Tuesday, June 5, 2012

BOOK: Dissolution by C.J.Sansom

This meme (highlighting crime fiction titles or authors) was run first on Mysteries in Paradise in 2009-2010 and was re-run in 2011. This week's letter is the letter C. Head over here to see what other books are being highlighted this week.This week I"m highlighting author C J Sansom and his mystery series.
Dissolution by C.J.Sansom, 439 pages

Tudors! Murder! What's not to like?
First in the series with the hunchback lawyer, Matthew Shardlake, associate of Thomas Cromwell. Shardlake is sent in to a monestary to discover who killed the representative who was sent in to possibly disband the monks. Lots of motive, lots of great characters. And then another murder, or two.

Shardlake is an idealist about religous reform, and I fear in later books he may be disillusioned by Cromwell's ambition and questionable methods. This was hinted at in this book. He's a great main character because his physical ailments make him an outsider, not the usual person in power, but his skills as a lawyer and his intelligence overcome his hunchback. This series is like a more modern Brother Cadfael mystery - no matter the time, there will be people behaving badly. Looking forward to more of Matthew Shardlake.