Tangled Web UK Review April 2008
The Manor of Death (Crowner John Mystery) by
Bernard Knight
hbk out April 08
Published by Simon Schuster
at £18.99
Writing a successful historical mystery requires a particular set of skills from an author. In addition to the fact that adequate knowledge of the selected period is required, he or she must find the golden mean between atmosphere and plot. The same may be said to a lesser extent of all crime writers, but when the reader is being transported back - in this instance, eight hundred years - in time, the author must work even harder to suspend disbelief. The problem arises in that an excess of period flourishes can easily turn the murder mystery into a historical textbook - and many authors have fallen into this trap.
Professor Knight is not one of these. He treads the middle ground between history and mystery with enviable ease, and goes to great lengths to ensure that the twelfth Crowner John mystery is just as accessible to new readers as the first. ‘Crowner John’ is Sir John de Wolfe, the first coroner of Devon, appointed by King Richard in 1194. A convincing and sympathetic protagonist, he is ably assisted by a pair of henchmen: Thomas de Payne, a re-frocked priest from Exeter with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the ancient and medieval worlds, is the brain; and former fisherman Gwyn of Polruan, in Cornwall, the brawn.
In the spring of 1196 Sir John and his entourage are summoned to the port of Axmouth, on the border with Dorset, following the discovery of an unidentified corpse which appears to have been hidden after washing ashore. Sir John has his work cut out for him as the time, place, and manner of death are all in dispute, and the ranks of sailors and townsfolk closed. When an officer of the law is murdered, he decides upon an audacious plan. Sir John suspects a piratical motive for the murders, and sets up an ambush, pretending to transport a load of Dartmoor silver to Winchester. For such an obviously erudite man, Professor Knight has a refreshing simplicity of style, and his delivery is such that the pages seem to turn themselves. He rounds off the tale with a gratifying conclusion to a thoroughly enjoyable novel.
Readers who haven’t yet met Crowner John will find The Manor of Death an excellent place to make his acquaintance; readers who have, will need no encouragement to catch up with his latest exploit.
(
Rafe McGregor
Rafe's own site - www.rafemcgregor.co.uk)
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