The BBC explored adapting the Shardlake novels for television in 2007 and even cast Sir Kenneth Branagh to play the detective. He is sent by Thomas Cromwell, the ultimate Tudor powerbroker, to investigate the beheading of Robin Singleton, a commissioner responsible for disbanding monasteries after Henry VIII declared himself supreme head of the Church of England. The first book, Dissolution, introduces readers Dr Matthew Shardlake, a hunchback lawyer-turned-detective in Tudor England.

Should it be successful, there is plenty of material for The Forge to mine, with Sansom having written seven novels in the Shardlake series. Working titled Shardlake, the series will shoot in the UK this year and sources said it could comprise four episodes. The plot, which holds together to the end, is fast-paced and satisfying.Florida Lawmakers Pass Bill To Void Walt Disney World's Development Agreement With Special District In his first published effort, Sansom offers up a historical detective novel in language that is moody, expressive, and precise. Adding to his stress, during the course of his investigation Shardlake hears startling information, leading him to question his loyalties. But after two more murders are discovered, it becomes clear that they could be looking at a longer stay than initially intended.

Together they begin to question suspects and unravel the tangle of leads that will, they hope, quickly point to the murderer. Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer devoted to reform and a personal friend, to find the murderer post haste, fearing further rebellion and the end to his regime.Īccompanying Shardlake is his clerk, Mark Poer. However, when one of Cromwell’s commissioners is murdered while on assignment at the Scarnsea monastery in southern England, he sends Dr. Cromwell is well under way in his plan to dissolve and destroy all vestiges of Catholicism in England. While reform seems to be taking hold, many loyal Catholics remain opposed to the strict new rules and regulations. This gripping mystery is set in Tudor England during the winter of 1557, just after a rebellion against the still-new Church of England has been put down by Henry VIII and his vicar general, Thomas Cromwell.

Dissolution sansom