Dark Fire (Shardlake) [Paperback]

C. J. Sansomas highly atmospheric and well-crafted sixteenth-century thriller... vividly describes the turbidity of Tudor London. (Jasper Fforde)

Sansom appears to have entirely beaten the second novel blues. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Steeped in the sights, sounds and smells of one of the most fascinating periods in history... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The second Shardlake novel in C. J. Sansom's remarkable historical crime series

It is 1540 and the hottest summer of the sixteenth century. Matthew Shardlake, believing himself out of favour with Thomas Cromwell, is busy trying to maintain his legal practice and keep a low profile. But his involvement with a murder case, defending a girl accused of brutally murdering her young cousin, brings him once again into contact with the king’s chief minister – and a new assignment . . . The secret of Greek Fire, the legendary substance with which the Byzantines destroyed the Arab navies, has been lost for centuries. Now an official of the Court of Augmentations has discovered the formula in the library of a dissolved London monastery. When Shardlake is sent to recover it, he finds the official and his alchemist brother brutally murdered – the formula has disappeared. Now Shardlake must follow the trail of Greek Fire across Tudor London, while trying at the same time to prove his young client’s innocence. But very soon he discovers nothing is as it seems . . .

C. J. Sansom was educated at Birmingham University, where he took a BA and then a Ph.D. in history. After working in a variety of jobs, he retrained as a solicitor and practised in Sussex, until becoming a full-time writer. He lives in Sussex.