Coroner Sir John investigates an alleged murder by witchcraft in this page-turning instalment in the Crowner John medieval mystery series, set in twelfth-century England.

Exeter, 1195. When a prominent guild-master falls dead across his horse, county coroner Sir John de Wolfe declines to hold an inquest. The man had been complaining of chest pains, and Sir John believes it a clear-cut case of death from natural causes. But events take a sinister turn when a straw doll is discovered hidden under the dead man’s saddle, a thin metal spike piercing its heart.

Convinced her husband’s death was caused by an evil spell, the victim’s strident widow begins a campaign against witchcraft and the so-called ‘cunning women’ who practise it. Soon Exeter is in turmoil, a hysterical mob has formed and several local women are in danger.

Still the coroner refuses to get involved – until his mistress is accused of witchcraft. If Crowner John can’t discover the real cause of the merchant’s death and unearth the culprit quickly, his beloved Nesta may soon swing from the hangman’s noose . . .