If you weren’t inspired back then to pick up this author’s work, I strongly recommend you do so, now. On sending sample chapters of his first book, Dissolution, out to a number of agents, his work generated so much interest there was a bidding war for it. Those of you who attended the Writers’ Club meeting, will probably remember the tall, quiet-spoken ex-solicitor who matter-of-factly charted his meteoric writing career. Jason Watkins and Justin Salinger star as Shardlake, with Bryan Dick as Barak, Mark Bonnar and Robert Glenister as Cromwell, Sam Dale and Sean Baker as Cranmer, and Emily Wachter and Jessica Hardwick as Queen Catherine Parr.Like your whodunit with a twist of history? Well, look no further than one of our local authors, Chris Sansom. His investigations lead him from London's backstreet print shops to the heart of the royal court. As heretics are burned at the stake, the Queen rashly decides to write a compromising confessional book - and when it is stolen, she turns to Shardlake. Henry VIII lies dying, and his Protestant and Catholic factions are vying for power.

Meanwhile, across the Channel, the French fleet is preparing to attack. Heartstone - Summer, 1545, and Shardlake and Barak are drawn into two murky mysteries: one involving 'monstrous wrongs' committed against a ward of the court, the other involving the troubled past of Bedlam inmate Ellen Fettiplace.

With London rocked by religious turmoil, Shardlake must complete two vital assignments: help a teenage boy imprisoned in Bedlam for his heretical ravings, and prevent a serial killer from completing his unholy mission. But soon they are caught up in a murder investigation - and a daring plot to bring down the royal family. As the King embarks on a Royal Progress to York, Shardlake and Barak arrive in the city on a secret mission for Archbishop Cranmer. Accompanied by Cromwell's man, Barak, he must race against time to save Elizabeth's life - and Cromwell's skin. Can he catch the killer before he strikes again?ĭark Fire - Summer, 1540, and Shardlake is embroiled in two urgent cases: tracking down a batch of Greek Fire, an ancient weapon of mass destruction, and defending an orphan girl accused of murder. When a King's Commissioner is brutally murdered at Scarnsea monastery, Thomas Cromwell sends Shardlake to investigate. Set during the reign of Henry VIII, these six stunning dramas follow the adventures of hunchbacked lawyer-detective Matthew Shardlake as he navigates the dangerous world of Tudor England, solving crimes and seeking out murderers.ĭissolution - Winter, 1537. The complete collected dramatisations of C.

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