Dead Ground: The New Poe and Bradshaw Thriller by M.W. Craven

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 . . .

Review
Forget Batman and Robin, Holmes and Watson or Turner and Hooch, the best crime fighting duo of Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are back!! Dead Ground is the fourth book in the Poe and Bradshaw crime series, which just gets better with every book. With their boss, DI Stephanie Flynn still on leave, Poe and Bradshaw find their services required by MI5 to help solve the murder of a man found beaten to death in a brothel. What seems like an easy case to start with is complicated by the fact the victim was a helicopter pilot, employed to fly in foreign dignitaries for a Trade Summit in Cumbria, and his murder could put the summit in jeopardy. As Poe and Bradshaw, with MI5 and FBI, investigate the murder, there are more questions than answers and a ceramic rat taken from the crime scene leads them back to a failed bank robbery from three years before. Full of tension, and a complex plot this is a fast paced thriller.

We all have those books that we just read without checking the blurb on the back and M.W.Craven’s Poe and Bradshaw series are one of those books for me. As well as having excellent plot lines, the draw of these books is the amazing relationship between Poe and Bradshaw. Poe is a hardened policeman, dogged in his approach, never worrying about who he angers, even if it is MI5, but his unique approach gets the job done. Tilly Bradshaw is a young, computer genius, who can write programmes and uses algorithms to help solve the crimes. She has very few social skills which adds to her charm, she always speaks plainly adding plenty of humour. Over the books I have loved the development of their friendship, they are very different but seems to compliment each other. Poe is very protective over Tilly especially when others poke fun at her lack of social skills or unique dress sense, and Tilly in return keeps him grounded and out of trouble, and is protective of him in her own way. These characters are so well drawn, with their quirky personalities, unique friendship and complex characteristics utterly compelling; once you meet Poe and Bradshaw they will become your favourite crime fighting pairing.

It’s not just M.W.Craven’s brilliant characters that make these books such a fabulous read, but also his brilliant writing and plot lines. I have no idea where he gets his ideas from, the plot is complex, and makes Dead Ground utterly compelling. What starts as a simple murder soon begins to go in directions I never saw coming, with plenty of twists and turns that threw me off the sent. The addition of MI5 and the FBI add to the tension of this case, both in terms of the investigation and for Poe, who isn’t a very good team player. I couldn’t help but smile as Poe and Tilly ran rings around MI5, especially agent Hannah Finch who was new to the job and had a touch of arrogance about her. It is this wit mixed in with the drama that I love in M.W.Craven’s writing, one minute to are laughing and the next you are on the edge of your seat in suspense.

I thing you can probably guess that I adored Dead Ground, it is the perfect thriller series in my opinion. Believe me, if you pick up one of these books you won’t be able to put it down, and you will definitely fall in love with Poe and Tilly. Brilliantly crafted plot lines, amazing characters, and edge of your seat tension make for a perfct read, and I can’t wait for the next book!! I have reviewed M.W.Craven’s previous books in the Poe and Bradshaw series and you can read my no spoiler reviews hereThe Puppet Show by M.W.Craven Black Summer by M.W Craven (Washington Poe Book 2) The Curator (Washington Poe) by M.W. Craven

I would like to thank Beth Wright from Little Brown Book Group for my copy of this book to read in return for my honest review.