Historical Mysteries Like C J Sansom's Shardlake Series

Many fans of historical mysteries will have been saddened to learn that Author C J Sansom passed away recently. If you haven’t heard of C J Sansom, he was the author of the Shardlake mystery series which is set in Britain mostly during the reign of Henry VIII. The first book concerns a murder at a monastery on the Sussex coast of a commissioner employed by Thomas Cromwell. Dr Matthew Shardlake is sent to investigate. There are six further mysteries that track the events of Henry’s reign, the politics, the religious factions and the power struggles.

The Shardlake series are compelling, beguiling and endlessly interesting. If you’re a fan, you will be desolate at the loss of its author. It might be a time to reread the series, but where to from there? What other books might there be to satisfy a die-hard Shardlake fan?

The Giordano Bruno series by S J Parris follow the exploits of the free-thinking philosopher who escaped the Roman Inquisition and a charge of heresy, only to wind up in London. Here he’s recruited by Elizabeth I’s spymaster Francis Walsingham and becomes involved in a bunch of twisty, politically inspired mysteries and adventures. Bruno is a wonderfully interesting character with both smarts and nifty skills with a knife.

Paul Doherty is the author of numerous historical mysteries but The Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan series might be a particularly good fit for Shardlake fans. Athelstan is a Dominican friar and secretary to Sir John Cranston, the coroner for The City of London. We’re in the reign of Richard II in the 14^th century, a time of unrest, and events such as the Peasants’ Revolt. There is usually a satisfyingly knotty problem for Athelstan to solve and plenty of interesting historical background.

Andrew Taylor’s new series, The Ashes of London, is set during the reign of Charles II in a London recovering from the Great Fire of London. Enter Kate Lovett, an aspiring architect and James Marwood a functionary for the government tasked with finding information and this often involves solving murders. In the background are tensions between factions at court, as well as issues around the execution of Charles I and the Civil War that preceded it. You get a lot of interesting history, but also a rollicky good story.

The Nicholas Shelby series by S W Perry take us back to the era of Queen Elizabeth I, a time of Spanish plotters, Catholic heretics and wars. Nicholas Shelby is a physician with a sidekick – Bianca Merton, a beautiful tavern keeper. The novels bring Elizabethan London to life with a series of thrilling stories peppered with danger and historical detail. You get plenty of religious fervour, conspiracy and espionage which pushes the storylines along nicely.

We move away from mysteries with the Thomas Cromwell trilogy by Hilary Mantel. The first two books, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, won the Booker Prize so we’re in the realm of literary fiction. Saying that, the series is eminently readable with a vivid present-tense narration that keeps you reading. It’s the story of the rise of Henry VIII’s fixer, the man who managed his king’s divorce and marriage to Anne Boleyn and the turbulent years that followed. There’s a huge cast of characters brought to life along with a riveting piece of history.

14 May 2024

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