Monastic murders prove a hit

Dissolution by CJ SansomMacmillan, 14.99

Victoria MacCallum

This first-time novel by a former Sussex-based solicitor is set in 1537, a turbulent time in English history.

For those whose history O-level is a distant memory, Henry VIII declared himself supreme head of the church in England, and swiftly set about a harsh programme of dissolving the monasteries and transforming the religious life and laws of his country.

Into this troubled mle comes the novel's equally troubled hero: hunchbacked lawyer and government commissioner Matthew Shardlake, who has a chip on his shoulder for good measure, a horse called Chancery and a troubleshooting brief from Thomas Cromwell.

He is sent to Scarnsea monastery on the south coast with his assistant to investigate the brutal murder of his predecessor as commissioner.

Something certainly seems to be rotten in the state of Sussex, as a black cockerel is found sacrificed on the church altar, the monastery's sacred relic disappears, and more bodies seem to appear around every shadowy corner.

Before long, Shardlake has uncovered something of a fetid web of corruption in the place - the bad, mad and corrupt monks he encounters are closer in spirit to Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose than Ellis Peters' gentle Cadfael mysteries.

Mr Sansom manages effectively to capture the atmosphere of the time and place.

His forbidding monastery, looming out of the bleak, snow-covered marshland, is inhabited by menacing black-shrouded figures who scuttle around the cloisters.

No jolly Friar Tuck figures here, rather a melting pot of homoerotic tension, skulduggery and a buxom serving wench thrown in for good measure.

The idea of setting a novel in such a specific time, and featuring real characters such as Thomas Cromwell in supporting roles, could easily have backfired, but Mr Sansom manages to carry it off with panache.

Throwing in enough contemporary politics and history to raise Dissolution above the average historical thriller, he remembers to keep the story moving at a cracking pace and throw in the obligatory twists and turns.

Apparently, Shardlake will appear in a series of forthcoming books, and on the evidence of this first novel, Ellis Peters' medieval monk could well find himself a rival in the historical thriller market.