The Poisoned Chalice

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Crowner John at His Best - Rated
December 1194 and Crowner John is away from Exeter in his capacity as Coroner of all Devon. He is called to the remains of a shipwreck in Torbay, but not everything is as it seems. Bodies from the wreck have been found among the debris and some of them carry injuries not conducive to being drowned.

While Sir John is away with Gwyn his bodyguard and his clerk Thomas de Peyne, trouble is brewing in Exeter, a rape has been committed on Christina Rifford, the daughter of a rich merchant. Sir John returns to Exeter to find the city in uproar with accusations flying around from the families involved. Then just before she is due to be married Lady Adele de Courcy is found dead underneath a pile of rubbish in the poorest part of the City. She also appears to have suffered a sexual attack. Suddenly Sir John has most of the influential people of Exeter banging on his door for justice.

The common factor in both killings appears to be the silversmith, Godfrey Fitzosbern, who by chance is Crowner John's next door neighbour. Can john protect the man until the truth emerges . . .

Bernard Knight is a consummate writer of the medieval novel and this is as good as any he has written.

A pretty average whodunnit - Rated
What interested me most about this book was not the historical background - which was sometimes introduced with rather a heavy hand - but the way in which the loose ends were not all tied up at the end. I felt this was more realistic than the usual murder mystery where all the events tend to be interlinked and a single culprit is usually responsible. In the case of this book, the obvious suspect is sometimes guilty, and the fact that a man protests his innocence doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't involved in the crime. But there are enough different plot strands to keep it interesting. I found rather a lot of punctuation errors - the proof-reader needs to pull his/her socks up.

The second in the series is every bit as good as the first! - Rated
More than once, I have read the first book in a series and really loved it only to be disappointed in the second book where the characters become wooden and the plot from the first book is simply re-hashed. It's as if you can feel the hot breath of deadline pressure on the back of the author's neck! However, I am happy to report, that this is not the case with the Crowner John series!

Prof. Knight continues to dig-up wonderful historical tidbits about crime and the law in 12th century England. The already well-rounded characters continue to evolve and remain very interesting people.

Give this a read!

THE CROWNER CONTINUES TO IMPRESS - Rated
The first of this series ('The sanctuary seeker') was an excellent debut for this impressive new character but 'The Poisoned Chalice' easily manages to maintain the high standard. When a young gentlewoman is raped and another is found dead, suspicion falls on Crowner John's neighbour the suave silversmith Godfrey Fitzosbern and his workmen, Garth and Arthur. John is called upon to keep the peace and uphold law and order in the face of aggrieved relatives and the lynch mob they stir up.

Again, the major strength of this book is the strong characterisation, not only of the central figure but of the supporting cast.Twelfth century Exeter is once again evoked beautifully as is the Torbay area where John has to investigate dark deeds concerning a wrecked and plundered ship. The mystery itself is not over-intricate but is always interesting with a couple of nice twists along the way...it seems perfectly in place amongst the cast of characters who play it out. John's harridan of a wife and his oily brother in law continue to plague his life whilst his henchman and clerk continue to support him manfully as he struggles to unravel the tangled web of deceit, lust and suspicion that prevails across the city as a result of the two assaults. Give these excellent books a try and you wont be disappointed.