Blog Tour ~ The Curator by M W Craven ☼

 ☼ Delighted to host today's stop on this exciting blog tour ☼

Little Brown Books
4 June 2020

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be part of the blog tour

A serial killer is leaving displayed body parts all over Cumbria. 

A strange message is left at each scene.

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...

What did I think about it..

It's not your average Christmas in Cumbria as random body parts seem to be turning up in the most bizarre places and other than leaving only a strange sort of calling card at the scene there are no other clues as to the identity of the killer. From the very start of The Curator I was absolutely gripped by another exciting glimpse into the world of murky crime, and as National Crime Agency investigator's Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are about to discover, crime doesn't get much murkier than what's happening in their current investigation.

As we have come to expect from this author, the story moves along at an absolutely cracking pace and both Poe and Tilly find that they are constantly thwarted by a killer who seems to be able to keep one step ahead of them at every twist and turn. There's so much going on that I can't even begin to recount the story, so I am not going to disturb any of the crime scene by telling you details of the plot other than to say be prepared to do absolutely nothing until the whole of this incredibly complex investigation has come to its VERY dramatic conclusion. 

With each successive story this talented crime writer just goes from from absolute strength to strength, and just when you think Cumbrian crime can't get any darker, along comes another story which blows everything out of the water. Taut, tight and so very, very dark, The Curator had me, quite literally, on the edge of my seat, and even though I was reading this book on one of the hottest days of the year, in my mind, I was chilled to the bone in icy, cold Cumbria with Poe and Tilly as they search and search for a ruthless killer.

If you enjoy gritty crime novels, and be warned, these aren't stories for the faint hearted, and if you haven't read any of the Washington Poe series of novels before, then I urge you to start at the very beginning to fully appreciate this series from the start. You won't be disappointed.

About the Author

A brand-new voice in British crime fiction, M. W. Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle. He joined the army at sixteen, leaving a decade later to complete a social work degree and spent seventeen years as a probation officer in Cumbria, rising to the rank of assistant chief officer. The first in the Washington Poe series, The Puppet Show, won the 2019 CWA Gold Dagger, has sold in numerous foreign territories and has been optioned for TV by Studio Lambert. M. W. Craven has been shortlisted for the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award and an Amazon Reader Award. He is also the author of the Avison Fluke novels, Born in a Burial Ground (shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger) and Body Breaker. The second in the Washington Poe series, Black Summer was published in June 2019. 

Twitter @MWCravenUK #TheCurator #TeamPoe #TeamTilly

@TheCrimeVault

Amazon UK

The Curator is out now and available to buy at all good book outlets.

Review ~ Body Breaker by M W Craven

Constable
Little Brown
9 January 2020

Avison Fluke #2

My thanks to the author and publisher for my copy of this book

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…

What did I think about it..

When a severed hand is found on the third green of Cockermouth Golf Club it leads DI Avison Fluke and the Force Major Incident Team into a very dark and dangerous investigation which has its roots in Cumbria but which takes Fluke into some of the darker areas of his past. There's a discussion amongst the FMIT in Body Breaker about who it was who said that 'golf is a good walk spoiled' and regardless of who was responsible for the phrase there's no doubt that the round of golf at the start of this novel is one that the golfers, and detectives, won't forget in a hurry.

By any stretch of the imagination Body Breaker is a powerful thriller. It's filled with all the twists and turns we have come to expect from this talented writer, with a cast of returning characters who literally leap fully formed from the page. The plot, as ever, moves along at a cracking pace,  and as we learned from the first book in the series, Fluke is a detective who does things entirely his own way which sometimes means acting in an entirely unorthodox manner in order to get results, but hey, this is fiction after all, and a flawed and unconventional lead detective adds a fascinating dimension to another gritty murder investigation, which has more than hint towards terrorist activity.

This second book in the series is no less convoluted than the first, and whilst it can be read as a stand alone story, there are some finer points of character progression which would be entirely lost without prior knowledge, so my recommendation is that you should start with Born in a Burial Gown and enjoy this excellent series from the start.


Originally published in 2015, the first two novels in the Fluke series are being reissued on the 9th January.

About the Author

M. W. Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle, running away to join the army at the tender age of sixteen. He spent the next ten years travelling the world having fun, leaving in 1995 to complete a degree in social work with specialisms in criminology and substance misuse. Thirty-one years after leaving Cumbria, he returned 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 . . .

Website

Twitter @MWCravenUK 

@TheCrimeVault

Amazon UK

Review ~ Born in a Burial Gown by M W Craven

Constable
Little Brown
9 January 2020

Avison Fluke #1

My thanks to the author and publisher for my copy of this book

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…

What did I think about it..

