The Sanctuary Seeker

Knight's US debut (five adventures in his series have appeared in England, this one in 1998) isn't so much a whodunit as a police procedural that happens to be set in 1194, as Sir John de Wolfe criss-crosses Devon, the first coroner appointed by King Richard the Lion-hearted. Assisted by the imposing Cornishman Gwyn and the dour defrocked priest Thomas de Peyne, who serves as his clerk, Crowner John records all crimes and legal events. Though he could hardly have refused the appointment, it doesn't sit well with stolid wife Matilda, who mutters about his absences and turns a cold shoulder, or with her brother Richard de Revelle, the Sheriff of Exeter, who never misses an opportunity to belittle his brother-in-law. Crowner John finds comfort and a soulmate in mistress Nesta, the local tavern keeper, as he oversees the local hangings that are permitted by law twice a week, holds an inquest after a brawl at the Saracen Inn ends with a fatal knife wound and, in the thorniest case of his new career, begins an investigation when an unidentified corpse is found facedown in a stream in the moorland village of Widecombe. Though locals unconvincingly claim ignorance of its identity, the body is identified as that of a young nobleman recently returned from the Crusades. Richard de Revelle pressures Crowner John to prosecute an apparently innocent man, but the evidence points to quite a different killer.

Maps and a glossary bolster the historical flavor, effectively transporting the reader back 800 years.