Customer Reviews

Fear in the Forest (A Crowner John Mystery)

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Did you know that the Woodmote was a court that dealt with offences against the vert amounting to less than four pence, whereas larger vert offences and those against venison were dealt with by the Forest Eyre? Well, you will do after reading this novel, because the author tells you several times. As always, Knight packs plenty of history and very little mystery into this Crowner yarn. Much of the dialogue is stilted and unnatural, sounding like a history lecture. The trick in historical fiction is to be authentic without the authenticity being obtrusive, a trick that Knight has not mastered. Nor is he unfailingly accurate, despite his obviously meticulous research. The term 'rogering' is certainly anachronistic, and I'm not sure that 'goodwife' was current at the time, either.

This is an adventure story rather than a mystery. It is therefore in the tradition of Ivanhoe, but without Scott's poetry. The subplot involves complications in the hero's extramarital affairs, and this aspect of the story is surprisingly well done, leading to a very poignant finale.

These novels are prone to misprints, which is annoying. Thus we have a character who is fighting for his life and we are told "...it was killed or be killed". Well, I suspect it was actually "kill or be killed", but it's a great way to break the tension in a fight scene. I spotted a dozen or more such mistakes, including one sentence which had become garbled beyond all comprehension.

As always, Knight draws out scenes that most writers would deal with more succinctly, and so devotes 410 pages to what could have been related in fewer than 300.

This series will appeal to lovers of historical fiction who value authenticity and character depiction rather than literary prose or twists and turns in the plot. If you are new to the series and would like to try it, start with the first, The Sanctuary Seekers, because the novels form a continuous narrative.

My husband took a chance on this book a while back as it was one of the books that Amazon had recommended for us. But alas, it sat on our book shelf for months. If only we had known what excitement lurked within the pages of this fab book. I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting this book was! I will agree with the review by Mr. Reeve that this story does have a strong adventure aspect, but who doesn't love some adventure!

For comparision purposes this book sort of reminds me of a Michael Jecks book (although about 100 years separates the characters). If you love historical novels or just a good book consider giving Bernard Knight a chance. We are definitely going to order some of the earlier books in this series.

I am selective, even in my non-academic reading. If you like history and a good mystery, then like Jecks, Knight's mystery novels are always worth the time.