Bernard Knight

Once again, Bernard Knight has brought 12th Century England into exciting realistic focus. His handling of the class system and the world of the lowest classes ruled by the church and the privileged is interesting reading.
John de Wolfe is a rugged, somewhat impious former knight whose loyalty to King Richard has resulted in his being appointed crowner, an early form of coroner, for Devon.
In a Plague of Heretics, it is In late 1196 and John has returned to Exeter after a spell serving as show more royal coroner at Westminister. He attempts to solve several grisly killings, starting with a man dumped in an isolated area outside the Exeter city wall who had his throat cut and his tongue ripped out, but the plague also stalking the region's inhabitants distracts him from his investigation. Church authorities increase the pressure after the murder victims prove to be heretics who opposed papal authority.
A wealth of historical detail and a compelling protagonist who's believably a man of his age make this another satisfying read from one of my favourite authors. show less

This was definitely an interesting read, and a fairly clever way to introduce new readers to the series characters of 6 historical mystery writers. For the most part, I enjoyed this, though the reasoning for a supposed holy relic from Jerusalem continuing to float around England for 500 years is tenuous, at best.

The plot is exactly as it says on the tin. The "tainted relic" is supposed to be a splinter from the True Cross, stained with Holy Blood. A curse was put on it when the family of its show more keeper was slain during the First Crusade. Barzak proclaimed that anyone who handled the sacred piece of wood would die once it left that person's possession. This novel follows the relic as it travels from the Holy Lan,d to France, and then on to England, from 1100 AD to the 1600s.

Each author contributes a self-contained "Act" to the story. The Prologue is by Simon Beaufort and features the knight, Geoffrey Mappstone, who is present in the Holy Land and writes the certificate of authenticity for the relic. The unusual deaths start right away, and this was a very good setup for the story to come.

Act 1, set in 1194 in Devonshire, features Sir John de Wolfe, who served as a coroner in medieval England (Bernard Knight). While nicely written and a good overview of his series and characters, I didn't enjoy this introduction to de Wolfe. The idea of adventures of one of the first coroners to hold the office was enticing, but de Wolfe is selfish and mean, IMO. I'm not sure I'd seek out this series.

Act 2, set in 1269 in Oxford, features the Falconer, penned by Ian Morson. The relic has come into the hands of monks who are dying pretty gruesome deaths, which the academic William Falconer sets out to solve. I enjoyed this section a lot, and quickly warmed to the characters here.

Act 3, set in 1323 in Lincolnshire, features former Knight Templar Sir Baldwin and is written by Michael Jeck. Perhaps surprisingly, this was perhaps my favorite act of the book - the plot moves at a fairly quick pace, and features a series of strange deaths, the aftereffects of which ripple through the town. It has a rather wry twist ending, too. I've tried and failed with the first book in Jeck's series featuring this character, but perhaps it is worth revisiting.

Act 4, set in 1353 Cambridge, features Susanna Gregory's series characters Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael of Michaelhouse, as the relic passes from a character in the previous act through the hands of several here, leading to a trail of improbable deaths. I found this act to be way too long, the plot too convoluted, and I actively disliked Bartholomew for most of it. Given my history with this character and this author, perhaps this is no surprise, but it was disappointing nonetheless. Gregory piles twist upon twist at the end, basically to prove that she can.

Act 5, set in 1600s London, is narrated by Nick Revill, one of the actors at Shakespeare's Globe Theater during the Elizabethan age. This is the only first person narration in the book, and I take it that this is a feature in Phillip Gooden's series. Revill is sent by Shakespeare into the depths of St Bartholomew's Fair to retrieve an early edition of a drawer play, but Nick and his friends stumble into more than they bargain for when the bookseller produces the ancient relic and its curse instead. The trio find him dead less than a hour later and are accused of committing the crime. This one has the most unusual solution of all, I'd wager.

There is a postscript epilogue at the end, also by Bernard Knight, in which the relic is unearthed from the mud of the Thames in 2005 by a construction worker who is working on the Millennium Dome. It is quite the fitting ending to this story, honestly, as the curse of the relic lives on.

I see that this group of writers has pooled together for 9 more books in a similar vein, and I'd definitely read more of these. I'm likely to seek out some of these series on their own as well, so overall, I'd say it's a win-win for me! show less

It is 1194, and John de Wolfe is settling into his new role as king's coroner for the county of Devon. As the novel begins, John, his bodyguard and fighting partner Gwyn of Polruan, and his clerk Thomas de Peyne are on their way to the Dartmoor village of Widecombe, where a body has been discovered in the brook. During the course of their investigations, it is discovered that the dead man was a Crusader, recently returned from the Holy Land. But the case turns more out to be more complex show more when a second body is found on Dartmoor ...

As before with the prequel to the Crowner John series, Crowner's Crusade, the historical setting and details are first rate, giving a realistic flavour of the time period with its day-to-day life, customs and laws – just a shame that the narration and the plotting aren't up to scratch. I don't think Bernard Knight is a natural storyteller, as there is something terribly stilted about his voice, and he completely failed to engage me in taking an interest in his characters. Though there's a creditable red herring in the book, in the end it was all to easy to figure out the true perpetrator(s), which was not helped by the fact that they made such easy mistakes that anyone would be able to pick up on the clues – except the sheriff of Exeter, John's brother-in-law, who obstinately refuses to acknowledge the perpetrator(s)' guilt in spite of the clear evidence.

As the book turned out to be more of a chore to read than expected, I decided to give up on the series, despite having another volume already on the shelf. show less

#6 book in the Crowner John medieval mystery series, set in 1195 Exeter, UK. The king’s judges are coming to town for the Eyre and Assizes to handle judgments on all the various civil and criminal cases that had been building up since their last visit. Just in time for the festivities, Crowner John has a serial murderer on his hands—someone who is killing people deemed to have sinned against God by the murderer, and worse yet, he suspects that the killer is a priest or cleric, as there show more is a written note next to the bodies with a quotation from the Vulgate with regard to each person’s particular sin. (The Vulgate was what the Bible of the time was called.) So few people outside the clergy could read and write—and even fewer would know the Bible well enough to quote it—not even many parish priests, so that narrowed down the suspects even more. Crowner John is dismayed when his clerk, Thomas, who is himself a defrocked priest, is put under suspicion by his brother in law the Sheriff, and aside from his goal of solving the crimes before the judges arrive, the grumpy coroner hopes he can clear Thomas’s name as well. Very engaging mystery—I hadn’t guessed who the killer was til the end of the book, though I probably *should* have, because I smacked my head with a “Doh!” when I realized the clues were there for me to find. Interesting trek back to medieval times with the Crowner and his cronies. His extreme grumpiness wasn’t quite so prevalent in this book, or at least I didn’t notice it so much which made it more enjoyable too. show less