Volume 3 in the Shardlake series. 

York, Autumn 1541. Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak travel to the city ahead of the arrival of King Henry VIII, who embarks on a Progress to the North to quash dissent against his rule. Originally tasked with managing legal work and petitions to the King, Matthew and Jack reluctantly take on the role of keeping a dangerous prisoner safe while he awaits trial in York Castle. When a local man with a mysterious connection to the prisoner is found murdered, the pair realise that their charge has ties to the royal family and the stakes are raised. Thrilling, page-turning and utterly unpredictable, Sovereign is the third book in C. J. Sansom’s Shardlake series.