'Deeply layered, fiendishly clever and absorbing' Matt Hilton, author of the Joe Hunter series The first gritty thriller in the Avison Fluke series by M. W. Craven, the acclaimed author of The Puppet Show. Detective Inspector Avison Fluke is a man on the edge. He has committed a crime to get back to work, concealed a debilitating illness and is about to be made homeless. Just as he thinks things can't get any worse, the body of a young woman is found buried on a Cumbrian building site. Shot once in the back of the head, it is a cold, calculated execution. When the post-mortem reveals she has gone to significant expense in disguising her appearance, Fluke knows this is no ordinary murder. With the help of a psychotic ex-Para, a gangland leader and a woman more interested in maggots than people, Fluke must find out who she was and why she was murdered before he can even think about finding her killer... Praise for M. W. Craven: 'Dark, sharp and compelling' PETER JAMES 'Fantastic' MARTINA COLE 'Britain's answer to Harry Bosch' MATT HILTON 'Thrilling' MICK HERRON 'Brilliantly inventive' WILLIAM SHAW 'A powerful thriller from an explosive new talent' DAVID MARK
'Deeply layered, fiendishly clever and absorbing' Matt Hilton, author of the Joe Hunter series The first gritty thriller in the Avison Fluke series by M. W. Craven, the acclaimed author of The Puppet Show. Detective Inspector Avison Fluke is a man on the edge. He has committed a crime to get back to work, concealed a debilitating illness and is about to be made homeless. Just as he thinks things can't get any worse, the body of a young woman is found buried on a Cumbrian building site. Shot once in the back of the head, it is a cold, calculated execution. When the post-mortem reveals she has gone to significant expense in disguising her appearance, Fluke knows this is no ordinary murder. With the help of a psychotic ex-Para, a gangland leader and a woman more interested in maggots than people, Fluke must find out who she was and why she was murdered before he can even think about finding her killer... Praise for M. W. Craven: 'Dark, sharp and compelling' PETER JAMES 'Fantastic' MARTINA COLE 'Britain's answer to Harry Bosch' MATT HILTON 'Thrilling' MICK HERRON 'Brilliantly inventive' WILLIAM SHAW 'A powerful thriller from an explosive new talent' DAVID MARK
'This is high quality crime writing' A A Dhand The second dark and twisted thriller in the Avison Fluke series by M. W. Craven, the acclaimed author of The Puppet Show. Investigating how a severed hand ends up on the third green of a Cumbrian golf course is not how Detective Inspector Avison Fluke has planned to spend his Saturday. So when a secret protection unit from London swoops in quoting national security, he's secretly pleased. But trouble is never far away. A young woman arrives at his lakeside cabin with a cryptic message: a code known to only a handful of people and it forces Fluke back into the investigation he's only just been barred from. In a case that will change his life forever, Fluke immerses himself in a world of New Age travellers, corrupt cops and domestic extremists. Before long he's alienated his entire team, has been arrested under the Terrorism Act - and has made a pact with the Devil himself. But a voice has called out to him from beyond the grave. And Fluke is only getting started... Praise for M. W. Craven: 'Dark, sharp and compelling' PETER JAMES 'Fantastic' MARTINA COLE 'Britain's answer to Harry Bosch' MATT HILTON 'Thrilling' MICK HERRON 'Brilliantly inventive' WILLIAM SHAW 'A powerful thriller from an explosive new talent' DAVID MARK
Betrayals of trust, poker cheats, ambitious barristers, cyber bullies, lost diplomats and revenge are just some of the themes explored in this collection of short stories. As Mike Craven introduces Detective Inspector Avison Fluke and the rest of his characters from Cumbria's Force Major Incident Team, in tales where little is at seems, the only thing you can do is Assume Nothing, Believe No One, Challenge Everything.In F.I.I., Fluke is called to the bedside of a malnourished child. Why is she so thin? Why is her mother so keen to help? Is she ill or is something sinister happening? As Fluke gradually exposes a mother's shocking secret, his belief in human nature is tested to the absolute limit. But even with a full admission the case might still have one last sting in the tail...In Under the Gun, Fluke finds himself playing poker at the FMIT monthly get together. These social events are supposed to be fun, a way for the team to relax and enjoy each