Dissolution

Dissolution is the first installment in the gripping Shardlake series by bestselling author C.J. Sansom. The book is set during a time of significant change in England, with Henry VIII declaring himself Supreme Head of the Church and implementing drastic new laws, trials, and informant networks. As part of Thomas Cromwell's efforts to investigate monasteries across the country, a team of commissioners is dispatched, including Robin Singleton, who is found murdered in the Sussex coastal monastery of Scarnsea. His gruesome death is accompanied by acts of sacrilege such as the sacrifice of a black cockerel on the altar and the disappearance of the monastery's Great Relic.

Dr. Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer and advocate for religious reform, is sent to Scarnsea by Cromwell to investigate Singleton's murder. However, as he delves deeper into the case, Shardlake begins to question everything he hears and believes, leading him down a dangerous path of treachery and death. This thrilling historical mystery sets the stage for the subsequent books in the Shardlake series, which include Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation, Heartstone, and Lamentation.