His evocation of life in Tudor times from the perspective of a practising lawyer carries with it an inescapable authenticity. The mysteries are an absorbing bonus to these remarkable insights but woven in so carefully with the historical observations and imagination and the complex, recognisable, psychology of the characters that the result is an integrated and inseparable whole.

What was it like to be a subject of Henry VIII? Did his subjects feel free? Was fear always present? How did the politics of the day affect daily life, or was it just in the higher reaches its influence was felt? Was the most important thing in life the poverty and the squalor – particularly in London? With the enlightenment and modern science round the corner, were the rustlings present then?

See how prejudice, bigotry, power-seeking, greed and ignorance can despoil humanity not only now, but also in Tudor times.

Reading CJ Sansom is for me, a solicitor, an educative and enduring experience.