Bestselling author CJ Sansom dies days before Disney adaption of his Shardlake series airs

CJ Sansom, the writer who invented Matthew Shardlake, has passed away at 71 years old, according to his publisher's announcement.

In 2003, Sansom gave readers a taste of Shardlake's adventures. Shardlake is a lawyer who unravels mysteries during the Tudor era of England. He faces many obstacles while dealing with religious and political changes. This book was called Dissolution.

The Scottish author published six more books centered around the character Shardlake, alongside two independent historical novels known as Winter In Madrid and Dominion.

Recently, his literary pieces have been transformed into a TV show called Shardlake, where the lead role is played by Arthur Hughes from The Innocents and Thomas Cromwell is portrayed by Sean Bean, from Game Of Thrones.

Disney+ is going to release the Tudor murder mystery series' first season on Wednesday.

On Monday, the publishers of CJ Sansom's books, Pan Macmillan, shared the heartbreaking news of his passing. They expressed deep sorrow in their statement, stating that CJ Sansom had passed away.

Chris's agent, Antony Topping, expressed his surprise that Chris's passing occurred just days before a new group of supporters will be introduced to Matthew Shardlake, Barak, Guy and other characters. It was an unusual occurrence.

This moment has been highly anticipated by Chris's long-time supporters.

Chris felt extreme gratification for all the effort and persistent work put in for porting the novels onto the TV screen. It is expected that this move will expose an entirely fresh crowd to the books and maybe also rekindle the spirit of old fans, who might have drifted away from their favourite CJ Sansom novels.

Maria Rejt, who has been editing and publishing Sansom's works for a long time, revealed that he was currently writing a new book in the Shardlake series. However, Rejt expressed that his health was deteriorating, which caused difficulties in the progress of the book.

According to her, the writer was a very reserved individual who found great satisfaction in how much readers enjoyed his books.

"I'm going to miss him a lot, not just because he was an incredibly skilled writer who brought happiness to many, but also because he was a close friend with a lot of kindness and honesty," said Ms. Rejt.

Sansom wrote seven books in which Shardlake was the main character. In 2012, BBC Radio 4 adapted Dissolution for the stage.

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Sansom received the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger Award in 2022 as recognition for his exceptional work in the genre. He has sold over three million copies of his novels worldwide.

Sansom was born in the city of Edinburgh during the year 1952. Afterwards, he made his way to Birmingham University where he did his undergraduate degree and PhD in the field of history.

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Before he became a full-time writer, he used to work in the field of law as a solicitor. As an author, he was able to merge his love for history and law, making him one of the most successful British writers of historical novels.

Sansom endorsed a written declaration in 2014 that urged for Scotland to stay in the United Kingdom.

As stated in the disclosed records, the writer has also contributed a sum of £161,000 to the Better Together campaign through donation.