London, 1543. A serial killer is prowling the city, one who treats murder as a holy mission: preying upon radicals and creating gory tableaux inspired by a prophecy from the Book of Revelation.

Archbishop Cranmer has asked Shardlake to conduct a secret investigation to catch the killer before word of the bloodshed reaches the King: one of the victims was close to Catherine Parr, Henry's current romantic obsession, and an ally of the reformers cause; Cranmer knows that such a taint will ruin any chance of her becoming Queen.

As the number of victims mounts, Shardlake and his trusty side-kick Barak are constantly wrong-footed - how does the killer know exactly what they plan to do next? Is there an informant amongst Cranmer's staff?

And Shardlake must also attend to another pressing case, that of a young man, Adam Kite, driven mad by the conviction that he is damned and that the Lord has forsaken him. Adam is being held in the Bedlam for his own safety - his wild rants about damnation verge on heresy - but Shardlake hopes his friend Guy the Apothecary can help to ease his suffering.

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

Shardlake ….. Justin Salinger
Barak ….. Bryan Dick
Cranmer ….. Sean Baker
Harsnet ….. Carl Prekopp
Seymour ….. David Seddon
Lockley ….. Patrick Brennan
Abigail ….. Kirsty Oswald

Other parts played by the cast.

Dramatised by Colin MacDonald.

Director: Kirsteen Cameron

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2017. Show less