Good morning everyone today on Two For Tuesday I’m featuring two books by the fabulous MW Craven. I’ve been a huge fan of the Tilly & Poe series from the start and rate them as one of my favourite crime series.
Not only are they fantastic crime books but the relationship between Tilly and Poe makes them really enjoyable books to read. They are a bit gruesome in places which might not be to everyone’s taste but if you’re a fan of crime fiction then I highly recommend this series.
Huge thanks to @littlebrownbookgroup_uk for sending me a copy of this book.
The Mercy Chair is book 6 of the Tilly & Poe series and is out 6th June 2024. You can find out more about the book below ⬇️
Do you have a favourite crime series?
The Mercy Chair by MW Craven
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin . . .
Washington Poe has a story to tell.
And he needs you to listen.
You’ll hear how it started with the robber birds. Crows. Dozens of them. Enough for a murder . . .
He’ll tell you about a man who was tied to a tree and stoned to death, a man who had tattooed himself with a code so obscure, even the gifted analyst Tilly Bradshaw struggled to break it. He’ll tell you how the man’s murder was connected to a tragedy that happened fifteen years earlier when a young girl massacred her entire family.
And finally, he’ll tell you about the mercy chair. And why people would rather kill themselves than talk about it . . .
Poe hopes you’ve been paying attention. Because in this story, nothing is as it seems . . .
The Botanist by MW Craven
‘I swear I’m one bad mood away from calling it black magic and going home . . .’
Detective Sergeant Washington Poe can count on one hand the number of friends he has. And he’d still have his thumb left. There’s the insanely brilliant, guilelessly innocent civilian analyst, Tilly Bradshaw of course. He’s known his beleaguered boss, Detective Inspector Stephanie Flynn for years as he has his nearest neighbour, full-time shepherd/part-time dog sitter, Victoria.
And then there’s Estelle Doyle. It’s true the caustic pathologist has never walked down the sunny side of the street but this time has she gone too far? Shot twice in the head, her father’s murder appears to be an open and shut case. Estelle has firearms discharge residue on her hands, and, in a house surrounded by fresh snow, hers are the only footprints going in. Since her arrest she’s only said three words: ‘Tell Washington Poe.’
Meanwhile, a poisoner the press have dubbed the Botanist is sending high profile celebrities poems and pressed flowers. The killer seems to be able to walk through walls and, despite the advance notice he gives his victims, and regardless of the security measures the police take, he seems to be able to kill with impunity.
For a man who hates locked room mysteries, this is going to be the longest week of Washington Poe’s life . .
About The Author:
Multi-award winning author M. W. Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle. He joined the army at sixteen, leaving ten years later to complete a degree in social work. Seventeen years after taking up a probation officer role in Cumbria, at the rank of assistant chief officer, he became a full-time author. The Puppet Show, the first book in the critically acclaimed, best-selling Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw series, was published by Little, Brown and went on to win the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger in 2019. Black Summer, the second in the series, was longlisted for the Gold Dagger as was book three, The Curator. Dead Ground won the CWA Steel Dagger in 2022 and book five, The Botanist, won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year in 2023. Dead Ground and 2022’s The Botanist were both Sunday Times bestsellers. The series has now been translated into twenty-seven languages. Fearless, the first thriller in the new US-set, Ben Koenig series, was published in June 2023 by Flatiron Books in the US and by Little, Brown in the UK. Fearless will soon be a major TV series.
M. W. Craven lives in Carlisle with his wife, Joanne. When he isn’t 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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