Book Description:
‘Dark and entertaining, this is top rank crime fiction.’ Vaseem Khan, Author of the Malabar House series and the Baby Ganesh Agency series
‘You can taste the authenticity’ Daily Mail
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 . . .
My Thoughts:
Dead Ground is the fourth book in the Washington Poe series and also my new favourite.
The start of the book, I had to actually check I was reading the right book as we are thrown into a vault with every one who has played 007. What a brilliant opening though and with the most recent Bond film just airing, it felt like a bit of a homage to the Bond franchise and I loved it!
I could rave for days about this series and books. There are far too many things to list about why I love them so much but Poe and Tilly by far are at number one on the list. The characterisation is just top notch and I seriously can’t get enough of the characters. I also have to give a little mention to Edgar, Poe’s Springer Spaniel, having a dog of the same breed myself, it made my connection with Poe feel stronger somehow.
Whilst this is a crime thriller, I love the dark sense of humour that runs throughout. I couldn’t help but laugh at the name that was given to cleaners in the sex industry especially. Tilly’s character is one I adore and whilst at times I want to mother her, her quirky ways are so endearing and I love seeing how I feel about her, being portrayed through Poe. He also has a huge amount of respect for her though and it’s great seeing so many people write Tilly off only for her to show them what she is made of and that you should never judge a book by its cover.
Dead Ground is a book in a series that just keeps getting better and better. Poe and Tilly one hundred percent deserve to be on our television screens and I for one can’t wait until it is. It has to be! These characters are just too amazing not to be on there. They have stolen a nation of readers hearts and the cases they work on are both unique and refreshing. M.W. Craven is a writing genius and deserves the highest acclaim for these books. A highly compelling and entertaining crime thriller that gets more addictive with each novel!
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