A Crowner John Mystery

13 primary works • 16 total works

The Sanctuary Seeker

by Bernard Knight

Published 2 February 1998

November, 1194. Appointed by Richard the Lionheart as the first coroner for the county of Devon, Sir John de Wolfe, an ex-Crusader, rides out to the lonely moorland village of Widecombe to hold an inquest on an unidentified body. On his return to Exeter, the coroner is incense to find that his own brother-in-law, Sheriff Richard de Revelle, is intent on thwarting the murder investigation, particularly when it emerges that the dead man is a Crusader and a member of one of Devon's finest and most honourable families.

The Poisoned Chalice

by Bernard Knight

Published 3 August 1998

December, 1194. The well-born ladies of Exeter are not having a good week. First, Christina Rifford, the daughter of a rich merchant, is raped. Then, just months before her marriage, Lady Adele de Courcy is found dead in one of the poorest areas of the city. The common factor is Godfrey Fitzosbern, the local silversmith. But despite Crowner John's suspicions and the vengeful accusations of the families, it is John's duty to protect Godfrey until he can find definite proof of his guilt. Aided by his mistress Nesta, hindered by his social-climbing wife Matilda and her power-hungry brother, Sheriff Richard de Revelle, John slowly begins to put the pieces together. But a final, brutal act of violence will bring a new twist to the investigation ...

Crowner's Quest

by Bernard Knight

Published 5 April 1999

Christmas Eve, 1194. Sir John de Wolfe gratefully escapes his wife Matilda's party to examine the body of a canon who has been found hanged. Suicide is suspected, but it is soon apparent there's more to this case than meets the eye. As always, John's investigations are hampered by his brother-in-law, Sheriff Richard de Revelle. But when a local lord is killed, John begins to suspect the cases are linked and that Sir Richard's reasons for delaying the investigation may be more serious than his usual acts of petty vengeance. Desperately trying to deflect Sir Richard's plots against him, John is soon at loggerheads with Matilda and even his mistress Nesta. But as he digs deeper, he uncovers a deadly conspiracy that could cost him far more than the women in his life ...

The Awful Secret

by Bernard Knight

Published 7 February 2000

Gilbert de Rideford is a Knight of the Temple of Solomon, and an old acquaintance from Crowner John's crusading days. He claims to have come into possession of a secret that could shake Christendom to its foundations - and he desperately needs John's help to escape from the secretive order of warrior monks. Suddenly swept into a world of religious intrigue and dangerous politics, Crowner John finds himself undertaking a life-threatening mission to the Island of Lundy - inhabited solely by notorious pirates - until finally the awful secret itself is revealed.

The Tinner's Corpse

by Bernard Knight

Published 5 February 2001

When Crowner John is summoned to the bleak Devonshire moors to investigate the murder of a tin miner, he has little idea how difficult this new investigation will prove to be. The victim is a trusted and well-loved overman of Devon's most powerful and successful mine owner, Walter Knapman. There seems to be only one possible motive - to sabotage Walter's business. But the tinners have their own laws, and they are none too pleased at Crowner John's interference. Especially as their main experience of officials has been with Sheriff Richard de Revelle, whose notoriously high taxes keep them in a permanent state of fury and near rebellion. And then Walter disappears. Stephen Acland, Walter's business rival wastes no time in comforting Walter's beautiful wife Joan, who appears remarkably unmoved by her husband's disappearance. Meanwhile, Walter's brother is going frantic with worry ... or could it be guilt? A decapitated body, a missing tinner, a disgruntled band of miners and a mad Saxon, intent on the destruction of all things Norman. How on earth can Crowner John sort all this out when his wife hates him, his mistress has spurned him for a younger man, and his clerk is in the grip of a suicidal depression? Only Gwyn, Crowner John's indispensable right-hand man seems to be of any help at all, until he is arrested for murder and put on trial for his life.

The Grim Reaper

by Bernard Knight

Published 2 April 2002

Sixth novel in the increasingly popular mediaeval mystery series featuring Crowner John, Devon's first county coroner. May 1195, and Sir John de Wolfe is faced with a strange series of serial murders, which begins with the suffocation of a Jewish money-lender and proceeds through that of a London harlot, a dissolute priest and a burgess suspected of abusing young boys. The common factor is that an appropriate Biblical text is left at each murder scene, the mode of which reflects the alleged sin of the victim. This means that a literate and Bible-learned killer is involved - which, in an age where only 1% of the population can read or write - can only be a priest. There are seventeen parish churches in Exeter, so the killer could be any one of about a hundred clerics. Crowner John sets about to discover the identity of the homicidal priest.

