Bernard Knight at Tangled Web UK

Page Updated: 09/07/2007

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Bernard Knight - Page 1

pbk 06 Aug 07

Latest Reviews at Tangled Web

Interview with Tangled Web

Background to the Crowner John Series

About the Author

Bibliography

Paperback - Simon & Schuster (2007)

The Noble Outlaw
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…
Praise for the Crowner John mysteries
`Crowner John is a splendid character, full of imperfections and faults, but ultimately the triumphing hero’ Evening Standard
‘Detection and suspense are combined with historical authenticity’ Daily Mail
‘Bernard knight writes extremely well. The folk who people his stories are likeable and understandable, with all their failings and foibles. Even the most unpleasant characters somehow win your sympathy, perhaps partly due to the loving detail which Knight gives us about the city and its dubious levels of hygiene!’ Michael Jecks
‘Bernard Knight brings medieval Exeter to life with gritty realism, smells and all, but with an underlying sympathy and humour’ Historical Novels Review
`Sir John de Wolfe is a truly powerful character’ Shots
`Meticulously researched and redolent of the sights and sounds of the times’ Tangled Web UK
`Bernard Knight sets his crime novels in a brilliantly described West Country of the late 12th century ... Packed with the sights, sounds and smells of medieval England, the Crowner John series is a national treasure’ Mike Ripley, Birmingham Post

First British Edition Simon & Schuster (2006)

The Elixir Of Death
A Crowner John Mystery
1195. Prince John still plots to seize the throne from his brother, Richard the Lionheart - and in his wicked schemes he is actively supported by Philip of France. The French king offers to help John financially by sending him a mysterious alchemist, a Mohammedan named Nizam, who claims to be able to turn base metals into gold.
But the ship which was transporting Nizam and his retainers is found wrecked off the south Devon coast, its crew savagely slaughtered.
Shortly afterwards, a Norman knight named Peter le Calve is foully murdered, his severed head stuck on the rood screen of Exeter 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 Elixir Of Death is the tenth gripping murder mystery to feature Crowner John, one of historical fiction’s most enduring sleuths.

First British Edition Simon & Schuster (2005)

The Tainted Relic
Writing with the Medieval Murderers
Five enthralling interlinked mysteries from Bernard Knight, Ian Morson, Michael Jecks, Susanna Gregory and Philip Gooden, with a prologue by Simon Beaufort.
July, 1100. Jerusalem has fallen to the Crusader armies; the Holy City lies ransacked. Amidst the chaos, an English knight named Geoffrey Mappestone is entrusted with a valuable religious relic: a fragment of the True Cross, allegedly stained with the blood of Christ. The relic is said to be cursed: anyone who touches it will meet an untimely and gruesome end as soon as it leaves their possession.
Several decades later, the Cross turns up in the possession of a dealer - robbed and murdered en route to Glastonbury. Investigating the death, Bernard Knight’s protagonist Crowner John learns of its dark history.
In Oxford in 1269, the discovery of a decapitated monk leads Ian Morson’s academic sleuth William Falconer to uncover a link to the relic. In 1323, in Exeter, Michael Jecks’ Sir Baldwin has reason to suspect its involvement in at least five violent deaths.
Thirty years later, several suspicious deaths occur in Cambridge during a contentious debate about Holy Blood relics. Once more, as Susanna Gregory's Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael are to discover, the tainted relic has a crucial part to play.
Finally, it’s despatched to London, where it falls into the hands of an unscrupulous bookdealer and where Philip Gooden’s Nick Revill will determine its ultimate fate.
The Medieval Murderers is a group of crime writers whose novels span some of the most exciting periods of English history. The five members, Bernard Knight, Ian Morson, Michael Jecks, Susanna Gregory and Philip Gooden, are in constant demand to give talks and sit as panels for libraries, bookshops, clubs and associations throughout the UK.

First British Edition Simon & Schuster (2005)

Figure of Hate
October, 1195. High-spirited young knights, drunken squires, pickpockets and horse thieves are pouring into Exeter for a one-day jousting tournament. Not even the discovery of a naked corpse in the River Exe can spoil the excitement.
During the tournament there’s a serious altercation between Hugo Peverel, a manor lord from Tiverton, and a Frenchman by the name of Reginald de Charterai. When, two days later, Sir Hugo’s bloodsoaked body is found in a barn on his estate, de Charterai would seem the obvious culprit.
But there’s no shortage of people who wished the hated Hugo dead. All three of his brothers have a motive; as do his stepmother and attractive young widow. The manor reeve, Warin Fishacre, had his own reasons to loathe his lord and master.
With so many suspects, Sir John de Wolfe, the county coroner, hardly knows where to begin. And just what is the connection between Sir Hugo’s murder and the battered body in the River Exe?

