The Noble Outlaw

Book excerpt: Coroner Sir John investigates a returning crusader forced to live as an outlaw in this engaging instalment in the Crowner John medieval mystery series, set in twelfth-century England. Exeter, 1195. Renovations at a school in Smythen Street are disrupted by the shocking discovery of a partially mummified corpse hidden in the rafters, and county coroner Sir John de Wolfe is called in to investigate. Richard de Revelle, the school’s owner – and Sir John’s much-disliked brother-in-law – immediately points the finger at Nicholas de Arundell, an outlawed Cornish knight who now lives rough in the wilds of Dartmoor. As Sir John discovers, Nicholas has a good reason to bear a grudge against his unscrupulous brother-in-law, but is he really a killer? And if so, who exactly is it that he’s killed? The coroner begins to investigate, but then comes news of a second violent death. All signs point to the ‘noble outlaw’ as the culprit – but if Sir John’s to solve the case, he’ll need to find him first . . .