Dark Fire, C.J. Sansom
Dark Fire, C.J. Sansom
3 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

Dark Fire

Author: C.J. Sansom

Narrator: Steven Crossley

Unabridged: 18 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 01/09/2009


Synopsis

Winner of the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award, Dark Fire brings back acclaimed master of historical fiction C. J. Sansom’s colorful and rapier-witted lawyer Matthew Shardlake. This beguiling tale of murder and mayhem is set against the rich backdrop of 1540 London.

In the employ of King Henry VIII’s vicar general Lord Thomas Cromwell, hunchbacked Matthew is called upon to investigate the peculiar case of a young woman accused of murder who, oddly, refuses to speak on her own behalf. She’s been threatened with torture, yet still she will not speak. The only
course prescribed under law will see her slowly crushed to death for failing to enter a plea. After Cromwell grants her a 14-day reprieve, Matthew, desperate to help any way he can, undertakes a secret mission to investigate an apothecary rumored to possess an explosive new weapon called Greek Fire.

“Sansom’s vivid portrayal of squalid, stinking, bustling London; the city’s wealth and poverty; the brutality and righteousness of religious persecution; and the complexities of English law make this a suspenseful, colorful and compelling tale.”—Publishers Weekly

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jeffrey on September 25, 2019

”There were four or five illustrated manuscripts written by old monastic writers, giving vivid descriptions of the use of Greek Fire. Sometimes they called it Flying Fire, sometimes the devil’s tears, fire from the dragon’s mouth, Dark Fire: I puzzled over that last name. How could fire be dark? An......more

Goodreads review by PattyMacDotComma on April 24, 2023

4.5★ “‘I cannot abide this fashion for women to blacken their teeth deliberately so people will think they live off nothing but fine sugar.’ ‘I agree. It is not pretty.’ ‘I have heard them say the pains in their mouth are worth it, if people respect them more.’” Torture in Tudor England is nothing new,......more

Goodreads review by Sean Barrs on February 22, 2016

I’m really starting to warm to Matthew Shardlake. He’s a great character, and a perfect investigator; he is compassionate and clever; he is brave and realistic in his approach to his ginormous tasks. He is really aware of himself and those around him. He’s a hunchback; he’s an outcast and a figure f......more