Book Synopsis:
Detective Sergeant Washington Poe is in court, fighting eviction from his beloved and isolated croft, when he is summoned to a backstreet brothel in Carlisle where a man has been beaten to death with a baseball bat. Poe is confused – he hunts serial killers and this appears to be a straightforward murder-by-pimp – but his attendance was requested personally, by the kind of people who prefer to remain in the shadows.
As Poe and the socially awkward programmer Tilly Bradshaw delve deeper into the case, they are faced with seemingly unanswerable questions: despite being heavily vetted for a high-profile job, why does nothing in the victim’s background check out? Why was a small ornament left at the murder scene – and why did someone on the investigation team steal it? And what is the connection to a flawlessly executed bank heist three years earlier, a heist where nothing was taken . . .
Dead Ground is available in ebook, hardback and audiobook now. You can purchase your copy using the links below.
My Review:
I’ve been a huge fan of this series from the start, so a new Poe & Tilly book is always cause for great excitement. This book was no exception as I thought it was a hugely enjoyable, intriguing and gripping read.
It was great to be back solving a case with the fantastic Tilly and Poe. I have always loved the special relationship they have and the hilarious banter between them. Some of their conversations actually made me laugh out loud at times which helped break up some of the darker moments in the book. It was nice to see some old characters return and to meet some new ones too. Despite not initially liking Hannah I found myself warming to her and hope that she makes an appearance in a future book.
The murder case was a very interesting one and I really enjoyed following it. As you might expect from this series it was incredibly well plotted with lots of red herrings that kept me guessing who the murderer was until the end. There was also some fascinating descriptions of some of the technology available now which I loved learning about, although my hardware engineer husband wasn’t enthusiastic about all my questions.
This was a bit of slow starter as the author sets the scene but I didn’t mind this as I was enjoying getting to know the case. It soon picks up though and the pace gets faster as the story goes on. I read half the book in one evening as I was so caught up in the story and really wanted to see how it ends. The ending of the book was brilliant and very dramatic with lots of surprises right until the end. There are hints at the end about a new case for Tilly and Poe which I can’t wait to read!
Huge thanks to Little Brown for my copy of this book via netgalley. If you are looking for a new crime series I highly recommend this one!
About The Author:
M. W. Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle, returning after 31 years to take up a probation officer position in Whitehaven, eventually working his way up to chief officer grade. Sixteen years later he took the plunge, accepted redundancy and became a full-time author. He now has entirely different motivations for trying to get inside the minds of criminals.
His first novel featuring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw, The Puppet Show, was published by Constable to huge acclaim, and it has since won the CWA Gold Dagger Award and been shortlisted for the Amazon Publishing Readers’ Awards: Best Crime Novel, the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award and the Dead Good Reader Awards.
M. W. Craven lives in Carlisle with his wife, Joanne. When he isn’t out with his springer spaniel, or talking nonsense in the pub, he can usually be found at punk gigs and writing festivals up and down the country.
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