others company outside the pressures of work. So why is Fluke cheating? Will anyone find out, and more importantly, what will happen if they do? Because this isn't about money, it's about bragging rights and bragging rights are priceless...Mot Juste sees Fluke giving evidence at court. Part and parcel of the job, Carlisle Crown Court is like a second home. The crimes FMIT investigate result in huge prison sentences so it's no surprise they attract their fair share of not guilty pleas. Called to give evidence, Fluke is questioned by an ambitious barrister who will ask anything, and go anywhere to get his client off. Nothing unusual in that, if you're facing fifteen years, why not throw the dice? But Fluke's antenna is up. Because this time he's been called as a witness for the defence. And he has no idea why...Skuttlebutt is the new social media site kids are dying to immerse themselves in. Sometimes literally. A farmer, desperate for answers as to why his son killed himself, asks Fluke to investigate. Although he's convinced the coroner's verdict was correct, Fluke asks Jiao-long, the team's resident computer genius, to give the boy's laptop a cursory examination. But Jiao-long doesn't do cursory examinations. He takes computers seriously and he finds something. On the other side of the Atlantic, in the middle of America's bible belt, lives an evil so abhorrent Fluke has no choice but to do something, even if it costs him his job. But how do you stop someone who lives thousands of miles away, who can't be extradited and hasn't even committed a crime?In the Sudan, flown in to assist the search effort for a missing diplomat, in Lost and Found Fluke finds himself stranded in the middle of a civil war. The embassy has given him a map, a mobile phone, an old Land Rover and not much else. So far he's driven over two hundred miles without picking up the scent of Olivia Stone and just wants to get back to the hotel for bath and a beer before starting again the next day. But this is Africa and nothing is ever straightforward. Fifty miles from the hotel, his Land Rover develops a mechanical fault and Fluke is about to find out there are things far worse than breaking down in the African bush at night...With Fluke in hospital, Detective Sergeant Matt Towler investigates the brutal murder of Eleanor Hobbs. She has been kicked to death in the street. With all evidence pointing to two brothers from the notorious Bunney family, Towler moves quickly to arrest them. But he is too late and the family have escaped justice. They were last seen in the Port of Whitehaven getting on a fishing vessel bound for Ireland. But Towler isn't convinced. He used to be a Para and he's heard the name Hobbs before. Towler doesn't think the Bunney family have fled at all. Because Eleanor's husband, Stan Hobbs, is A Different Kind of Animal...
'Dark, sharp and compelling' PETER JAMES 'Fantastic' MARTINA COLE 'Britain's answer to Harry Bosch' MATT HILTON 'If you haven't read M W Craven yet, now is the time to start' Abir Mukherjee ______________________ It's Christmas and a serial killer is leaving displayed body parts all over Cumbria. A strange message is left at each scene: #BSC6 Called in to investigate, the National Crime Agency's Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are faced with a case that makes no sense. Why were some victims anaesthetized, while others died in appalling agony? Why is their only suspect denying what they can irrefutably prove but admitting to things they weren't even aware of? And why did the victims all take the same two weeks off work three years earlier? And when a disgraced FBI agent gets in touch things take an even darker turn. Because she doesn't think Poe is dealing with a serial killer at all; she thinks he's dealing with someone far, far worse - a man who calls himself the Curator. And nothing will ever be the same again . . . Praise for Black Summer: 'Truly mind-blowing' A. A. Dhand 'A book that shines with tension, wit and invention' William Shaw 'Washington Poe - a rising giant in detective fiction' Alison Bruce 'A twisty thriller with a killer plot Ed James 'I loved this book!' Jo Jakeman 'One of the best British crime novels I've read in a long time . . . Simply an unputdownable page-turner' Nick Oldham 'Grabs you from the very first page. A dark and brilliantly twisted crime thriller, bringing back the inimitable Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw' Colin Falconer 'Dark and twisted in all the right places. Poe is a great mix of compelling, complex & charismatic, and well on his way to becoming one of the standout characters in crime fiction' Robert Scragg 'In Tilly and Poe, MW Craven has created a stand-out duo who are two of the most compelling characters in crime fiction in recent years. They deserve to join the ranks of Holmes and Watson, Rebus and Clarke, Hill and Jordan . . .' Fiona Cummins 'Dark, thrilling and unputdownable with sharply drawn characters that stride off the page' Victoria Selman 'Gleefully gory and witty, with a terrific sense of place' Sunday Times
From winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize and the Icelandic Literature Prize, Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, comes a dazzling novel about a family of midwives set in the run-up to Christmas in Iceland In the days leading up to Christmas, Dómhildur delivers her 1,922nd baby. Beginnings and endings are her family trade; she comes from a long line of midwives on her mother’s side and a long line of undertakers on her father’s. She even lives in the apartment that she inherited from her grandaunt, a midwife with a unique reputation for her unconventional methods. As a terrible storm races towards Reykjavik, Dómhildur discovers decades worth of letters and manuscripts hidden amongst her grandaunt’s clutter. Fielding calls from her anxious meteorologist sister and visits from her curious new neighbour, Dómhildur escapes into her grandaunt’s archive and discovers strange and beautiful reflections on birth, death and human nature. With her singular warmth and humor, in Animal Life Ólafsdóttir gives us a beguiling novel that comes direct from the depths of an Icelandic winter, full of hope for spring.
"The book is like a dream you want to last forever" (Roberta Silman, The New York Times Book Review), now with a gorgeous new cover by the famed designer Peter Mendelsund A masterwork of W. G. Sebald, now with a gorgeous new cover by the famed designer Peter Mendelsund The Rings of Saturn—with its curious archive of photographs—records a walking tour of the eastern coast of England. A few of the things which cross the path and mind of its narrator (who both is and is not Sebald) are lonely eccentrics, Sir Thomas Browne’s skull, a matchstick model of the Temple of Jerusalem, recession-hit seaside towns, wooded hills, Joseph Conrad, Rembrandt’s "Anatomy Lesson," the natural history of the herring, the massive bombings of WWII, the dowager Empress Tzu Hsi, and the silk industry in Norwich. W.G. Sebald’s The Emigrants (New Directions, 1996) was hailed by Susan Sontag as an "astonishing masterpiece perfect while being unlike any book one has ever read." It was "one of the great books of the last few years," noted Michael Ondaatje, who now acclaims The Rings of Saturn "an even more inventive work than its predecessor, The Emigrants."
'Mesmerising, macabre and magnificent. The Mercy Chair is truly terrifying, laugh-out-loud funny, and impossibly clever. Poe and Tilly are unstoppable' Chris Whitaker 'Washington Poe is a brilliant creation, from one of the finest and most inventive crime writers of today' Peter James ---- 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 . . . ---- 'Craven renders the darkness of the human condition with immense skill, ratcheting the tension to a nails-on-chalkboard pitch. Don't turn out the lights.' Vaseem Khan MORE PRAISE FOR MW CRAVEN: 'The kind of novel that inspired me to write fiction in the first place. A guaranteed great time.' Chris Brookmyre 'Darkly entertaining' The Telegraph 'If you haven't read any M.W. Craven yet, fix that immediately' S. A. Cosby 'I've been following M.W. Craven's Poe/Tilly series from the very beginning, and it just gets better and better' Peter Robinson 'Poe and Tilly books are a joy' Steve Cavanagh 'In Tilly and Poe, M.W. Craven has created a stand-out duo who are two of the most compelling characters in crime fiction in recent years' Fiona Cummins 'Darkly comic . . . Thrilling' The Independent 'Clever, sophisticated, utterly gripping thriller from one of the best writers around' Mari Hannah 'Craven has unleashed Ben Koenig into the thriller world. Long may he raise hell in the pages. A superb thriller that will have everyone talking, and gasping.' David Baldacci 'Paging Lee and Andrew Child: you've got company' The Times
