Just Finished Reading… Dissolution by C.J. Sansom. London, Macmillan, 2003.

 

Matthew Shardlake is a lawyer in the service of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief minister. The time is during the dissolution of the monasteries, when all the monasteries were shut down and the money handed over to the crown. 

There were commissioners sent to check out the abbeys and find reasons for closing them. But Matthew is sent to find out who murdered the last commissioner, slicing his head off and leaving the body in the monastery kitchen early one morning.

As far as Matthew is concerned, the place is corrupt, like other monasteries, and pretty much everyone he interviews has a motive for murder. The thing is, if it’s just a murder, why resort to cutting the victim’s head off? Why not just stab him or use poison? It takes him most of the book to figure that out and meanwhile, there are more murders, including one monk Matthew suspects…

It’s a moody piece of writing, reflecting the moodiness of the atmosphere at the abbey, which faces the marshes, impassable except to smugglers who know certain paths. The monks eat well, the abbot goes hunting, but in the end, the heads of the abbey don’t like each other very much and that affects the mood. The townsfolk nearby dislike them too. 

And to be honest, Matthew is not very likable, though he cares. He has a disability, his hunch back, and that affects his way of thinking, as he thinks nobody could possibly care about him. 

I will be interested to read the next book, to see how our hero pans out. 

Meanwhile, I’m going to watch the mini series on Disney+, which is based on this first novel. I thought I should read it first, so binged over the weekend. It’s definitely worth a read, and should be easily available in print book with the series on, and a lot of fuss over that; I had it in ebook, bought a while ago and never got around to reading it till now.

Sadly, the author has died recently, just before the mini series came out. RIP C.J Sansom!