Figure of Hate

by Bernard Knight

Book 10 in the Crowner John Mysteries series.

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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, manorial injustice and revenge produce a crowded field of plausible killers. John must reconstruct Hugh’s movements after the joust and test each accusation against physical evidence, while the victim’s reputation encourages almost everyone involved to conceal part of the truth.