From the bestselling author of Winter in Madrid and Dominion comes the exciting and elegantly written first novel in the Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery seriesDissolution is an utterly riveting portrayal of Tudor England. The year is 1537, and the country is divided between those faithful to the Catholic Church and those loyal to the king and the newly established Church of England. When a royal … established Church of England. When a royal commissioner is brutally murdered in a monastery on the south coast of England, Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s feared vicar general, summons fellow reformer Matthew Shardlake to lead the inquiry. Shardlake and his young protégé uncover evidence of sexual misconduct, embezzlement, and treason, and when two other murders are revealed, they must move quickly to prevent the killer from striking again.
A “remarkable debut” (P. D. James), Dissolution introduces a thrilling historical series that is not to be missed by fans of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.
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All the C.J. Sansom books are worth reading and the this one, the first is the ideal place to start!
the series is one of my all time favorites
The first book of the Matthew Shardlake series that made me a total fan of this series. Every book is a jewel. Excellent writing, and well detailed and investigated facts of the period.
I enjoyed reading this historical fiction book, recommended by GR friend Ingrid. The book is set in 1537 England. Henry VIII has left the Catholic church and the country is divided between those faithful to the new Church of England, with Henry VIII as its head, and the Catholic church. A royal commissioner is murdered in the monastery of Scarnsea on the southeast coast of England.
Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s vicar general, calls a lawyer, Matthew Shardlake, to his office and tells him to go to the monastery, find the murderer and persuade the monastery to surrender its property to the king.
Shardlake and his assistant Mark Poer go the monastery and investigate. More murders happen and the ending was a surprise to me. I thought that the author wrote a very evocative novel, painting a vivid picture of Tudor England, with all its cruelties and maneuverings by various players jockeying for power and money.
Two quotes– Catholic Church holy relics: “They say that there are two headed dragons in the Indies. Well here we have two headed saints” {Cromwell showing Shardlake two different skulls of the same saint}
Shardlake, dealing with an informer: “I was shaking like an aspen leaf from head to foot.”
I give this library book a solid 4 out 5 stars. I recommend it to historical fiction fans.
The Shardlake books are some of my all time favorites.
CJ Sansom takes the time to paint a picture for us of 15th Century England. Not only does he bring across a real sense of the period but also of the people who lived in this time. They are not always nice, often prejudiced by our standards, but boy they are real.
The version I had was the hardback, and this was a quality edition as you would expect. The editing was superb the writing flawless and the presentation of the entire book to the reader was done to perfection.
Sansom’s main character, Shardlake, is a work of art. He is probably the least attractive “hero” there has ever been. Sansom draws him superbly, and through a series of events we get to know Shardlake, respect his acumen, love his wit and sympathize with this problems.
My cousin told me about these books and I have read all seven of them with interest.
The first in this series. I like them all. Interesting main character. Good detail about day-to-day life in Tudor England.
I love everything by this author.
He is bright, well researched and writes extremely well
An excellent historical mystery, set during the Tudor period of Henry VIII. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it moved along well and draws the reader with interesting characters and a plot that was both intricate, but not contrived. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in historical fiction/mysteries as well as those who enjoy period pieces set in a very interesting time.
Wonderful historical mystery!
I like this book because it gave me insight into a part of Tudor history that I knew little about.
I recommend the entire series
Sansome is a wonderful historical novelist with believable characters— both fictional and historical. He brings Tudor England to life (and makes me very grateful to live now rather than then). My overall reaction to each of his novels had been, “Please, please, PLEASE sir! May I have some more.”
This is the first in a fabulous series of Tudor mysteries from CJ Sansom, each rich with history, detail, and the wonderful main character, hunchback lawyer Matthew Shardlake.
Couldn’t put it down
Outstanding historical fiction. Well – researched, well – plotted, compelling.
Great series, start with the first one and read them all
I thought this was extremely well researched and told from a very interesting perspective …
Great historical details. Good morning mystery And well written