The King's Examiner: A Tudor Felony (Tudor Crimes)

Will Draper has broken with Thomas Cromwell, and is wondering what to do with his life from now on. Cromwell is trying to keep both Henry and his Lady Anne happy, and finding it increasingly difficult. When Henry seems to favour a new face at court, Cromwell becomes suspicious. What hold does the newcomer have over the king? He determines to investigate Sir Peregrine Martell, but is hampered by the lack of Will Draper's clever mind. A temporary reconciliation comes about when Will is promoted to the rank of Colonel of Horse, and made the King's Royal Examiner. Cromwell seizes his chance, and lures Will Draper into investigating Martell.Cromwell accepts an invitation to visit Broome Hall, Martell's estate, and takes Will with him, but things are not as they seem. They arrive, to find that Martell has not issued the invitation, and others are arriving with each passing hour. Why have these people, who have never met before, been lured to Broome Hall? With a snow storm closing in on them, Cromwell, Lady Agnes Cahan, Martell, Richard Pound, a rich merchant, Count Jean Carnet,and Sir Roderick Travis, a Corsair who once was the terror of the Spanish Main, find themselves trapped, and at the mercy of an invisible foe.Will Draper must question each in turn, and find out what links them to Broome Hall. Will secures the house, and settles his flock of bemused visitors down for the night. He stands a lonely vigil, but to no avail. Come the dawn, and one of his flock is dead. Will Draper realises that the flock he is protecting, might have a wolf hiding within. The King's Examiner works his way through an ever more complicated investigation, and comes to some startling conclusions.Cromwell finds himself being courted by a beautiful widow, and for once, he seems to have little control of events. As the snowstorm abates, secrets are revealed, and the finger of justice is pointed. Back at court, arrangements are being made for a royal visit to Calais, the small piece of England that is still in France. Thomas Cromwell returns to London in a black depression, realising that his power will be broken once Anne marries Henry. The Austin Friar's young men rally to him, and suggest an audacious plan that will put Cromwell back on top, and knock back the pretensions of the Boleyn family, once and for all. But plans can go awry....This is the sixth book in the TUDOR CRIMES series, and it speeds along at the same pace as the first five. Real people perform their allotted parts in the story, whilst Anne Stevens' characters weave in and out of Tudor history, drawing together fact, supposition, and fiction, into a satisfying slice of Tudor England. The author breaths life into ordinary folk, and makes you want to know about them. How they slept, how they ate, how they loved, and how they survived in such a harsh environmet. Who will not have there fingers crossed for Miriam ... having lost a child, how will the next pregnancy go? In an England where only one child in five lived to see their second birthday, giving birth was a dangerous gamble. What of Mush? Brooding and handsome, the young Jewish boy struggles to find himself. How can Rafe cope with a new position at court, and keep his faith with Cromwell?And what of Thomas Cromwell? He is the rock upon which the Austin Friars cabal rest, and his foundations are crumbling. Can he fend off the Boleyns, and carry out the great reforms to English society. The blacksmith's boy sees that he can make England into a fairer place for all, a place where the lowest is looked after, and anyone can rise to greatnesss. All he has to do is stay alive."I can't wait for the next one" ..... Midnight Queen.Anne Stevens writes history the way it should have happened!