Dissolution - C.J. Sansom

**** - An intriguing 'locked-room' mystery set in the political and religious turmoil of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. I thought it read a great deal like a more accessible version of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. In a good way.

FTC Disclosure: I borrowed this book from a friend.

At the height of the English Reformation under King Henry VIII, property lawyer Matthew Shardlake is sent (at the behest of Thomas Cromwell) to investiage a gruesome murder at Scarnsea Abbey - and to persuade the abbot to voluntarily close the monastery. Accompanied by his assistant Mark Poer, Shardlake uncovers a tangle of sins, licentiousness and deceptions - as well as further murders. But he also unearths some ugly truths about his mentor and the reformist cause.

It is rather unusual to read a historical novel with a disabled main character. Sansom uses Shardlake's hunched back to good effect - given people's superstitions and downright cruelty, Matthew keeps himself at an emotional distance from those around him. Having had to cope with others' prejudices, he is determined to maintain fair and rational judgments rather than letting personal dislike or sympathies inhibit his investigations. Finally, his deformity plays a large role in reconciling his world-weary approach with his almost naive idealism when it comes to the reformist actions in England. Matthew Shardlake is such an interesting and multi-faceted character; I very much enjoyed learning about the political and religious turmoil of the times alongside him.

None of this is to suggest that the mystery gets short shrift in Dissolution. It doesn't. Sansom gives us many suspects, many motives, and a truly unexpected denouement when the culprit is finally unmasked. The snowbound monastery surrounded by a treacherous bog provides the reader with a truly creepy atmosphere. I constantly expected someone to spring out from a secret passage or a shadowy corner. And the fear and hostility of the common people towards the monastery and the monks fear of Cromwell and King Henry despite adherence to the 'new' rules is palpable - further enhancing the atmosphere.

I truly enjoyed Dissolution, and I would recommend it, both as a mystery and as a look at a part of Tudor England I've rarely seen in fiction.