A general review of this series:

This is back in the good old days of law enforcement, when trial by combat was definitive and would-be plea bargainers had to fight their accomplice(s) to the death.

I find these books fascinating as living history, perhaps even more than as mysteries. Knight always starts off with a glossary of terms. The period is not romanticized, but neither is it overly repulsive.

Sir John de Wolfe went crusading with Richard the Lionheart. Now back in England, he has been appointed to the newly reconstituted office of Crowner (Coroner). He fights a pitched battle with his corrupt, treacherous brother-in-law, the Sheriff, over official territory. He is very unhappily married to Matilda, his incompatible wife; their relationship makes sleeping in peasant huts while on duty a treat. One of the things that makes it interesting, is that although Sir John is the central character, and presumably to be regarded with sympathy, his marital problems are not entirely blamed upon his wife. The characters are generally somewhat complex.

John is assisted in his duties by his gigantic man of arms, Gywn of Polruan, and his clerk, Thomas de Payne, a frail priest.

In this volume, the investigation of the murder of a young man leads to suspicions that the port of Axemouth is involved with smuggling and piracy. Sir John also faces a number of changes in his personal and professional life. ( )