Crowner John Mysteries

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The Crowner John Mysteries are a series of novels by Bernard Knight following the fictional life of one Sir John de Wolfe, a former Crusading Knight appointed to the office of Keeper of the Pleas of the King's Crown (custos placitorum coronas) i.e. the King's Crowner or Coroner, for the county of Devon.

Crowners were appointed in 1194, during the reign of Richard the Lionheart, in every county to check on the corruption of sheriffs, but also to raise as much money as possible towards the payment of the huge ransom after the king's capture in Austria on his return from the Third Crusade.

As Crowner, Sir John has to investigate all sudden deaths, murders, rapes, assaults, fires, wrecks and catches of royal fish, as well as trying to drive as much custom as possible into the royal courts, instead of the old manor and shire courts. In all this, he is assisted by Gwyn, his old Cornish retainer and Thomas de Peyne, an unfrocked priest, who is his clerk. John's surly wife Matilda is the sister of the sheriff of Exeter, Sir Richard de Revelle, who does all he can to make life difficult for John, who seeks solace in the arms of his Welsh mistress Nesta, the landlady of the Bush Inn in the city.

Apart from John, most of the main characters actually existed in history and every care is taken with research and the creation of atmosphere, to offer an authentic picture of twelfth-century England. Most the places described in the stories can be visited by readers today, even the gatehouse of Rougemont Castle in Exeter, where John had his office.

[edit] Novels in the Crowner John Series

  • The Sanctuary Seeker (1998)
  • The Poisoned Chalice (1998)
  • Crowner's Quest (1999)
  • The Awful Secret (2000)
  • The Tinner's Corpse (2001)
  • The Grim Reaper (2002)
  • Fear In The Forest (2003)
  • The Witch Hunter (2004)
  • Figure of Hate (2005)
  • The Elixir of Death (2006)
  • The Noble Outlaw (2007)

Crowner John also appears in 'The Tainted Relic', one of a series of books co-written by Philip Gooden, Susanna Gregory, Michael Jecks, Bernard Knight and Ian Morson assuming the common pseudonym of the Medieval Murderers.