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If the option were available to me I would give this book three and a half stars. That option is not available to me and so I will be giving a three star rating. Had this book not started out as slow going as it did, I might have given it four or five stars. This book took me nearly a month to read. It took me nearly a month to get past chapter eight. In that same time period I finished four other books. To summarize, I had a hard time getting into this book.

The book redeemed itself after (view spoiler)[ the death of Simon Whelplay. The death seemed to really get the rock rolling down hill. Up until that event I found myself waiting for things to happen. The reader already knew one person had been killed. I felt like it took the author forever to get to an actual murder investigation. There just seemed to be a lot of needless putting around. (hide spoiler)].

I am not generally a big reader of mystery/thriller books. I find myself bored after a few chapters usually because I have already figured out how the book is going to end and who did what. I am however a huge fan of historical fiction which is slightly ironic because I always know the outcome of those books. How many different ways can Anne Boleyn loose her head? This books proves to be an exception. (view spoiler)[ Up until it was revealed that Alice had killed Singleton, I had no real inclination to believe she was the killer. I had a fleeting suspicion but it passed. I had also gotten to a point where I didn't think it was likely one person was behind all of the mysterious deaths but the author did an excellent job pitting all of the monks against each other in a manner that made me think any of them had motive. I also did not see Mark and Alice fleeing together. Nothing about Mark's character really gave me the impression he had enough conviction to lock his master in a closet and take off with a killer (hide spoiler)].

At the end of the book, I am encouraged to read the other books in the series. I was fascinated with Sansom's characterization of Cromwell. I would be interested in seeing if he deals with Cromwell's fall.