The shardlake series collection C. J. Sansom 6 books set ( Dissolution , Dark Fire , Sovereign , Revelation , Heartstone , Lamentation)

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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. Needless to say everyone is on edge knowing that the King’s representative needs very little cause to close the monastery and confiscate their lands. Shardlake finds a nest of barely repentant monks still clinging to their idols and traditions. It is too much to expect that people can just flip a switch and do away with beliefs that have sustained them their whole lives. Leading the cast we have Arthur Hughes ( The Innocents) playing Matthew Shardlake, who’s described as “a lawyer with an acute sense of justice and one of the few honest men in a world beset with scheming and plots.” Speaking about bringing the stories to life, Stephen said: "Writing Shardlake has been nothing short of a joy. C.J. Sansom’s novels are incredibly rich in story, character and history; full of intrigue, excitement, cruelty and compassion — and at the centre of it all is Matthew Shardlake, a hero like no other. The Shardlake series is a series of historical mystery novels by C. J. Sansom, set in 16th century Tudor England. The series features barrister Matthew Shardlake, who, while navigating the religious reforms of Henry VIII, solves crime and tries to avoid getting caught up in political intrigue. What I enjoyed most about this book was the atmosphere that Sansom creates. He vividly recreates the turmoil of the period along with the sights, sounds and smells of the era. The reader feels the chill in his or her own bones as the characters struggle to stay warm in the middle of the freezing cold weather. This historical detail is engrossing and the story is a compelling one.

One of Cromwell's agents has been murdered, beheaded no less, whilst investigating St. Donatus monastary at Scarnsea. The beheading is sending a personal message to Cromwell as he insists that Shardlake goes there and find out what is going on. Shardlake and his assistant, Mark Poer, travel to the monastery, finding the monks unsurprisingly scarcely repenting of their faith, as they are politically demanded to do, despite the terrible repercussions if they do not. Shardlake has little sympathy with the Catholic faith, being a strong supporter of the reformation. With more murder and a host of suspects, Shardlake has his work cut out to get close to the truth. I don’t recall how this series got on my radar, but when a good friend starting reading, and loving, the series I had to bump it up on my “to read” pile. I confess I saw the details of the murder investigation and the ultimate solution to the murder as entertaining but relatively pedestrian as mysteries go. Like so many authors, Sansom relies heavily on the age old literary device of the bad boys of the piece never knowing when to shut up. Left to his own devices as a sleuth, I suspect that Shardlake might have found one "nave", but not the "knave" that Cromwell was insisting upon. That's the bad news! However, in the books, Shardlake makes references to how unattractive he is, but in the promo picture for the series, he looks a lot more dashing than he'd appear in the novels. Shardlake castI very rarely bother with crime novels. The genre feels overdone and, well, a little bit boring. To me it all looks like the same regurgitated story. I blame the terrible police dramas on television; they make me yawn when I see how stupid they are. I did a two year course in forensic science, and it never ceases to amaze me how the writers of these television shows think that wearing gloves will therefore mean that the crime scene is not contaminated by the otherwise exposed investigators. Never mind the fact that they are trampling over evidence, leaving their own hairs and jumping to ridiculous conclusions based upon preliminary testing. These things are horribly inaccurate to the professional field; they are always forensically inaccurate. So, regardless of how this is handled in modern crime books, I always avoid them to avoid similar annoyance. This, however, isn’t a modern crime book. It’s so easy to get lost, especially in historical fiction, that it’s refreshing to find an author who’s not afraid to admit a reader might not have committed every name and scene to memory. The list of Obedentiaries (Monastery officials) in the front is there if you need it, too. They confirmed that Arthur Hughes would be joined by Sean Bean, who will be playing the role of Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII's dangerous right-hand man, who Shardlake works for. And, again, Sean Bean is rather more dashing than the typical image of Thomas Cromwell! Shortlisted for the Books Direct Crime Thriller of the Year 2009 [9] and the Crime Writers Association Ellis Peters Historical Dagger in 2008. [10]

