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Fear in the Forest
Fear in the Forest
Fear in the Forest
Ebook449 pages10 hours

Fear in the Forest

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Who would dare kill one of the king’s foresters? Coroner Sir John investigates in this characterful instalment in the Crowner John medieval mystery series, set in twelfth-century England.

Devon, 1195. A tall, brown mare gallops into the sleepy village of Sigford, its rider dragged by the stirrup, the broken shaft of an arrow protruding from his back. The embroidered badge on the dead man’s tunic identifies him as a senior officer of the Royal Forest – a team of men tasked with upholding the harsh laws that prevent everyone but the king from hunting in England’s forests. The punishment for killing a deer on the king’s land is mutilation . . . or death.

With plenty of money still in the victim’s purse, it’s clear that robbery isn’t the motive. But what is? When a second forest officer is violently attacked, county coroner Sir John de Wolfe begins to uncover evidence of a sinister conspiracy. And to his deep suspicion, his unscrupulous brother-in-law, the sheriff Sir Richard de Revelle, seems to be taking an unusual interest in the case . . .
LanguageEnglish
PublisherSevern House
Release dateDec 1, 2014
ISBN9781448301393
Fear in the Forest
Author

Bernard Knight

Bernard Knight is a retired Home Office pathologist renowned for his work on such high-profile cases as the Fred and Rosemary West murders. Bernard is the author of the ‘Crowner John’ series, as well as the Dr Richard Pryor forensic mystery series.

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A general review of this series:This is back in the good old days of law enforcement, when trial by combat was definitive and would-be plea bargainers had to fight their accomplice(s) to the death.I find these books fascinating as living history, perhaps even more than as mysteries. Knight always starts off with a glossary of terms. The period is not romanticized, but neither is it overly repulsive. Sir John de Wolfe went crusading with Richard the Lionheart. Now back in England, he has been appointed to the newly reconstituted office of Crowner (Coroner). He fights a pitched battle with his corrupt, treacherous brother-in-law, the Sheriff, over official territory. He is very unhappily married to Mathilda, his incompatible wife; their relationship makes sleeping in peasant huts while on duty a treat. One of the things that makes it interesting, is that although Sir John is the central character, and presumably to be regarded with sympathy, his marital problems are not entirely blamed upon his wife.John is assisted in his duties by his gigantic man of arms, and his clerk, a frail, defrocked priest.

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Fear in the Forest - Bernard Knight

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