1. Crowner’s Crusade
In 1192, Devon knight John de Wolfe accompanies Richard I away from the Holy Land at the end of the Third Crusade. The dangerous return journey and the king’s absence leave John exposed to the wider contest over the English succession. Back in Devon, John finds…
2. The Sanctuary Seeker
In 1194, newly appointed Devon coroner Sir John de Wolfe rides to Widecombe to examine an unidentified corpse found on the moor. Evidence that the dead man was a returning crusader draws the investigation toward one of the county’s leading families, while a frightened suspect seeks…
3. The Poisoned Chalice
In Exeter in December 1194, the rape of a merchant’s daughter is followed by the murder of Lady Adele de Courcy shortly before her marriage. Suspicion falls on silversmith Godfrey Fitzosbern, who is connected with both women, but Crowner John must protect him from vengeance until…
4. Crowner’s Quest
On Christmas Eve 1194, Sir John de Wolfe leaves a family gathering to examine a cathedral canon found hanging in Exeter. What appears to be suicide becomes suspicious, and the later murder of a local lord suggests that the two deaths belong to the same concealed…
5. The Awful Secret
Gilbert de Rideford, a Templar known to John from the crusade, arrives in Devon claiming to possess information that could damage the military order and shake Christian authority. Pursued by men determined to silence him, Gilbert asks John to help him escape before the secret is…
6. The Tinner’s Corpse
Crowner John is summoned to Dartmoor after a respected mine overseer is murdered. The victim worked for wealthy tin owner Walter Knapman, and the first explanation is commercial sabotage, but the independent customs of the tinners make witnesses hostile to outside officials and complicate the inquest.…
7. The Grim Reaper
In May 1195, a Jewish moneylender is suffocated and a biblical verse is left beside his body. Further victims—a sex worker, a corrupt priest and a burgess accused of abusing boys—are killed in ways that appear to punish their alleged sins. Because the murderer can read…
8. Fear in the Forest
In June 1195, the body of a senior royal forest officer is dragged into a Devon village by his riderless horse, an arrow lodged in his back. The victim still carries his money, and the harsh forest laws have created so many enemies that robbery provides…
9. The Witch Hunter
When an Exeter guild master dies suddenly on horseback, John sees no reason for an inquest until a straw figure pierced through the heart is discovered beneath the saddle. The widow and her clerical allies turn the object into proof of witchcraft and begin a campaign…
10. Figure of Hate
After quarrelling with a foreign knight at a Devon tournament, the widely disliked lord Hugh Peverel is found stabbed in a barn. The obvious suspect has reason to flee, but John discovers that Hugh’s brothers, wife, tenants and servants all carried grievances against him. Inheritance, adultery,…
11. The Elixir of Death
In 1195, Prince John and Philip II of France support a scheme to finance rebellion against Richard I through an alchemist who claims he can turn base metal into gold. The vessel carrying Nizam and his companions toward the Devon tin country is wrecked, and its…
12. The Noble Outlaw
Renovation of a school founded by Richard de Revelle uncovers a partially mummified corpse hidden in the roof. The former sheriff blames Nicholas de Arundell, an outlawed knight living on Dartmoor who has strong reasons to hate him, but neither the victim’s identity nor the date…
13. The Manor of Death
An unidentified young man is recovered from the water at Axmouth, and the manor reeve insists that he drowned. John’s examination shows that the victim was strangled before entering the harbour, turning a routine inquest into a murder investigation. Sailors, officials and townspeople respond with a…
14. Crowner Royal
In 1196, Richard I summons John from Devon to Westminster as Coroner of the Verge. With the king fighting Philip II in France, John enters a royal household divided by patronage, corruption and competing loyalties. The daylight murder of a palace clerk and the disposal of…
15. A Plague of Heretics
An outbreak of yellow plague spreads through Exeter while John’s brother William becomes seriously ill. At the same time, a sequence of brutal deaths appears to be connected with a revival of religious dissent in the city. Cathedral canons use the epidemic and murders to demand…