Shardlake series author CJ Sansom dies age 71

Chris Sansom, Scottish author of the popular Shardlake historical crime series, has died at the age of 71.

His first novel, Dissolution, introducing lawyer Matthew Shardlake, was published 21 years ago and he went on to write six more Shardlake novels as part of a bestselling series.

A Disney+ adaptation of Dissolution, starring Sean Bean and Arthur Hughes, is being released on Wednesday.

His longtime editor and publisher, Maria Rejt, said Sansom "worked tirelessly on each book, never wanting to disappoint a single reader."

Sansom also enjoyed success with two standalone historical novels, Winter in Madrid and Dominion.

He won several awards for his historical crime writing, most recently picking up the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for his outstanding contribution to the genre.

Rejt described her late colleague as "an intensely private person, Chris wished from the very start only to be published quietly and without fanfare".

"But he always took immense pleasure in the public’s enthusiastic responses to his novels... he was working on his new Shardlake novel, Ratcliff, when he died but his worsening health made progress painfully slow: his meticulous historical research and his writing were always so important to him.

"I shall miss him hugely, not only as a wonderfully talented writer who gave joy to millions, but as a dear friend of enormous compassion and integrity.’

Anthony Topping, Sansom's agent, added: "He had a loathing of injustice of any kind and a special contempt for bullies.

"At the same time he had a joyful and piercing sense of humour which he would spring on you, with an attempt at a straight face, when you were least expecting it."

He added that it was an "extraordinarily strange coincidence that Chris has died only a handful of days before a new generation of fans will meet Matthew Shardlake" on Disney+.

Actor Hughes, who plays the titular role in the adaptation, posted his condolences on X, external, saying it was "truly an honour to bring his most famous character to screen."

One of Britain’s bestselling historical novelists, Sansom was born in 1952 in Edinburgh. He was educated at Birmingham University and worked in a variety of jobs before retraining as a solicitor and practising in Sussex, before becoming a full-time writer.

He combined both history and law in his debut novel Dissolution, which took readers into the dark heart of Tudor England in a gripping novel of monastic treachery and death.

This success sparked the bestselling Shardlake series, set in the reigns of Henry VIII and young Edward VI, and followed the 16th Century lawyer/detective Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak.

There are nearly three million copies of the series in print.