Whenever I visit the English Lake District I am in awe of its unspoiled beauty, the majesty of its hills and mountains and the splendid isolation of its hidden crags. Born in a Burial Gown has its focus in Cumbria, as this is the place that Detective Avison Fluke calls home, however, we are about to discover that there are darker elements at play in this beautiful part of the country.

Born in a Burial Gown is the first in the Fluke series, so there's a certain amount of getting to know the main characters. Detective Inspector Avison Fluke, the lead detective of the Force Major Incident Team, is a fascinating character, he's stubborn, unpredictable and a bit of a maverick and I warmed to him immediately. Fluke is everything you want in a lead detective but from the outset we realise that all is not well in his world, however, his work ethic exceeds his own personal cost and from the start we understand that Fluke is a detective who isn't in the business of messing around when there's a murder investigation to get sorted.

The mystery at the heart of the novel is complex and convoluted, both gritty and dark in equal measure with a realistic sense of the unpredictability of a police investigative team working together. The characters who make up the FMIT are an odd bunch and at first glance seem like a team of misfits and yet, they all have their own individual strengths, and none more so than Fluke's oppo, DS Matt Towler, who has a similar military background to Fluke and a shared past which is alluded to as the story progresses.

I'm deliberately not sharing any spoilers about Born in a Burial Gown except to say that it is a really cleverly constructed murder/mystery and a cracking good introduction to what promises to be an addictive crime series.

Originally published in 2015, the first two novels in the Fluke series are being reissued on the 9th January.

About the Author

M. W. Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle, running away to join the army at the tender age of sixteen. He spent the next ten years travelling the world having fun, leaving in 1995 to complete a degree in social work with specialisms in criminology and substance misuse. Thirty-one years after leaving Cumbria, he returned 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 . . .

Website

Twitter @MWCravenUK 

@TheCrimeVault

Amazon UK

Summer Read 2017 ~ Felicity at the Cross Hotel by Helena Fairfax

Helena Fairfax
July 2017

What's it all about...

A quaint hotel in a romantic location. The Lake District is the perfect getaway. Or is it?

Felicity Everdene needs a break from the family business. Driving through the Lake District to the Cross Hotel, past the shining lake and the mountains, everything seems perfect. But Felicity soon discovers all is not well at the Cross Hotel …

Patrick Cross left the village of Emmside years ago never intending to return, but his father has left him the family’s hotel in his will, and now he's forced to come back. With a missing barmaid, a grumpy chef, and the hotel losing money, the arrival of Felicity Everdene from the notorious Everdene family only adds to Patrick’s troubles.

With so much to overcome, can Felicity and Patrick bring happiness to the Cross Hotel … and find happiness for themselves.

What did I think about it ..

When Felicity Everdene arrives at the Cross Hotel in the Lake District she is viewed with suspicion because she is part of the hugely successful Everdene hotel chain who are known for their ruthless takeovers of struggling hotels. That the Cross Hotel is struggling is evident in its shabby decor and in its dejected air of just about managing to survive in a competitive business world.

Felicity really isn't there to take over the hotel for her family but trying to convince the hotel employees of this proves to be difficult and yet, Felicity's warm nature and expertise soon starts to win over people's affections. However, the hardest person to convince of her honourable intentions is Patrick Cross who has had to leave his successful business in the Caribbean in order to come home to run the hotel after the death of his father.

What then follows is a delightful tale of how Felicity and Patrick's rocky relationship develops and of how the gradual building of trust between them helps to set the hotel on a very different path.

I really enjoyed travelling to the Lake District with Felicity as she discovered for herself the unique charm of this very special place. The author has captured the place and its people so well that it is a joy to see the area come alive so vibrantly. With clever description we can see how the light glimmers on the waters of the lake and how the constantly changing weather patterns allow the stunning landscape to become an important part of the novel. The author has captured the very essence of the Lake District's special characteristics and has interwoven a delightful story of love and loss and of the importance of family commitments.

Felicity at the Cross Hotel is the perfect antidote to a rainy summer as the story fills you with sunshine. From the quirkiness of Felicity's character, through to Patrick's grumpiness, the shabby charm of the Cross Hotel, the eccentricities of the hotel employees, all combine to make a delightful summer read. A story which is just perfect for an afternoon in the garden, or better still somewhere in the English Lake District, with a view of a lake shimmering before you, regardless of the weather.

