As Shardlake inches closer to finding the killer, more bodies turn up, leaving him to wonder if this is a single killer or a group who have been targeting individuals for a variety of reasons. Passers by only see Shardlake as a cripple, but the reader sees his pride, insecurities, longing for companionship, and devotion to a cause that he believes is sincere. Follow Shardlake into the dark heart of Tudor England with the bestselling Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation, Heartstone, Lamentation and Tombland.

Dissolution is the first book in the series, where we meet Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer and occasional fixer for Thomas Cromwell. This serves well as counterpoint to the somewhat out-of-his-depth character of Matthew Shardlake, the newly appointed King’s commissioner investigating the murder of the previous commissioner at the Monastery of St. Recommended for those with a love of all things Tudor and readers who enjoy a well-balanced mystery.

Shardlake’s first outing was not perhaps as complicated in terms of the mystery threads in the story as the later ones, which is not to say by any means that it was an easy case—there were many threads to this as well, and the answers when they are revealed are not quite what one expected (incidentally, I did successfully guess one part of it, so the surprise element was definitely there). Shardlake with his rather comely (male) assistant in tow arrives at the monastery to discover that there are more problems than just one murdered man.

The main character, Matthew Shardlake, is a hunchback, English lawyer working for Thomas Cromwell (the architect of the English Reformation).

The historical nature and tone of the story are fabulously written and the attention to detail in dialogue and descriptions provides a wonderful atmosphere to enjoy this historical whodunit. When we find out who did what and why, I found one or two of the resolutions hard to believe, and something of an anti-climax. The murder draws Shardlake into the depths of contemporary religious and political scheming, opening his eyes to its deadly consequences. Shardlake makes his way to Scarnsea, in hopes that this will be a quick legal matter, but soon discovers that there is more to the monastery than meets the eye.

A Crown agent beheaded in a monastery is a big deal, it could be the spark that sets off the tinderbox, a whole country up in flames. Thomas Cromwell is portrayed as a mean old brute which is quite interesting after reading Hilary Mantel’s version of him in which he is sympathised with, greatly. I will admit that “Dissolution” took me a while to get into, despite the fact that its setting and subject matter are right up my alley.He is also a hunchback who has always been self-conscious and socially ostracized to some extent because of his handicap. Intelligent, willful, and beautiful, Shardlake and Poer both take her not just into their confidence but also into their hearts.

It is always tragic when people who have much more in common than they have in disagreement are killing each other over the whims of Kings. I mean, imagine how different the country would be today if King Henry VIII never broke with Rome, and with the Pope. Shardlake is very dismissive of Catholicism, a true believer in the Reformation, but at the same time he is sickened by the lives that are being ruined needlessly. Set mainly within the walls of Scarnsea, but with some memorable scenes in London, the book seethes with sinners. if only Catherine of Aragon had say had an accident in the bath or had a bit of loose stone masonry fall on her head?He is the only character from Dissolution, apart from Shardlake and Cromwell, to appear in the sequel, Dark Fire. Full of information and small details that grow as the narrative develops, Sansom thrusts his protagonist into the middle of it all, while also offering up base reactions to the dissolution of the monastic life, important at the time, though rarely reported.