Crowner's Quest by
Bernard Knight
pbk out April 99
(Pocket Books)
at £5.99
Sir John de Wolfe is the King's Coroner for Devon and on Christmas Eve in 1194 he is summoned from a party given by his cold and snobbish wife to examine the body of a canon who has been found hanged. The death is believed to be suicide, but De Wolfe establishes that the old man could not have hanged himself. Shortly afterwards a prominent local lord dies as a result, it seems, of falling from his horse. Again De Wolfe decides that what looks like an accident is, in fact, murder, but finds that his investigation is hampered by the attitude of certain lords and by his brother in law, Richard de Revelle. De Wolfe thinks that the deaths are linked and uncovers a conspiracy to put Prince John on the throne in place of the absent Richard the Lionheart. De Wolfe is a dedicated follower of Richard and fought with him as a Crusader, He supported the suppression of an earlier conspiracy to oust Richard in favour of John and is ready to do the same again. His investigation into the murders provokes his enemies, including Richard, to act quickly against him and he is flung into prison on a charge of rape.
This is the third mystery in the Crowner John series by Bernard Knight set in the Middle Ages. It is impeccably researched and gives the reader a convincing picture of what it must have been like to have lived in those turbulent times. The setting is mainly the city of Exeter where the coroner lives and the author's street by street description of the city is conveyed through the action. A street map of Exeter is provided and a useful nine-page glossary. The author is equally good on food and drink and goes into detail about what meals were eaten and at what time of day. The coroner himself is an impressive character, large and brooding, resilient and rather forbidding, and damned as he is with an unfair wife it is easy to understand why he turns to the beautiful Nesta. His two servants, Gwyn of Polruan, the giant Cornishman, and Thomas de Peyne, the diminutive ex-priest, are both very effectively drawn, as is the unpleasant sheriff, Richard de Revelle.
There has been a spate of medieval mystery stories, inspired perhaps by the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters. The Crowner John series is a welcome addition and may appeal even to those who dislike Cadfael. Why, one wonders, has it not been given the dignity of hardback publication?
Crowner's Quest by
Bernard Knight