Apr 222014
I am a sucker for these books: well-researched historical mysteries set not just in particular historical eras but within specific times and events. This one: the great Progress of Henry VIII. Sansom takes some liberties with characters but – as a professor of Tudor history – usually can find an setting in which to place his hunchback barrister. The writing is solid, if occasionally florid, drenching the reader with the history and the time, sometimes diverting off for paragraphs to explain historical elements. It’s no An Instance of the Fingerpost, but it’s definitely worth a read, especially engaging for a long flight.