Customer Reviews
From a girls point of view - By: Wysiwyg, 27 Feb 2008 
Like the others who have written reviews, l also have now read all the Crowner John books...l too wish l could read at a slower pace...Dr Knight, has the ability to incorporate actual facts from the 12th centuary, with fun, laughter & a real sense of taking you into the castles, taverns & villages, bringing the characters to life, & no, l defy anyone to guess who done it before being well into their lives.
Although John De Wolfe is a real man's man, Bernard Knight also shows that he has a soft spot for the ladies, onein particular. So girls, turn the phone off, put the kettle on & get into the life, loves & mysteries that are Crowner John.
Bernard Knight, a True Knight of a Gentleman and Author - By: P. Schaum, 25 Oct 2007 As a U.S. reader, I trust you will not object to some observations from "across the pond" (as we former military used to call it). Although technically retired, my reading was often of an academic naturein several fields of learning. A year or so ago, I found myselfin the need to take up some leisure reading orin other words something not hard & fast academicin nature. I love historyin the broad sense (across borders which are fluid over time) & a good mystery where one does not know "who done it" by page 5 so that one may be proud of oneself for beating the author to the answers (said tonguein cheek). Well, I found first Michael Jecks & then the good (Dr.) Bernard Knight. Some, if not all of you, know that they have both written about medieval coroners that were brought back into British history at the time of Richard. Their tales are almost handin glove as they are about a generation apart. Both gentleman are most true to history & interject fictional characters into the scene so that one gets a good dose of history & mystery at the same time. Now this was a little over a year ago, but I have read all of the booksin the coroner series of both authors published to date. And since Dr. Knight has been around a little longer than Michael, I have read other titles to include some of the academic by Knight. I wish I could read slower or that this author, as well as Jecks, could write faster which is most unfair of me & most self serving. I may be forced to go back to book onein the series. But, I must say that even when Knight & Jecks write together with other authors, & they are selectin whom they write with, you know when you get to those bits by either of them. They always "ring true!"
If my poor memory serves me correctly, the Latin "aflare" means puffed up or full of one's self. Despite his many achievements, to include his military service, Knight is never "aflare." There are some authors who speak highly of themselves & don't deserve the credit ("aflare" is also the root word for flatulence).
Bernard Knight is a good author & a good man. Search the titles by him & you will find a worthwhile read whether it be for pleasure reading or medical forensics, etc. In your search you might find some interesting & available out of print items.
Medieval Coroner will thrill - By: Gareth Wilson, 18 Sep 2007 
The continuing tales of Crowther John & to a new reader of the series is a tale that can be picked up & read without having read the previous installments. As to who this book is perhaps best for I would suggest that fans of Ellis' Brother Cadfael as well as fans of crime novels. Whilst this may confuse the odd reader, being exposed to the medieval world is not only refreshing but allows the reader to become fully engrossed within its pages & if that isn't enough, theres also a list of terms & an explanation of them within the book. What more could you want. For those who are currently wondering as to whom Bernard Knight is, he is perhaps Britain's most predominant retired Coroner & as such brings what many would term as his macabre expertise to the tale. It is this that adds another depth to the tale & for many a reader will increase their enjoyment no end.
Just as Good, if not Better than the Others in the Series - By: J. Chippindale, 06 May 2007 Professor Bernard Knight, CBE, became a Home Office Pathologistin 1965 & was appointed Professor of Forensic Pathology, University of Wales College of Medicine,in 1980. He has now written eleven booksin the much read Crowner John series & Bernard Knight is certainly one of my favourite authors among those who write medieval mysteries.
Crowner John or to give him his correct title, Sir John de Wolfe, is one of my all time favourite charactersin medieval mysteries & if you read or are going to read this or any other of Bernard Knight's Crowner John Mysteries, you will probably understand why.. Dour & more than a little fierce looking but totally honest & incorruptible & a staunch follower of King Richard the Lionheart. He is the total opposite of his brother-in-law the ex-Sheriff of Exeter, apart from the fact that the both have an eye for the ladies.
The place is Exeter, the year 1195. Renovations are taking place at the new schoolin Smythen Street, a school funded by Crowner John's brother-in-law & ex-sheriff Richard de Revelle. A partially decomposed body is foundin the loft of one of the out-buildings. John as Coroner is called to investigate. When it becomes apparent that the dead man is the missing treasurer of the guild of Cordwainers, de Revelle immediately seeks to put the blame on a young outlaw, a Cornish knight by the name of Nicholas de Arundell whose Devon manor the wily ex-sheriff has appropriated while Arundell was away at the Crusades.
Richard claims that the body has been dumped therein order to discredit his new school. The investigation becomes even more complex when another guild-master is found dead on the road from Tavistock to Exeter. Is Nicholas de Arundell, really responsible for the deaths, or is the ex-sheriff just putting up a smoke screen to confuse Crowner John?
