Matthew Shardlake does not look like a hero: an aging hunchback lawyer who has seen too much evil in life to maintain his former love of truth and faith in justice. But it’s too early for him to retire: how can he not get down to business if the queen herself asks to investigate it? In the rainy summer of 1545, a servant of the law goes to the family nest of a gentleman suspected of abusing the rights of guardianship. But, having arrived at the place, he understands that the appropriation of the orphans’ property is far from the worst of the secrets of this family. With each new discovery, regretting more and more that he took on this case, the lawyer plunges into the past of people with stones instead of hearts...