Tangled Web UK Review September 2007
The Noble Outlaw (Crowner John Mystery) by
Bernard Knight
pbk out August 07
(Pocket Books)
at £6.99
Someone is killing the guildsmen of Exeter, using a variety of ingenious and
spectacularly nasty methods. A cordwainer, a glazier, and a chandler, all
Masters in their guilds, are dispatched without Sir John de Wolfe, King's
Coroner for the County of Devon, having the slightest idea as to the motive for
the killings. But then Crowner John's fearsome wife Matilda is set upon and
her attacker gives her a message regarding the Guild murders, claiming them
as revenge for the theft of the manor of Hempston. This would seem to place
the blame squarely on the shoulders of Nicholas de Arundell, the "Noble
Outlaw" of the title, who was pronounced dead while away fighting the
Crusades and whose lands were snatched. Snatched, moreover, by a
character familiar to followers of this series – the Crowner's brother-in-law
Richard de Revelle, in partnership with his crony Henry de la Pomeroy. De
Arundell is not dead, however, but has returned and is now living the life of an
outlaw – the whole thing, robbing and stealing, and complete with a band of
men.
Relations between de Wolfe and de Revelle have not improved since the
latter was removed from the office of Sheriff through the work of his brother-
in-law, nor does any closer friendship seem likely to happen while de Revelle
remains his usual obnoxious self. However, the balance of family loyalties is
about to shift as Matilda de Wolfe begins to realise that her brother's
culpability in this illegal land-grab is simply one example of what everyone
else has long identified as unremittingly awful behaviour. Indeed, Matilda
plays quite a major rôle in this particular one of her husband's cases, as she
has befriended the wife of the outlawed nobleman and urges her husband to
act on the young man's behalf. The property dispute and the series of
murders are indeed connected, and of course Crowner John and his trusty
aides Gwyn and Thomas sort it all out to everyone's satisfaction.
(
Judith Rhodes
)
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