C.J. Sansom_30

I've been following Matthew Shardlake around Tudor England for years—a couple of years for me since Casey recommended the series, and a dozen years for Sergeant Shardlake, lawyer, who we first met in 1537 in 'Dissolution', the first in this seven book series. 'Tombland' is set in the Summer of 1549; Henry VIII is dead and 11 year old Edward VI holds the throne but lightly. Shardlake, greying now, hunched and without faith, remains the voice of reason and compassion in a vicious, criminally unfair world. As always, Sansom places Shardlake at the centre of a moment of political or religious and social tumult—firstly in service to Cromwell, then Archbishop Cranmer, Queen Catherine and now Princess Elizabeth—and with a twisty crime to solve. Tudor England is painted in vivid colours, stinking and visceral, with layer on layer of intimate, immersive detail. Brilliant.