After jumping ahead and reading a couple of later books in this series, managed to get this earlier volume which I have enjoyed. In this Matthew Shardlake, lawyer, and his clerk/bodyguard/sidekick Jack Barak are in York as part of the King's progress to the North. The political situation is tense following a second conspiracy discovered and crushed, only five years after the Pilgrimage of Grace which Henry VIII was only able to subdue by deceit and treachery. Shardlake is part of the legal team who are meant to be hearing petitions and weeding out the unsuitable ones, the Progress being meant to show the King's justice as well as being an opportunity to cow the northern nobles.

Barak finds meaningful romance for the first time when he meets Tamasin who is working as a sweetmeat maker for Queen Catherine. But things take a sinister turn when a glazier, who is removing the stained glass windows from the decommissioned abbey church in the walled enclosure that is to be the King's base in York, is killed - and it soon transpires that not only has he been murdered but that he seems to be mixed up in the recently put-down conspiracy. For it seems that some members have managed to evade the authorities.

As usual this is a page-turner with various attempts on Shardlake's life, against a complex interweaving of Tudor politics, religion and social castes. I did work out some elements of the mystery, as I had seen the documentary which the author refers to in his endnote, but didn't work out all the elements of who had done what. I did though work out who one of the villains had to be, but I still found the denouement effective and saddening. The only weakness in the book, which holds it back from 5 stars, is that the author has a few "ticks" which really jumped out and kept taking me out of the story. People constantly take a deep breath - Shardlake himself does this 5 or 6 times in one scene. And there were a few continuity errors, such as having a character stand up twice about two paragraphs apart. But it still merits a well-deserved 4 stars. ( )

M ( )

I enjoyed this third book in the series more that the second, but a little less than the first. Due to the good levels of historical accuracy, I actually learned quite a bit from this novel.

Interesting plot which had me puzzled for a long while before the explanation, although the identity of the murderer was easier for me to guess. Well written as always, and enjoyable. This book seems to longer than the others in the series, but this wasn't noticeable whilst reading.

I'd continue to recommend this series to fans of the time period and/or fans of detective fiction. ( )

Lots of plot, these Shardlake mysteries! Who dunnit, who keeps doing it! The whole preoccupation with parentage & class seems historically accurate... have we got past that, really? The confusion and conflict over religion, for sure. Folks nowadays seem to have forgotten how ugly it gets when religion and politics get all mixed up. The 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was put there for very good reason! The folks who interpret religious freedom as the freedom to impose religion... well, Enlightenment might well be a short lived phase, sorry to say.

Anyway, another good page turner. Took me about two days to read it! ( )

"Sovereign" is the 3rd book I have now read in the Matthew Shardlake mystery series. Each one seems to get better! Sansom really brings to life Tudor England. This story focused on the Progress that Henry VIII took with his court to York and all the intrigues that developed. Anyone interested in Tudor England would find this fascinating. I highly recommend this book. ( )