Paperback - Pocket Books (2004)

First British Edition Simon & Schuster (2004)

The Witch Hunter
Exeter, 1195. When a wealthy mill-owner falls dead across his horse, Sir John de Wolfe, the county coroner, declines to hold an inquest as the man was considerably overweight, had been complaining of chest pains for some weeks and shows no signs of injury. A clear-cut case of death from natural causes.
Events take a sinister turn when a straw doll is discovered hidden beneath the man’s saddle-bag, a thin metal spike through its heart.
Convinced her husband’s death was caused by an evil spell, the victim’s strident widow joins forces with her cousin, Canon Gilbert de Bosco, to begin a campaign against witchcraft and the so-called `cunning women’ who practise it. Soon Exeter is in turmoil, an hysterical mob is on the loose and several local women are in danger.
Still the coroner refuses to get involved - until his own mistress falls under suspicion. Crowner John must bring all his knowledge and skill to bear if he is to discover the real cause of the merchant’s death, unearth the culprit - and save his beloved Nesta from the hangman’s noose.
Both a gripping crime novel and a fascinating portrait of 12th century life, The Witch Hunter is the eighth compelling murder mystery to feature Sir John de Wolfe, Devon’s first county coroner.

About The Author
In His Own Words…
Forensic pathologist, barrister and writer, born and spent most of life in Cardiff.
Started life as a farmer, then a hospital laboratory technician, then a medical student. Qualified in 1954, was a regular Army doctor in Malaya for three years during the terrorist Emergency (in a hospital like MASH!) Started forensic pathology in 1959 with Dr Francis Camps in London, became a Home Office pathologist in 1965. Called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1966. Retired in 1996 as Professor of Forensic Pathology in University of Wales, Cardiff.
Consultant to Amnesty, went on missions to Uganda to examine torture victims and to Kuwait at the end of the Gulf War to investigate atrocities. Received the CBE in 1993 for services to forensic pathology. Now a private forensic consultant, involved in cases all over the world, such as the Vatican banker, Roberto Calvi exhumation a few months ago.
Was the pathologist who recovered all twelve bodies in the Fred West case in Gloucester in 1994.
Began writing as a medical student, was editor of the student magazine, The Leech. Wrote first detective novel in 1961, The Lately Deceased publ. Herbert Jenkins. Then a string of others, Mistress Murder, Russian roulette, Policeman's Progress, Tiger At Bay, Thread of Evidence for Robert Hale and several in Welsh. Numerous foreign language editions.
Wrote non-fiction popular medical books, Murder, Suicide or Accident (Hale) about forensic pathology and Discovering the Human Body, an illustrated history of anatomy and physiology ( Lippincott and Heinemann) Turned to historical novels in '70s, about 12th century Wales, called Lion Rampant and Madoc, Prince of America.
In 1977 wrote biography of Milton Helpern, famous Chief Medical Examiner of New York City, went into five editions and foreign translations.
Turned to radio and television drama, numerous radio plays for BBC and scripts for BBC & ITV, especially S4C. Wrote story-lines for The Expert series for BBCTV, with Marius Goring - then wrote link novel The Expert for Sphere. Wrote scripts for and was technical advisor to District Nurse, Bergerac, etc. Also written ten textbooks of forensic medicine and pathology between 1972 and 1996, including the most widely-used standard textbook in UK, USA and Japan - books mostly published by Arnold (Hodder), Churchill, Blackwells etc. Most recent book (1998) was Lawyers Guide to Forensic Medicine (Cavendish).
Now writing the Crowner John series of historical mysteries for Simon & Schuster's Pocketbooks. Based on the first coroner for Devon in 1194, as I am very interested in and have lectured and written on, the origins of the English coroner and of the much older Chinese coroner - have lectured on the latter in China and Hong Kong.
Three Crowner John novels so far, The Sanctuary Seeker & The Poisoned Chalice (1998) and Crowner's Quest (1999). Contracted for three more, the first to be The Awful Secret early next year. BBC are negotiating for a radio play based on Crowner John.

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Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.

The Noble Outlaw (Simon & Schuster, 2007) Simon & Schuster Pbk Aug 07

The Elixir Of Death (Simon & Schuster, 2006) (Sir John de Wolfe)

The Tainted Relic Short Stories (Simon & Schuster, 2005)

Figure of Hate (Simon & Schuster, 2005) (Sir John de Wolfe)

The Witch Hunter (Simon & Schuster, 2004) Pocket Books Pbk Apr 04 (Sir John de Wolfe)

Fear In The Forest (Simon & Schuster, 2003) Pocket Books Pbk Sep 03 (Sir John de Wolfe)

The Grim Reaper (Simon & Schuster, 2002) Pocket Books Pbk Jul 03 (Sir John de Wolfe)

The Tinner's Corpse (Simon & Schuster, 2001) Pocket Books Pbk Jul 01 (Sir John de Wolfe)

The Awful Secret (Simon & Schuster, 2000) Pocket Books Pbk Aug 00 (Sir John de Wolfe)

Crowner's Quest (Pocket Books Pbk, 1999) (Sir John de Wolfe)

The Poisoned Chalice (Pocket Books Pbk, 1998) (Sir John de Wolfe)

The Sanctuary Seeker (Pocket Books Pbk, 1998) (Sir John de Wolfe)