Spring, 1543. London's streets are filled with preachers convinced that the end times are near. Strange signs and portents are seen everywhere - including two great fish, as big as houses, washed up on the banks of the Thames: could they be the Leviathan, a sign of the Second Coming?

In this fervid atmosphere, a killer is prowling the city - but what links the victims? Summoned to Lambeth Palace, Shardlake is asked by Archbishop Cranmer to conduct a secret investigation - no word of the murders must reach King Henry because one of the dead men was close to Catherine Parr, the King's current romantic obsession, and an ally of the reformers' cause.

While working on another case, Shardlake receives information that suggests the killer has been active for some time.

CJ Sansom's Tudor crime novel stars Justin Salinger as detective Matthew Shardlake.

Shardlake ..... Justin Salinger
Barak ..... Bryan Dick
Guy ..... Vincent Ebrahim
Harsnet ..... Carl Prekopp
Dorothy ..... Emily Bruni
Seymour ..... David Seddon
Cranmer ..... Sean Baker
Benson ..... Patrick Brennan
Tamasin ..... Kirsty Oswald
Piers ..... Luke MacGregor

Other parts played by the cast.

Dramatised by Colin MacDonald.

Director: Kirsteen Cameron

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 201 Show less