J. Meade Falkner is an English author who published the novel Moonfleet in 1898. The story takes place in 18th-century England and features smuggling, treasure hunting, and shipwrecks. Moonfleet was a tiny settlement on the southern English coast in 1757. The Mohunes, a formerly significant local family, are responsible for the village's name. John Trenchard, an orphan who lives with his aunt Miss Arnold, is the primary character. Mr. Ratsey, the sexton, and Parson Glennie, a teacher at the local school, are members of the village church. The Mohune Arms' landlord is Elzevir Block. The moniker "Why Not?" for the inn is a play on the Mohune coat of arms, which features a cross-pall shaped like a letter "Y." The local magistrate, Mr. Maskew, is the father of Grace. The legendary Colonel John ``Blackbeard" Mohune, according to local lore, is interred in the family crypt under the church. He is said to have taken and hidden a diamond from King Charles I. The unexplained lights in the churchyard are ascribed to his activities because it is supposed that his ghost roams the area at night searching for it.
