The Writers of Wales Database

KNIGHT, BERNARD

Website: http://bernardknight.homestead.com/

Bernard Knight was born in 1931 in Cardiff, and currently lives there, having served as a regular army medical officer in Malaya during the 1950s. He became a Home Office pathologist in 1965 and was appointed Professor of Forensic Pathology, University of Wales College of Medicine in 1980. He is also qualified as a barrister and was awarded the CBE in 1993 for services to forensic medicine. Bernard founded the Wales Institute of Forensic Medicine, of which he was the first Director.

He has been writing crime fiction and historical novels for nearly fifty years and is the third longest-serving member of the Crime Writer's Association. Bernard is most famous for his Crowner John Mysteries series, set in the 12th-century, which have been translated into French, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Czech and Romanian. He has also written biographies, non-fiction popular works on forensic medicine and twelve medico-legal textbooks as well as scripts for radio and television dramas and documentaries. Bernard  wrote some of the story-lines and was technical adviser to the BBC television series 'The Expert'. He also wrote the script for BBC Wales' television series 'Deg y Dragwyddoldeb'. 

Bernard has contributed to many other textbooks and has edited several medical journals, including as Managing Editor for Elsevier's Forensic Science International. In 1977, Bernard published his best-seller Autopsy: The Memoirs of the World's Greatest Medical Detective (Harrap, 1977). The biography of his friend, the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City Professor Milton Helpern, it went into book club and two paperback editions both in America and Britain.

For a number of years, Bernard was a judge for the CWA Silver Dagger Award for non-fiction. He is a founder member of The Medieval Murderers, a small group of historical crime-writers within the Crime Writers' Association who have created a co-written series of books. Bernard is also a regular reviewer of crime books for the Internet site 'Tangled Web' (www.twbooks.co.uk).

Reviews:

"…Crowner John is a splendid character, full of imperfections and faults, but ultimately the triumphing hero of the piece…"
London Evening Standard

"…Detection and suspense are combined with historical accuracy…"
Daily Mail


With respect to Brennan (Robert Hale, 2003)

"...a brilliant piece of writing, not dissimilar to Stephen King's The Stand..."
The Western Mail


Selected Publications:
Fiction as Bernard Picton
The Lately Deceased (Herbert Jenkins Ltd, 1962)
The Thread of Evidence (Robert Hale, 1965)
Mistress Murder (Robert Hale, 1966)
Russian Roulette (Robert Hale, 1968)
Policeman's Progress (Robert Hale, 1969)
Tiger at Bay (Robert Hale, 1970)
The Expert (Robert Hale, 1976)

Fiction as Bernard Knight
Deg y Dragwyddoldeb (Gomer, 1972)
Lion Rampant (Robert Hale, 1972)
Madoc, Prince of America (Robert Hale, 1977)
Brennan (Robert Hale, 2003)
Grounds For Appeal, (Severn House, 2011)

The Crowner John Mysteries
The Sanctuary Seeker (Severn House, 1998)
The Poisoned Chalice (Severn House, 1998)
Crowner's Quest (Severn House, 1999)
The Awful Secret (Simon & Schuster, 2000)
The Tinner's Corpse (Simon & Schuster, 2001)
The Grim Reaper (Simon & Schuster, 2002)
Fear in the Forest (Simon & Schuster, 2003)
The Witch Hunter (Simon & Schuster, 2004)
Figure of Hate (Simon & Schuster, 2005)
The Elixir of Death (Simon & Schuster, 2006)
The Noble Outlaw (Simon & Schuster, 2007)
The Manor of Death (Simon & Schuster, 2008)
Crowner Royal (Simon & Schuster, 2009)
A Plague of Heretics (Simon & Schuster, 2010)

The Richard Pryor series
Where Death Delights (Severn House, 2010)
According to the Evidence (Severn House, 2010)

Non Fiction
Murder, Suicide or Accident (Robert Hale, 1971)
Legal Aspects of Medical Practice (Churchill, 1971)
Autopsy: The Memoirs of the World's Greatest Medical Detective (Harrap, 1977)
Discovering the Human Body (Heinemann, 1980)
The Lawyer's Guide to Forensic Medicine (Heinemann, 1982)
The Coroner's Autopsy (Churchill-Livingstone, 1983)
Sudden Death in Infancy (Faber & Faber, 1983)
The Post-Mortem Technician's Handbook (Blackwell, 1984)
Pocket Picture Guide to Forensic Medicine (Gower Medical Publishing, 1985)
Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology (Law Book Company, 1987)
Knight's Forensic Pathology (Edward Arnold, 1991)
Simpson's Forensic Medicine (Edward Arnold, 1991)
The Estimation of the Time of Death in the Early Postmortem Period (Edward Arnold, 1995)

Contributed to:
The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries (contributor) (Carol & Graf, 2006)
Forensic Radiology (co-writer) (Blackwell, 1980)

The Medieval Murderers' collaborative titles:
The Tainted Relic (co-writer) (Simon & Schuster, 2005)
The Sword of Shame (co-writer) (Simon & Schuster)
The House of Shadows (co-writer) (Simon & Schuster)
The Lost Prophecies (co-writer) (Simon & Schuster)
King Arthur's Bones (co-writer) (Simon & Schuster)
The Sacred Stone (co-writer) (Simon & Schuster, 2010)



Brennan (Robert Hale, 2003)

Five years after the catastrophe that destroys most of the human race, the tiny remnants of the British population are beginning to claw their way back to some form of civilisation. The survivors of Wales and the Marches are led by Brennan, a former brigadier who was left behind by the escaping government to salvage as much as possible. Brennan sets up his followers in a college near Newport, but attacks from abroad and from a rival group, drive them to shelter in Cardiff Castle, still intact amid the ruins of the city. When they go to the aid of the besieged Cambridge, the scale of the opposition and the enormity of their mission become apparent. It is all destined to end in a dramatic denouement along the M4 motorway. Not only is Brennan an exciting tale in its own right but it also reveals intriguing historical parallels.

To purchase this title from amazon.co.uk, please click on its front cover


Crowner Royal (Simon & Schuster, 2009)
 
London, 1196. At the command of Richard the Lionheart, Sir John de Wolfe has left his beloved West Country for the Palace of Westminster, where he has been appointed Coroner of the Verge. But with the king overseas, embroiled in a costly war against King Philip of France, Sir John is dismayed to discover that the English court is a hotbed of greed, corruption and petty in-fighting.

The murder of one of the palace clerks, stabbed in broad daylight and thrown into the River Thames, leads John to suspect that there's a conspiracy underway to overthrow King Richard. And with the visit of the dowager Queen Eleanor fast approaching, the new Coroner must risk his life to prove his suspicions are right, root out the traitors within and prevent a national catastrophe.

To purchase this title from amazon.co.uk, please click on its front cover