Norwich has inspired new bestselling novel Tombland by C.J. Sansom

Tombland is his seventh Matthew Shardlake novel and features many well-known sites in the city such as the Maid's Head Hotel, Mousehold Heath and the Cathedral.

The story involves Shardlake in a new murder case on behalf of the Lady Elizabeth, which takes him to Norwich where he finds himself caught up in the midst of Kett's rebellion, the huge and dramatic peasant revolt of 1549.

C. J. Sansom said: 'It is a delight to have completed Tombland.

'I have wanted for a long time to write about the surprisingly little-known English peasant rebellions of 1549, in which more rebels were killed than in the 1381 Peasants' Revolt, and of which Kett's rebellion in Norfolk was the largest.

Samuel Wale engraving of Robert Kett beneath the oak of reformation. Photo: Samuel Wale/Wikipedia (Image: Samuel Wale/Wikipedia)

'It has been a long time in the making – partly because of the sheer amount of research needed, partly because of delays through health problems.

'But here it is at last, with a murder mystery having ramifications both within and outside the rebel camp at the centre of the story.'

C.J. Sansom was educated at Birmingham University, where he took a BA and then a Ph.D. in history.

After working in a variety of jobs, he retrained as a solicitor and practised in Sussex, until becoming a full time writer.

CJ Sansom. Photo: Courtesy of Pan Macmillan (Image: Courtesy of Pan Macmillan)

He is the bestselling author of the critically-acclaimed Shardlake series as well as Winter in Madrid and Dominion.

The Maid's Head Hotel, Tombland. Picture: ANTONY KELLY (Image: Archant Norfolk 2018)