Tombland

England, 1549.Two years after the death of Henry VIII, England is sliding into chaos. The economy is in collapse, inflation rages and rebellion is stirring among the peasantry . . . Since the old king’s death, Matthew Shardlake has been working as a lawyer in the service of Henry’s daughter, the Lady Elizabeth. The gruesome murder of Edith Boleyn – a distant relative in Norfolk – sends Shardlake and his assistant Nicholas Overton to the summer Assizes at Norwich.And then East Anglia explodes, as peasant rebellion breaks out across the country. The yeoman Robert Kett leads a force of thousands in overthrowing the landlords and taking over Norwich, England’s second largest city. Now Shardlake must decide where his ultimate loyalties lie, as government forces in London prepare to march north and destroy the rebels.Meanwhile he discovers that the murder of Edith Boleyn may have connections reaching into both the heart of the Norfolk gentry and the rebel camp itself . . .