The Grim Reaper

The Grim Reaper is the sixth Crowner John mystery. The series is set in the late 12th century with the establishment by Richard the Lionheart of the office of Crowner,or Coroner. This was partly a fundraiser for the Crown and partly an attempt to check the worst excesses of the Sherriffs. Sir John de Wolfe is the first Crowner of Devon, with home and office in Exeter. In the Grim Reaper, a Jewish moneylender is found murdered. A scrap of parchment containing a biblical quotation is tucked into the corpse's hand. At a time when only 1%of the population are literate and fewer still familiar with biblical texts, suspicion immediately falls on the clergy of the town. There are about 100 priests and other clergy in Exeter - many of whom are decidedly odd so there is no shortage of candidates for suspicion, including the Crowner's clerk, who is a defrocked priest. Other murders follow, all with biblical references left with the corpses in varying ways by the murderer. Tensions mount, not only because of the increasing body count but also due to conflicts between the church and secular authorities,political factions, preparations for the arrival of King's Court Justices for the first time in three years, and, most especially, due to the continuing power struggle between the Crowner and Sherriff. This series is very well balanced between solid history, clever mystery, entertaining characters and, as the author is a forensic pathologist,the murder and mayhem are very detailed too - sometimes startlingly so. The author also manages to avoid two of the pitfalls of medieval mystery series - this book does not contain artificial antique language and it can be comfortably read without having read the earlier books in the series. This is fun stuff for any historical mystery fan and might especially appeal to readers of Michael Jeck's Templar series which is set in the same area a couple of centuries later.

Bernard Knight, or to give him his correct title, Professor Bernard Knight, CBE, was a pathologist to the Home office until 1980 when he was appointed Professor of Forensic Pathology at the University of Wales College of medicine, 1980. He has written the extremely successful Crowner John series of medieval mysteries, of which there are now ten or eleven books, His character Crowner John is certainly among my favourite characters in medieval mysteries. May, 1195 and Sir John de Wolfe, better known to friend and enemy alike as Crowner John, Devon's first county coroner is faced with a series of serial murders. The first one is the suffocation of a Jewish money lender, followed by that of a London harlot and a priest and burgess suspected of abusing young boys. The common denominator that links all of the murders is a Biblical text left at the scene of each of the crimes. Sir John knows that only one per cent of the population can read or write and for anyone to be literate and have knowledge of the Bible points to the fact that they are more than likely a priest. The problem is that there are a multitude of churches in Exeter, so the killer could be one of a large number of clerics, but Sir John takes his new post very seriously and will not let anything stand in his way of solving the crime, even the interfering Sheriff, Sir Richard de Revelle who is also John's brother-in-law and is not at all happy at Sir John being given the post of Devon's first coroner.

Bernard Knight again produces an authentic period mystery in The Grim Reaper. Characters finely drawn, meaning the reader feels as if (s)he knows the people; settings so realistic the reader can almost see, smell and hear what is going on. In addition to all this is an intriguing medieval mystery, true to the times, solved by that all too human protagonist, Crowner John de Wolfe, assisted by his cohort Gwyn and clerk Thomas de Peyne. The Crowner's unsympathetic wife and his mistress Nesta add to this continuing saga set in twelfth century England. A VERY good read!