Fear in the Forest

by Bernard Knight

Published 1 April 2003

The seventh gripping medieval murder mystery featuring Crowner John, Devon's first county coroner. C12th Devon. Much of the country lies under the iron rule of the Royal Forest laws, with all hunting reserved to the King. The penalty for killing a deer on the King's land is mutilation or death. These harsh laws are rigorously upheld by the King's foresters, notorious for their greed and corruption. June 1195. A tall, brown mare gallops into the sleepy village of Sigford, its rider dragged by the stirrup, the broken shaft of an arrow protruding from his back. The embroidered badge on the dead man's tunic identifies him as a senior officer of the Royal Forest. But, with plenty of money still in the victim's purse, the motive for the murder is a mystery. When a second forest officer is violently attacked, Sir John de Wolfe begins to uncover evidence of a sinister conspiracy. And why is his unscrupulous brother-in-law, the sheriff Sir Richard de Revelle, taking such an interest in the case?

The Witch Hunter

by Bernard Knight

Published 5 April 2004

THE PERFECT MEDIEVAL MURDER MYSTERY TO READ THIS HALLOWEEN

Exeter, 1195. When a prominent burgess and guild-master falls dead across his horse, Crowner John declines to hold an inquest as the man had been complaining of chest pains and shows no signs of injury. Events take a sinister turn, however, when a straw-dolly is discovered hidden under the man's saddle, a spike driven through its heart.

Enlisting the help of her cousin, a cathedral canon with an eye to ecclesiastical advancement, the victim's strident widow begins a campaign in the name of the Church against witchcraft and the so-called 'cunning women' who practise it, dividing Exeter into two camps amidst a climate of fear. Still the coroner refuses to get involved - until his beloved mistress is accused of witchcraft.

Can Crowner John unearth the real culprit and save Nesta from the hangman's noose?

Figure of Hate

by Bernard Knight

Published 4 April 2005

Exeter, 1195: at a local jousting day, there's a serious altercation between Hugh Peverel, lord of Sampford Peverel, near Tiverton, and a stranger by the name of Reginald de Charterai. Two nights later, Hugh's body is found in a barn, stabbed to death. Is de Charterai the killer? The county coroner, Sir John de Wolfe, soon finds plenty of other suspects for the murder of the universally hated Hugh Peverel. All three of his brothers had a motive: two for the succession and the third to steal Hugh's attractive young wife, Beatrice. It's no secret that Beatrice herself detested her adulterous husband, as does his mother-in-law, Adelina. Another suspect is Godwin Thatcher, a Saxon villager whose two sons were hanged for alleged deer poaching, being arbitrarily sentenced by Hugh at his manorial court. Then there's the manor reeve, Warin Fishacre, who harboured a deep grudge against his master for taking the virginity of his daughter Maud, just before her marriage. With so many suspects, Sir John is confronted with the most baffling case of his distinguished career.

The Elixir of Death

by Bernard Knight

Published 3 April 2006

1195. Prince Johnplots to seize the throne from his brother, Richard the Lionheart - and in his wicked schemes he is supported by King Philip of France, who offers to help John financially by sending him a mysterious alchemist, a Mohammedan named Nizam, who claims to be able to transmute base metals into gold. But the ship which was transporting Nizam and his retainers to the Devon tin mines is found wrecked off the south Devon coast, its crew savagely slaughtered. Shortly afterwards, Sir Peter le Calve, a Norman knight living near Exeter, is foully murdered, being part-crucified and beheaded, his head stuck on the rood screen of the cathedral. It's up to Sir John de Wolfe, the county coroner, to find a motive and connection between the killings. And just what is his unscrupulous brother-in-law, the disgraced ex-sheriff and known Prince John-sympathiser, Richard de Revelle, trying to hide?

The Noble Outlaw

by Bernard Knight

Published 1 September 2015

Coroner Sir John investigates a returning crusader forced to live as an outlaw in this engaging instalment in the Crowner John medieval mystery series, set in twelfth-century England.

Exeter, 1195. Renovations at a school in Smythen Street are disrupted by the shocking discovery of a partially mummified corpse hidden in the rafters, and county coroner Sir John de Wolfe is called in to investigate.

