SHARDLAKE: THE COMPLETE BBC RADIO COLLECTION

DARK FIRE

In 1540 Matthew Shardlake, believing himself out of favour with Thomas Cromwell, is trying to keep a low profile and concentrate on his legal practice. His involvement in a prominent murder case brings him back into Cromwell's sights, and he is given a new assignment by the most devious politician in England. Shardlake, book 2.

DISSOLUTION

In 1537 Thomas Cromwell is obeying King Henry VIII's order that all monasteries be dissolved. Many monks are opposed to this, and when Cromwell's Commissioner is found dead, Matthew Shardlake is sent to uncover the truth. Shardlake, book 1.

DOMINION

1952. In an alternative Britain Twelve years have passed since the country surrendered to Nazi Germany after Dunkirk, and the long German war against Russia rages on in the east: In a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated scientist, Frank Muncaster, may hold a secret that could change the balance of the world struggle for ever.

HEARTSTONE

An old servant of Catherine Parr gives Matthew Shardlake an intriguing case involving claims of ‘monstrous wrongs’ committed against a ward of the court. Shardlake and his assistant Barak travel to Portsmouth where they find a city about to become a war zone. Shardlake also takes on the case of Ellen Fettipace, a young woman held in the Bedlam. Shardlake, book 5.

LAMENTATION

As heretics are hunted across London, and the radical Protestant Anne Askew is burned at the stake, the Catholic party focus their attack on Henry VIII's sixth wife, Queen Catherine Parr. Shardlake's investigations take him on a trail that leads him into the dark and labyrinthine world of the politics of the royal court; a world he had sworn never to enter again. Shardlake, book 6.

REVELATION

Spring, 1543. King Henry VIII is wooing Lady Catherine Parr, but the embattled Protestant faction at court are watching keenly, for Lady Catherine is known to have reformist sympathies. Matthew Shardlake, meanwhile, is working on the case of a teenage boy whose terrifying religious mania leads to him being burned as a heretic. Shardlake, book 4.

SOVEREIGN

In Autumn 1541, Henry VIII and his new queen, Catherine Howard, make a royal Progress to the North, ending in York. Matthew Shardlake and Jack Barak are already in the city, on a mission for Archbishop Cranmer. When a glazier is murdered Shardlake finds himself in close, but dangerous, proximity to the Royal Court. Shardlake, book 3.

WINTER IN MADRID

When Harry Brett, a reluctant agent for the British Secret Service, is sent to spy on an old school friend turned shady businessman in 1940 Madrid, little does he realise what a dangerous game he is playing.