The Manor of Death

by Bernard Knight Book 13 in the Crowner John Mysteries series.

First published 2008

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4.4(1,176)

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 coordinated silence that suggests the port depends on a hidden enterprise none of them will expose. As intimidation becomes open violence, John must identify the dead man and uncover what Axmouth is protecting before the community’s leaders prevent him from leaving alive.