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Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake, #1)

C.J. Sansom

Start date: January 15, 2023

Finish date: February 7, 2023

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: First book in this popular historical mystery series.
[close] First book in this popular historical mystery series.

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What Members Thought

Feb 12, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-fiction-uk, mystery-series-first-novel

C.J. Sansom’s Dissolution is the first of a series of novels featuring Dr. Matthew Shardlake, who, in this episode is a lawyer whose boss is no one less than Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister. The action of Dissolution takes place just after The Pilgrimage of Grace rebellions have been put down and the main rebel leaders have been put to death. Part of the reason for this particular rebellion was the dissolution of several monasteries, a plan hit upon by Cromwell who supposedly saw th ...more

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Apr 04, 2008 Susan in NC rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: want-to-reread, currently-re-reading, library-book, favorites, audiobook, reread

I enjoyed rereading this first book in one of my favorite historical mystery series - I first read it back when it was published in 2003, and have read every book in the series since. It follows the career of lawyer Matthew Shardlake of London, who starts out in this mystery a zealous Protestant reformer under Lord Thomas Cromwell, vicar general to king Henry VIII.

It is winter, 1537, and Cromwell is just beginning his campaign to shut down Catholic monasteries in England and claim their vast wea ...more

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Feb 11, 2011 P. rated it liked it · review of another edition

I didn't expect a book set in Tudor England to be a happy one. Rather too much torture and terror for that. What did surprise me was that the book's protagonist, Shardlake, the character the reader is supposed to relate to, was both a coward and a bully. An odd choice to carry a series. When the young man whom Shardlake wanted as a apprentice makes his well-deserved getaway [albeit at the behest of a murderess] it's the high point of the book and I cheered: Way to go, Mark!!

In addition, Shardla ...more

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Feb 04, 2023 Teri-K rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-mystery, zz-2023-bought, mystery

I've been interested in this series for a long time, but haven't been able to get my hands on any of the books, so I was excited to read this. Set in England in the time of Henry VIII, our MC works for Thomas Cromwell as a lawyer and investigator, and sincerely believes that Cromwell is a good man working for the best of England. He's also called a hunchback, and is an outcast among many people because of this deformity.

The book concerns a series of murders in a monastery that is slated to be c ...more

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