As colonization and the slave trade dominate world affairs, a group of English merchants, desperate to find new trading opportunities, sets up a Company of Merchant Adventurers to seek a north-east passage to the Far East. The destination of the projected voyage is kept strictly secret lest Spanish spies should learn of it. After the secretary of the Company suddenly dies, Shardlake is recruited to the post as a competent man who can be trusted to keep matters secret.Walter Scott historical fiction shortlist announced". BBC News. 1 April 2011 . Retrieved 12 June 2011. Mechler, Anita (10 February 2022). "CJ Sansom Wins Diamond Dagger Award". Library Journal . Retrieved 19 January 2023. Schoolboy rivalries in the Spanish civil war A review of Winter in Madrid, in Telegraph, 26 February 2006 During the dissolution of the monasteries in the Tudor era, Matthew Shardlake is sent by Thomas Cromwell to investigate the death of a commissioner in a remote town of Scarnsea. [1] Cast [ edit ]

And in my wilful blindness I had refused to see what was before my eyes. How men fear the chaos of the world, I thought, and the yawning eternity hereafter. So we build patterns to explain its terrible mysteries and reassure ourselves we are safe in this world and beyond.”

Publication Order of Medieval Murderers Books

Christopher John Sansom (born 1952) is a British writer of historical crime novels, best known for his Matthew Shardlake series. He was born in Edinburgh and attended George Watson's College in that city, but left the school with no qualifications. Sansom has written about the bullying he suffered there. [1] Subsequently he was educated at the University of Birmingham, where he took a BA and then a PhD in history. [2] After working in a variety of jobs, he decided to retrain as a solicitor. He practised in Sussex as a lawyer for the disadvantaged, before leaving the legal profession to become a full-time writer. He lives in Sussex. [2] Work [ edit ] Kemp, Peter (27 April 2008). "A review of 'Revelation' ". The Sunday Times. UK. Archived from the original on 2 June 2014. The four-part series is written by The Last Kingdom's Stephen Butchard and produced by The Forge and Runaway Fridge.

Set in 16th century England during the dissolution of the monasteries, we’re told that the four-part mini-series will be “drenched in mystery, suspense and deception.” 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. Shardlake works on commission, initially from Thomas Cromwell in Dissolution [2] and Dark Fire, [3] then archbishop Thomas Cranmer in Sovereign and Revelation, [4] queen Catherine Parr in Heartstone and Lamentation, and lately princess Elizabeth in Tombland. The seventh book, Tombland, was published in October 2018. [5] [6] Protestants killing Catholics. Catholics killing Protestants. Good lord, all so a king can bed a particularly crafty young lady who would settle for nothing less than the crown on her head before she ministered to the Kingly “crown”. This is not Thomas More’s Utopia, a nation of innocent savages waiting only for God’s word to complete their happiness. This is a violent realm, stewed in the corruption of a decadent church.’The monasteries were infamous for hoarding wealth, and Cromwell was determined to collect it to augment the royal coffers via the Court of Augmentations. There, they assess and divvy up the proceeds to buy up more land for the Crown (and cronies, no pun intended, and no - it’s from the Greek). So nobody is looking after the poor. And with a brutal gulp, Cromwell dissolved and swallowed the monasteries across England, beginning with smaller ones in 1536 and completing the dissolution of even the largest old ones by 1540, pensioning off a few monks but turning everyone else loose into the poor neighbouring townships. DISNEY+ DEVELOPING NEW ORIGINAL SERIES BASED ON "SHARDLAKE" NOVELS". Whatsondisney+ . Retrieved 31 March 2023. The commissioner was gathering evidence to close the monastery and it is now imperative for Cromwell's own political survival that Shardlake both solves the murder and closes the monastery. En este ambiente de miedo y corrupción desatada, uno de los enviados de Cromwell, es asesinado en uno de los monasterios benedictinos a los que ha sido enviado para convencer, forzar o hacer lo que hiciera falta, para conseguir la cesión del monasterio a la corona.