The Tinner's Corpse continues the adventures of Sir John de Wolfe, Devon's first county coroner. When Crowner John is summoned to the bleak Devonshire moors to investigate the murder of a tin miner, he has little idea how difficult this new investigation will prove to be. The victim worked for Devon's most powerful and successful mine owner, Walter Knapman. There seems to be only one possible motive -- to sabotage Walter's business.

But the tinners have their own laws, and they are none too pleased at Crowner John's interference. And then Walter Knapman disappears.

A decapitated body, a missing tinner, a disgruntled band of miners and a mad Saxon intent on destroying all things Norman. How on earth can Crowner John sort all this out when his wife hates him, his mistress has spurned him for a younger man, and his clerk is in the grip of a suicidal depression? Only Gwyn, Crowner John's indispensable right-hand man seems to be of any help at all -- until he is arrested for murder and put on trial for his life.