Play Book Tag discussion

Matthew Sheldrake, a lawyer appointed a Commissioner by Cromwell, who are sent around the realm to handle the dissolution of the monasteries, is sent to Scarnsea Monastery, an old silted-up Channel Port on the Kent-Sussex border, to investigate and handle the situation after Cromwell receives word that the Commissioner sent to achieve a voluntary dissolution has been murdered. What follows is no less than a intricate interweaving of Tudor history, complex murder mystery and other crimes plot, and a crisis of faith and conscience within Matthew himself. I absolutely adored this - was completely drawn in and learned a fair amount of the history around the dissolution of the monasteries while reading it.

Matthew is a very human character with strengths and faults. Cromwell, Henry and all the Reformers are not portrayed in any less than negative manner - I got the sense that the author, a historian, does not have any sympathy for the shenanigans of Cromwell et al. You are not getting an even-handed judgment free presentation of the times, which is just fine and in fact is very important to how Matthew's views on reformation evolve in the story. The atmosphere of the monastery, the nearby village, and the marshes between it and the sea were first rate. I loved it was set in winter and snow fell trapping all for days as events progressed.

And I absolutely loved The Name of the Rose Easter Egg hidden inside - especially as through the first third or so I could not help but think of Eco's story of another visitor to a monastery where murder occurred and much was not right.

Another book that has been on my tbr forever.

It is just up my alley.

Booknblues wrote: "Another book that has been on my tbr forever.

It is just up my alley."

I think you will love it!

Fabulous fabulous series - one of my favourites of all time.

This is one of my absolute favorites. I love the character and have read every one of the books in the series.. He's supposed to release Ratcliff in August but it's still invisible. There was some talk of Disney+ doing a series on it but I don't know where that is now.

Olivermagnus wrote: "This is one of my absolute favorites. I love the character and have read every one of the books in the series.. He's supposed to release Ratcliff in August but it's still invisible. There was some ..."

Based on what I could find, Disney+ just greenlighted the series in January so hopefully in a year or so.

A friend and I have been having a conversation about whether Ratcliff publication is real or not as there is zero mention of it on any remotely legit site - author website, publisher, or on vendors like Amazon which even has had GRRM's The Winds of Winter up for years even though all know not yet written.

I at least have the existing backlist to work through.

Theresa wrote: "Matthew Sheldrake, a lawyer appointed a Commissioner by Cromwell, who are sent around the realm to handle the dissolution of the monasteries, is sent to Scarnsea Monastery, an old silted-up Channel..."

I love this series, and I think they get better as they go on.

Theresa wrote: " Olivermagnus wrote: "This is one of my absolute favorites. I love the character and have read every one of the books in the series.. He's supposed to release Ratcliff in August but it's still invi..."

Ratcliff used to be on GR as I had it on my TBR here, but it was removed earlier on this year.

I went searching for information online a few weeks ago, but the most recent mention of a possible publishing date was from January this year, and there have been no updates since. I know that the author was diagnosed with an incurable but treatable form of cancer about 10 years ago so previous books had been delayed before, so I don't know if it is related to this. This is one of the articles I found:

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserv...

His last few books were separated by 4 years. This is year 5 since his last, and includes lockdown and pandemic when many writers experienced serious writers block. Also, on thinking about it, these books require a great deal of original research, and once written, fact checking. That too would have been compromised by pandemic.

One should continue to hope.