CJ Sansom

C. J. Sansom was a British historical crime writer whose Shardlake series became one of the most acclaimed and beloved detective series in modern fiction. Born in Edinburgh in 1952, he studied History at the University of Birmingham and trained as a solicitor before turning to writing full-time. He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2020. The Shardlake series follows Matthew Shardlake, a hunchbacked lawyer in Tudor England, through seven novels set during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary I. Dark Fire, the second novel, sees Shardlake investigating a case while searching for the secret of 'Greek fire,' an ancient incendiary weapon. The series was adapted into a Disney+ television series and sold millions of copies worldwide. Sansom's fiction combined meticulous historical research with compelling mystery plotting and a protagonist whose physical vulnerability and moral courage made him one of fiction's most memorable detectives. Sansom died in April 2024. His audiobooks and books offer listeners and readers historical crime fiction of the highest order — mysteries that bring Tudor England to vivid, dangerous life.