title: The Manor of Death (Crowner John Mysteries)
author:  Bernard Knight 
description: The lack of a true puzzle mars Knight's otherwise solid 12th historical to feature Devon coroner Sir John de Wolfe (after 2008's <i>The Noble Outlaw</i>). In April 1196, an attack by one ship on another in the English Channel culminates in the massacre of the attacked ship's crew. Shortly afterward, de Wolfe looks into the discovery of a strangled corpse in the coastal town of Axmouth. The body turns out to be that of Simon Makerel, a sailor who returned from his last voyage suspiciously affluent and ridden with guilt. The link between the murder and the act of piracy will be obvious to every reader, as it is to de Wolfe, who rapidly takes the measure of the port town and finds evidence that unscrupulous traders are routinely evading customs taxes needed for the king's treasury. Knight offers no plausible alternative motive for Makerel's murder, though as usual he nicely evokes the atmosphere of the period. <i>(Oct.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  The House by the Church-Yard
  
  
  THE HOUSE BY THE CHURCH-YARD.
  
  
    
    
  A PROLOGUE—BEING A DISH OF VILLAGE CHAT.  
    
  CHAPTER I. THE RECTOR'S NIGHT-WALK TO HIS CHURCH.
  
  
    
    
  CHAPTER II. THE NAMELESS COFFIN.  
    
  CHAPTER III. MR. MERVYN IN HIS INN.  
    
  CHAPTER IV. THE FAIR-GREEN OF PALMERSTOWN.  
    
  CHAPTER V. HOW THE ROYAL IRISH ARTILLERY
  
  
  ENTERTAINED SOME OF THE NEIGHBOURS AT DINNER.  
    
  CHAPTER VI. IN WHICH THE MINSTRELSY PROCEEDS.  
    
  CHAPTER VII. SHOWING HOW TWO GENTLEMEN MAY
  
  
  MISUNDERSTAND ONE ANOTHER, WITHOUT ENABLING THE COMPANY TO UNDERSTAND
  
  
  THEIR QUARREL.  
    
  CHAPTER VIII. RELATING HOW DOCTOR TOOLE AND CAPTAIN
  
  
  DEVEREUX WENT ON A MOONLIGHT ERRAND.  
    
  [CHAPTER IX. HOW A SQUIRE WAS FOUND FOR THE KNIGHT
  
  
  OF THE RUEFUL COUNTENANCE.  
    
  [CHAPTER X. THE DEAD SECRET, SHOWING HOW THE
  
  
  FIREWORKER PROVED TO PUDDOCK THAT NUTTER HAD SPIED OUT THE NAKEDNESS OF
  
  
  THE LAND.  
    
  [CHAPTER XI. SOME TALK ABOUT THE HAUNTED
  
  
  HOUSE—BEING, AS I SUPPOSE