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‘A fiendish puzzle and a slice of gritty historical fiction, with a brilliantly unconventional detective at its heart’ – Richard Osman, bestselling author of We Solve Murders

Dissolution is the first novel in C. J. Sansom’s phenomenally bestselling Shardlake series. After one of Cromwell’s commissioners is brutally murdered, Matthew Shardlake is drawn into an investigation that becomes darker than he could have ever imagined . . .

England, 1537. It is a time of revolution that sees the greatest changes in England since 1066. Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church. The country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers it has ever seen. And under the orders of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent throughout the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: dissolution.

But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Cromwell’s commissioner, Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body. His horrific murder accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege.

Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell to uncover the truth behind the dark happenings at Scarnsea. But Shardlake’s investigation soon forces him to question everything that he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes . . .

Follow Shardlake into the dark heart of Tudor England with the next book in the series, Dark Fire.

Publisher Review

Remarkable . . . The sights, the voices, the very smell of this turbulent age seem to rise from the page — P. D. James, author of the Inspector Adam Dalgliesh series Extraordinarily impressive. The best crime novel I have read this year — Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse series Terrific. Historical fiction at its finest — Peter Robinson, author of the Inspector Alan Banks series Terrific . . . a remarkable, imaginative feat. It is a first-rate murder mystery and one of the most atmospheric historical novels I’ve read in years * Mail on Sunday * Dissolution is not just a fascinating detective story, but a convincing portrait of a turbulent period * Sunday Telegraph * Matthew Shardlake combines engrossing historical detail with a first-rate murder mystery. A really satisfying page-turner * Independent * Sansom has a greater talent for animating period details than most of his contemporaries; his rendering of the Tudor winter in the first of the Shardlake series makes you reach for thick fleece blankets * The Guardian * I don’t read historical novels any more – it’s a busman’s holiday – but I make an exception for C. J. Sansom’s Shardlake books, which are set amid the uncertainties of the sixteenth-century Henrician Reformation — Bernard Cornwell, The Times, ‘The 25 books you must read’ CJ Sansom’s books are arguably the best Tudor novels going * Sunday Times *