REVELATION

by C.J. Sansom



When Matthew Shardlake's good friend is murdered, Matthew is pulled into a serial killer's web of religious fanaticism. Using passages from the Book of Revelation, he must find a way to find the killer and stop his madness before the consequences reach even King Henry VIII.

When it comes to historical mysteries, it's hard to beat C.J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake series. Matthew is a humble and philosophical hunchbacked lawyer living in Tudor England who brushes elbows with the likes of Thomas Cromwell, Archbishop Cranmer, and even King Henry himself on occasion. The supporting cast is fabulous, and I find myself caught up not only in Matthew and his cases but also in the private lives of Guy, former monk turned physician and one of Matthews oldest friends, and Jack Barak, former employee of Thomas Cromwell and Matthew's assistant.

Revelation is a chunkster, but the pages fly by as Sansom draws you into the sights and sounds of the weeks just before Henry's marriage to Catherine Parr, his sixth wife. You'll feel the tension of religious conflict. You'll see the inner workings of Bedlam and explore the path to madness.

If you haven't already been introduced to Matthew Shardlake and his friends, start with Dissolution, then come back here and yell at me for making your TBR list/pile/mountain even larger. :-)