystery. A very good start to what I hope is a long series.
A NetGalley Book ( )

This is an extremely atmospheric historical novel, that made me feel that I was in that time and place. There are wonderful characterizations of both fictional and historic figures. I can not praise both too highly. Queen Catherine and her household are visiting and are drawn into the case. Harrison has taken some historical liberties, which she discusses in her notes. This is set in Cardinal Wolsey's Hampton Court Palace, a place so rich and beautiful that it caused John Skelton, Henry VIII's former tutor, who thought that Wolsey was acting above his deserts, to write:

"Why come ye not to court?
To which court
To the king's court
Or to Hampton Court?

The king's court
Should have the excellence
But Hampton Court
Hath the pre-eminence!"

This is set during the years when Wolsey, who is presented very respectfully here, was still securely enjoying his creation, and seemed secure in a power almost equally the King's. Little does he know, that in a few years, the marriage arrangements that he was busy making may have led to his downfall. I recommend the novel, but Team Boleyn will have to decide whether they want to read anything so unflattering to Anne. I am fascinated by Anne myself, but I'm willing to accept that she is not universally popular, then or now.

Hugh Mac Egan, thoroughly trained in Irish law, is here to draft a marriage contract for James Butler, a marriage that is intended to gracefully resolve the contest over the Earldom of Ormond, claimed by both James' and Anne's fathers. Alas, Anne is in love with someone else, and she is willing to attempt even judicial murder to get rid of her unwanted fiancé. Edmund Pace, the instructor of the wards of the Cardinal, has been murdered, James is accused, with Anne and her beloved Harry Percy as witnesses against him. Hugh must save his employer's son, whom he has known since childhood, and who he is sure is innocent. If this story were true, it would certainly explain the mystery of why the proposed marriage between Anne and James never came to pass! James would never have been able to sleep quietly in his bed with such a dangerous wife. It might explain her rustication at Hever - any other suitors would be unusually wary about making sure that the proposed bride liked the match.

Pace seems to have been killed with an arrow belonging to James Butler. (There is an article in Wikipedia about the bodkin point.) Anne and Harry Percy claim to have seen James with a real arrow, when he was supposed to be shooting toy arrows. There are some oddities about the circumstances in which the body was found, that argue that things are more complicated than they appear. Hugh struggles against entirely too many alternate suspects, the King's Serjeant-at-Arms who doesn't waste time gathering evidence, and a variety of different analyses of the crime. It is up to Hugh to cut through all this confusion in the short time that he has before James is arrested.

This is the first in a proposed series. I would assume that the rest would take place in Ireland, but Harrison is writing several series, and she has not yet gotten to the second in this one. The volume that I have was published in England, and I checked Amazon UK, but alas, nothing. One of the other series is the Burren Mysteries, presently 14 volumes, centered around another Irish Brehon lawyer, Mara, Judge of the Burren, which is an area in County Clare. The differences in the legal systems between the traditional Irish and the English are fascinating. That series begins around the start of Henry VIII's reign, and also chronicles the encroachments into Ireland beyond the English Pale.

One of the interesting real characters in the story is Susanna Horenbout, a Flemish artist who actually worked in England. Michelle Diener has also written a short (too short) series about her and the English courtier, John Parker, whom she married in real life, beginning with, In a Treacherous Court.

And finally, Harrison leaves us hanging, but John Skelton, a minor character whom we never actually meet, does not die of the sweat in 1522. ( )