Poe's just hanging around on a Saturday afternoon... Dangling from a hook in a meat packing plant isn't how Detective Sergeant Washington Poe wants to spend his weekend. He's been punched and kicked and threatened, and when a contract killer arrives it seems things are about to go from bad to worse. He goes by the name of the Pale Man and he and his straight-edged razor have been feared all over London for twenty years. But Poe knows two things the Pale Man doesn't. Although it might seem like a hopeless situation, Poe has planned to be here all along. More importantly, a nerdy, computer whizz-kid called Tilly Bradshaw is watching his back. And now things are about to get interesting . . . _______________ This is a short story, not a full-length novel. _______________ Praise for M W Craven: 'I've been following M.W. Craven's Poe/Tilly series from the very beginning, and it just gets better and better. Dead Ground is a fast-paced crime novel with as many twists and turns as a country lane. I can't wait for the next one.' Peter Robinson 'Dead Ground is both entertaining and engaging with great characters and storyline. I loved this first dip into the world of Tilly and Poe!' BA Paris 'A brutal and thrilling page turner' Natasha Harding, The Sun 'A thrilling curtain raiser for what looks set to be a great new series' Mick Herron 'One of the most engaging teams in crime fiction' Daily Mail 'A powerful thriller from an explosive new talent. Tightly plotted, and not for the faint hearted!' David Mark 'A gripping start to a much anticipated new series' Vaseem Khan 'Satisfyingly twisty and clever and the flashes of humour work well to offer the reader respite from the thrill of the read' Michael J. Malone 'Nothing you've ever read will prepare you for the utterly unique Washington Poe' Keith Nixon 'Beware if you pick up a book by M.W. Craven. Your life will no longer belong to you. He will hold you spellbound. Linda's Book Bag 'Craven's understanding of the criminal world is obvious in this cracking read' Woman's Weekly 'Breath-taking' Random Things Through My Letterbox '5 Stars... another fantastic literary experience and a welcome addition to the already brilliant Poe and Tilly series' Female First 'An explosive plot, slippery twists and my fave new crime-busting duo...Fantastic!' Peterborough Telegraph
'Mesmerising, macabre and murderously funny. The Botanist is M.W. Craven at his sinister best. I couldn't love this series more' Chris Whitaker 'Another classy thriller from the king of Cumbrian crime' Paul Finch This is going to be the longest week of Washington Poe's life... 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 guilelessly innocent civilian analyst, Tilly Bradshaw of course. Insanely brilliant, she's a bit of a social hand grenade. 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. Dark and dangerous and sexy as hell. It's true the caustic pathologist has never walked down the sunny side of the street, but has she gone too far this time? 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. Since her arrest she's only said three words: 'Tell Washington Poe.' Meanwhile, a poisoner called the Botanist is sending the nation's most reviled people poems and pressed flowers. Twisted and ingenious, he seems to be able to walk through walls and, despite the advance notice given to his victims, and regardless of the security measures taken, he is able to kill with impunity. Poe hates locked room mysteries and now he has two to solve. To unravel them he's going to have to draw on every resource he has: Tilly Bradshaw, an organised crime boss, even an alcoholic ex-journalist. Because if he doesn't, the bodies are going to keep piling up . . . Praise for The Botanist: 'Unputdownable, gripping, clever and with a rich seam of trademark Craven humour running through it' Imran Mahmood 'A sinful treat' Vaseem Khan 'Fast, furious, and utterly enjoyable.' Keith Nixon Praise for M W Craven: The Curator shortlisted for the VN Thriller of the Year 2022 & longlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger 2021 Dead Ground longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year 2022 & longlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2022 'Heart-pounding, hilarious, sharp and shocking, Dead Ground is further proof that M.W. Craven never disappoints. Miss this series at your peril.' Chris Whitaker 'Dark and entertaining, this is top rank crime fiction.' Vaseem Khan, Author of the Malabar House series and the Baby Ganesh Agency series 'Fantastic' Martina Cole 'Dark, sharp and compelling' Peter James 'A brutal and thrilling page turner' The Sun 'A thrilling curtain raiser for what looks set to be a great new series' Mick Herron 'A powerful thriller from an explosive new talent. Tightly plotted, and not for the faint hearted!' David Mark 'A gripping start to a much anticipated new series' Vaseem Khan