Wednesday 30 July 2014

"Dissolution" by C.J.Samson

Matthew Shardlake is sent by Thomas Cromwell to the Monastery of St Donatus on the Sussex coastal marshes to investigate the murder of another royal servant. Hump-backed Shardlake and his good-looking sidekicj Mark Poer enter a corrupted monastic world in which every cardinal sin is on display. One monk is gay, lusting after Mark, another is a Christianized Moor from Spain, another is a harsh disciplinarian. More crimes ensue. Who is the murderer?

This is a classic whodunnit, like a mountain stream: twisting, fast-paced, and sparkling (although a little shallow). Homage is paid to Eco's Name of the Rose (the monastic library contains a copy of a lost work by Aristotle although it is a fake) and Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles (the murderers attempt to escape across the marshes) but it stands on its own and there is a nice twist at the end.

July 2014; 439 pages

Also see later books in the Shardlake series: Dark Fire and Heartstone.

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