Fear in the Forest

Fear in the Forest

Bernard Knight

Mystery & Thrillers

A Crowner John medieval mystery set in 12th century Devon, EnglandJune 1195. A tall, brown mare gallops into the sleepy village of Sigford, dragging its rider by the stirrup, the broken shaft of an arrow protruding from his back. The embroidered badge sewn on the dead man's tunic identifies him as a senior officer of the Royal Forest.With the victim's purse still full of money, the motive for the murder is a mystery. But when a second forest officer is violently attacked, the county coroner, Sir John de Wolfe, begin to uncover evidence of a sinister conspiracy.
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Crowner Royal (Crowner John Mysteries)

Crowner Royal (Crowner John Mysteries)

Bernard Knight

Mystery & Thrillers

London, 1196. At the command of Richard the Lionheart, Sir John de Wolfe has left his beloved West Country for the Palace of Westminster, where he has been appointed Coroner of the Verge. But with the king overseas, embroiled in a costly war against King Philip of France, Sir John is dismayed to discover that the English court is a hotbed of greed, corruption and petty in-fighting. The murder of one of the palace clerks, stabbed in broad daylight and thrown into the River Thames, leads John to suspect that there's a conspiracy underway to overthrow King Richard. And with the visit of the dowager Queen Eleanor fast approaching, the new Coroner must risk his life to prove his suspicions are right, root out the traitors within, and prevent a national catastrophe.**
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Crowner's Quest

Crowner's Quest

Bernard Knight

Mystery & Thrillers

A Crowner John medieval mystery set in 12th century Devon, EnglandChristmas Eve, 1194. Sir John de Wolfe gratefully escapes his wife Matilda's party to examine the body of a canon who has been found hanged. Suicide is suspected, but it is soon apparent there's more to this case than meets the eye. As always, John's investigations are hampered by his brother-in-law, Sheriff Richard de Revelle. But when a local lord is killed, John begins to suspect the cases are linked and that Sir Richard's reasons for delaying the investigation may be more serious than his usual acts of petty vengeance. Desperately trying to deflect Sir Richard's plots against him, John is soon at loggerheads with Matilda and even his mistress Nesta. But as he digs deeper, he uncovers a deadly conspiracy that could cost him far more than the women in his life ...
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The Tinner's Corpse

The Tinner's Corpse

Bernard Knight

Mystery & Thrillers

A Crowner John medieval mystery set in 12th century Devon, EnglandWhen Crowner John is summoned to the bleak Devonshire moors to investigate the murder of a tin miner, he has little idea how difficult this new investigation will prove to be. The victim is a trusted and well-loved overman of Devon's most powerful and successful mine owner, Walter Knapman. There seems to be only one possible motive - to sabotage Walter's business. But the tinners have their own laws, and they are none too pleased at Crowner John's interference. Especially as their main experience of officials has been with Sheriff Richard de Revelle, whose notoriously high taxes keep them in a permanent state of fury and near rebellion. And then Walter disappears. Stephen Acland, Walter's business rival wastes no time in comforting Walter's beautiful wife Joan, who appears remarkably unmoved by her husband's disappearance. Meanwhile, Walter's brother is going frantic with worry ...or could it be...
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Where Death Delights

Where Death Delights

Bernard Knight

Mystery & Thrillers

The first in a new series from author of the 'Crowner John' books - 1955. Forensic pathologist Richard Pryor uses his 'golden handshake' to set up in private practice with scientist Angela Bray. A friendly coroner gives them a start, and when two women both claim that human remains found near a reservoir are their relatives, the dilemma is given to them to investigate. Written by a former Home Office pathologist, the story carries the stamp of forensic authenticity.
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The Thread of Evidence

The Thread of Evidence

Bernard Knight

Mystery & Thrillers

A classic murder mystery by acclaimed author Bernard Knight. When some boys find a human bone in a cave in Cardiganshire, Wales, a case that has gone unresolved for over thirty years suddenly springs back into life. For that grisly find is only the start of things... When the rest of the skeleton is soon discovered, the disappearance of a local woman decades earlier comes back to public attention. The woman's husband has recently returned to the area after years out of the country, and he has no explanation as to why his wife suddenly went missing. The local gossips consider him guilty of murder, as do some in the police force...but not everyone is convinced. It's up to Superintendent Pacey to work out which bits of the whole sorry tale are fact and which are fiction – and there are some unpleasant surprises along the way...
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The Awful Secret

The Awful Secret

Bernard Knight

Mystery & Thrillers

A Crowner John medieval mystery set in 12th century Devon, EnglandGilbert de Rideford is a Knight of the Temple of Solomon, and an old acquaintance from Crowner John's crusading days. He claims to have come into possession of a secret that could shake Christendom to its foundations - and he desperately needs John's help to escape from the secretive order of warrior monks. Suddenly swept into a world of religious intrigue and dangerous politics, Crowner John finds himself undertaking a life-threatening mission to the Island of Lundy - inhabited solely by notorious pirates - until finally the awful secret itself is revealed.
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Mistress Murder

Mistress Murder

Bernard Knight

Mystery & Thrillers

A classic murder mystery by acclaimed author Bernard Knight.   When a beautiful woman is found dead in a wrecked car, it's assumed that she simply lost control and crashed while drunk – a sad but not unfamiliar story.  Soon, though, a series of events makes the police re-examine the facts of the case. It transpires that the woman, a part-time model, was brutally murdered before her body was placed in the car. But why?  The trail leads through the sleazy clubs and backstreets of 1960s Soho, complete with drug dealers, bookies, and gangsters...and a tale of murder and mayhem that has its roots in Germany, many years earlier...
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The Grim Reaper

The Grim Reaper

Bernard Knight

Mystery & Thrillers

May 1195, and Sir John de Wolfe is faced with a strange series of serial murders, which begins with the suffocation of a Jewish money-lender and proceeds through that of a London harlot, a dissolute priest and a burgess suspected of abusing young boys. The common factor is that an appropriate Biblical text is left at each murder scene, the mode of which reflects the alleged sin of the victim. This means that a literate and Bible-learned killer is involved - which, in an age where only 1% of the population can read or write - can only be a priest. There are at least twenty-five parish churches in Exeter, so the killer could be any one of more than a hundred clerics. Crowner John sets about to discover the identity of the homicidal priest.**
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The Elixir of Death

The Elixir of Death

Bernard Knight

Mystery & Thrillers

Prince John plots to seize the throne from his brother, Richard the Lionheart - and in his wicked schemes he is supported by King Philip of France, who offers to help John financially by sending him a mysterious alchemist, a Mohammedan named Nizam, who claims to be able to transmute base metals into gold. But the ship which was transporting Nizam and his retainers to the Devon tin mines is found wrecked off the south Devon coast, its crew savagely slaughtered.Shortly afterwards, Sir Peter le Calve, a Norman knight living near Exeter, is foully murdered, being part-crucified and beheaded, his head stuck on the rood screen of the 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?
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Crowner's Crusade

Crowner's Crusade

Bernard Knight

Mystery & Thrillers

How a humble Devon knight became a king's coroner: the thrilling prequel to the perennially popular Crowner John medieval mystery series. 1192. Returning from the Holy Land at the end of the Third Crusade with Richard the Lionheart, King of England, Sir John de Wolfe, a Devon knight, finds England simmering with rebellion. Discovering a body washed up on the shores of the River Exe, its throat cut, Sir John deduces that he was a king's courier. Tasked by Hubert Walter, the Chief Justiciar, to find out why the man died and who killed him, Sir John de Wolfe finds himself drawn unwillingly into affairs of state. His new career as a king's coroner is about to begin . . .
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