Dissolution is the first in the phenomenal Shardlake series by bestselling author C J Sansom followed by Dark Fire Sovereign Revelation Heartstone & Lamentation It is 1537 a time of revolution that sees the greatest changes in England since 1066 Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church & the country is waking up to savage new laws rigged trials & the greatest network of informers ever seen Under the order of Thomas Cromwell a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries There can only be one outcome the monasteries are to be dissolved But on the Sussex coast at the monastery of Scarnsea events have spiralled out of control Cromwell's Commissioner Robin Singleton has been found dead his head severed from his body His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege
- a black cockerel sacrificed on the altar & the disappearance of Scarnsea's Great Relic Dr Matthew Shardlake lawyer & long-time supporter of Reform has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery & death But Shardlake's investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears & everything that he intrinsically believes