Richard de Revelle, the school's owner - and Sir John's much-disliked brother-in-law - immediately points the finger at Nicholas de Arundell, an outlawed Cornish knight who now lives rough in the wilds of Dartmoor. As Sir John discovers, Nicholas has a good reason to bear a grudge against his unscrupulous brother-in-law, but is he really a killer? And if so, who exactly is it that he's killed?

The coroner begins to investigate, but then comes news of a second violent death. All signs point to the 'noble outlaw' as the culprit - but if Sir John's to solve the case, he'll need to find him first . . .

The Manor of Death

by Bernard Knight

Published 7 April 2008

When an unidentified body is discovered in the harbour town of Axmouth, twenty miles from Exeter, Sir John de Wolfe, the county coroner, is summoned to investigate. The manner of the young man's death is a matter of some dispute - but, as Sir John soon discovers, it was no accident. The victim did not drown, as the manor reeve alleges, but was strangled to death.

In the ensuing murder investigation, Sir John is frustrated by what appears to be a conspiracy of silence among the seamen and townsfolk. Just what is the local population trying to hide?

As Crowner John is to learn, there are many inhabitants of Axmouth who will go to any lengths to ensure the shocking truth remains hidden. And the coroner will have to draw on all his resources of courage, cunning and determination if he is to escape from the town with his life.

Crowner's Crusade

by Bernard Knight

Published 7 September 2012

How a humble Devon knight became a king's coroner: the thrilling prequel to the perennially popular Crowner John medieval mystery series

1192. At the end of the Third Crusade, Richard the Lionheart, King of England, set sail for home from the Holy Land. Sir John de Wolfe, a Devon knight, was part of the king's small bodyguard on that dangerously treacherous journey.

On his return, Sir John finds England simmering with rebellion. Richard's younger brother John has used the king's absence to plot to seize the throne and the country is a hotbed of unrest. Discovering a body washed up on the shores of the River Exe, its throat cut, Sir John deduces from the device etched on the victim's signet ring that he was a king's courier. Tasked by Hubert Walter, the Chief Justiciar, to find out why the man died and who killed him, Sir John de Wolfe finds himself drawn unwillingly into affairs of state. His new career as a king's coroner is about to begin .

Crowner Royal

by Bernard Knight

Published 6 April 2009

London, 1196. At the command of Richard the Lionheart, Sir John de Wolfe has left his beloved West Country for the Palace of Westminster, where he has been appointed Coroner of the Verge. But with the king overseas, embroiled in a costly war against King Philip of France, Sir John is dismayed to discover that the English court is a hotbed of greed, corruption and petty in-fighting.
The murder of one of the palace clerks, stabbed in broad daylight and thrown into the River Thames, leads John to suspect that there's a conspiracy underway to overthrow King Richard. And with the visit of the dowager Queen Eleanor fast approaching, the new Coroner must risk his life to prove his suspicions are right, root out the traitors within and prevent a national catastrophe.

A Plague of Heretics

by Bernard Knight

Published 1 April 2010

With the city of Exeter ravaged by an outbreak of the 'yellow plague', Sir John de Wolfe, the county coroner, must divide his time between visiting his brother Willam who has been struck down by the disease, and dealing with a series of brutal murders which appears to be linked to a revival of heresy in the city. When some of the cathedral canons begin a crusade against this danger to the Church, Sir John is accused of being too sympathetic to the heretics, bringing him into conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities. As the situation worsens, the coroner finds himself having to seek sanctuary in order to save his skin. Can he survive long enough to unmask the real killer?

The Noble Outlaw

by Bernard Knight

Published 2 April 2007

Exeter, 1195. Renovations at the new school in Smythen Street are disrupted by the shocking discovery of a partially mummified corpse hidden in the rafters - and Sir John de Wolfe, the county coroner, is summoned to investigate. Richard de Revelle, Sir John's brother-in-law and founder of the school, immediately tries to blame Nicholas de Arundell, a young outlawed knight living rough on Dartmoor. As Sir John discovers, Nicholas has good reason to bear a grudge against the unscrupulous de Revelle. But is he really a killer? WIth the victim's identity unknown and the motive a mystery, the murder remains unsolved. But then comes news of a second violent death - and Sir John is forced to track down the noble outlaw in order to find the answers.