About the author

Helena Fairfax writes engaging contemporary romances with sympathetic heroines and heroes she's secretly in love with. Her novels have been shortlisted for several awards, including the Exeter Novel Prize, the Global eBook Awards, and the I Heart Indie Awards. Her first novel was a contender for the UK's Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme Award.

Helena is a British author who was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She's grown used to the cold now, and these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in the north of England, right next door to the windswept Yorkshire moors. She walks this romantic landscape every day with her rescue dog, finding it the perfect place to dream up her heroes and her happy endings.

Follow on Twitter @helenafairfax

Find on Facebook

Website

Amazon UK

My thanks to the author for sharing her story with me 

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Close To Home ...Paula Daly

As a book reviewer I have made contact with authors from all across the globe and feel immensely privileged to be able to share some amazing work. However, there is always something rather special when a book comes to my attention which has been written by an author in my part of the North of England. So with this in mind I have great pleasure in featuring some of those authors who are literally close to my home. Over the next few Saturdays, and hopefully beyond, I will be sharing the work of a very talented bunch of Northern authors and discovering just what being a Northerner means to them both in terms of inspiration and also in their writing.

Please welcome North West Writer

Paula Daly

Tell us a little about yourself and what got you started as an author?

Before becoming an author I was a self-employed physiotherapist, but I was miserable at work and my friend suggested I should try writing something. She thought I’d be good at it. She told me to read Stephen King’s book On Writing, which I did, and unexpectedly I found once I started to write I couldn’t stop. 

Your books are based in North West England – how do the people and its landscape shape your stories?

My first four books are set in the Lake District. I write psychological thrillers and the sometimes bleak but beautiful landscape of the Lakes really lends itself to this kind of fiction. As for the characters, elements of the people I know, people I see everyday, creep into each character. This is what makes them real to me and hopefully to the reader too. 

In your research for your books, do you visit any of the places you write about and which have made a lasting impression?

I know the places I write about. I wouldn’t write about an area I wasn’t familiar with because I couldn’t make it come to life. But I’m always on the lookout for unusual settings. Something that can make an ordinary scene more interesting. In The Mistake I Made I had a lot of fun writing scenes that took place on the Windermere car ferry. Hopefully the reader enjoyed the fact that they’d not read something like it before. 

Corgi
2016

As a writer based in the North West, does this present any problems in terms of marketing and promoting your books and if so, how do you overcome them?

I’m very lucky to be with Penguin Random House, because a large commercial publisher like this will cover the costs of sending an author out to promote their books. 

If you were pitching the North West as an ideal place to live, work and write – how would you sell it and what makes it so special?

Hmm, if I was to pitch the North West as an ideal place to live everyone would want to come and live here. So here’s my pitch: the weather’s terrible and the people are very unfriendly, nobody smiles and it’s an awful place for a writer to live and work. Totally uninspiring.

Writing is a solitary business - how do you interact with other authors?

I don’t feel a great need to interact with other writers so much as to connect with other people in general. So I get out the house, walk the dog, chat to friends etc. I just do what any normal person does to connect to the wider world. 

How supportive are local communities to your writing, and are there ever any opportunities for book shops, local reading groups, or libraries to be involved in promoting your work?

Cumbria libraries have been very supportive of my work and have arranged numerous events at which I’ve spoken about books and writing and chatted to readers. We don’t have many independent bookshops left but Bookends in Keswick and Carlisle go out of their way to promote my books and I’m very grateful to them. 

And finally, if someone is new to your work, which book do you think they should start with?

Start with whichever piques their interest. The books follow a loose kind of order, so ideally, start with Just What Kind of Mother Are You? But really, it doesn’t matter. They can be read in any order. 

Corgi
2014

Paula's latest novel The Trophy Child  is out in hardcover on the 26th January

Bantam Press
26 January 2017

A doting mother or a pushy parent?

Karen Bloom expects perfection. Her son, Ewan, has been something of a disappointment and she won’t be making the same mistake again with her beloved, talented child, Bronte.

Bronte’s every waking hour will be spent at music lessons and dance classes, doing extra schoolwork and whatever it takes to excel.

But as Karen pushes Bronte to the brink, the rest of the family crumbles. Karen’s husband, Noel, is losing himself in work, and his teenage daughter from his first marriage, Verity, is becoming ever more volatile. The family is dangerously near breaking point.

Karen would know when to stop . . . wouldn’t she?

You can pre-order The Trophy Child here

You can find out more about Paula by visiting her Facebook page by clicking here  

Huge thanks to Paula for sharing her books and her love of the North West with us today.

Coming next week : Cath Staincliffe

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