#BlogTour ‘Black Summer’ by M.W Craven

About the book…

After The Puppet Show, a new storm is coming . . .

Jared Keaton, chef to the stars. Charming. Charismatic. Psychopath . . . He’s currently serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his daughter, Elizabeth. Her body was never found and Keaton was convicted largely on the testimony of Detective Sergeant Washington Poe.

So when a young woman staggers into a remote police station with irrefutable evidence that she is Elizabeth Keaton, Poe finds himself on the wrong end of an investigation, one that could cost him much more than his career.

Helped by the only person he trusts, the brilliant but socially awkward Tilly Bradshaw, Poe races to answer the only question that matters: how can someone be both dead and alive at the same time?

And then Elizabeth goes missing again – and all paths of investigation lead back to Poe.

A welcome return and rapturous round of applause for the return of Washington Poe and Tilly!

The paperback release of ‘Black Summer‘ is being celebrated with an accompanying blogtour, so make sure that you check out the #BlackSummer hashtag and follow the amazing bloggers spreading their love about this fabulous series.

So, how do you follow a renegade detective teamed with a social outcast cyber expert, solving an apparently unsolvable case?

‘The Puppet Show‘ had Tilly and Poe matched against a fiendish killer, who is far too close to home, and who aims for beating every kind of odd to survive to the last page-it is a truly ingenious series opener.

In ‘Black Summer’, everything you think you is completely subverted, Poe is living a relatively quiet life and Tilly has her Scooby Gang of tech nerds doing their thing. Until a woman who should be dead walks into a police station and unravels one of Poe’s most water tight cases.

A race against time to clear Poe’s name ensues as everything he has worked for hangs in the balance, and in order to find the microscopic evidence which proves he was right, Poe needs Tilly. Before he can find it, however, the woman vanishes AGAIN.

And the most evil monster that Poe has met faces being let free…..

What did I love about ‘Black Summer’? Pretty much everything!

The forensic detail of the plot and the science involved shows a meticulous research methodology at work, and yet it is so clearly explained that even I could understand the pathway to the truth. It’s as if Poe and Tilly are the opposite sides of a brain-on one side, meat eating, down to earth instinctive cop Poe, versus Tilly, the social pariah, the awkward super intelligent outcast. And they are both so well drawn with subtle nuances that this is not just your average ‘odd couple’ team up, this is a relationship borne of mutual respect, with no underlying sexual tension, where two people can just be themselves and breathe.

This is beautifully illustrated in a scene where they visit the restaurant of the suspected killer, celebrity chef Jared Keaton, and experience a tasting menu. All of Poe and Tilly’s idiosyncracies are laid bare course after course and it’s just a beautifully visualised window into who they are.

Their relationship provides the counterpoint to a truly mindblowing plot, and with his second outing, Poe has firmly established himself, in this reader’s mind, as an equal to Charlie Parker, Harry Bosch and Dave Robicheaux for must read-ability (not sure if that is a word but it fits!)

How Mike creates such a vivid and detailed world whilst racing the plot through short, snappy chapters is an art that belongs to instinctual writers, even the background characters don’t serve as plot points, they exist in their own spheres of reality and leave an indelible impression-especially Jefferson Black, D.I Stephanie Flynn and of course, Bracken the spaniel.

In a few short lines he has totally described life with an English springer spaniel -completely insane with no food ever being safe, and an endless enthusiasm for life-and as a fellow spaniel owner I just loved how he nails a very specific breed of dog and made me roar with laughter at the same time as he is able to make you feel queasy with very specific murder scene details.

Starting with a Hannibal-esque scene which grabs you by the throat and races you through to an equisite teaser for Poe’s third outing, ‘The Curator’, this book is compelling, gripping, darkly humorous and pitch black. I love it and am hoping that this series runs as fast and earnestly as Bracken looking for a bog .

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 . . .

M. W. Craven is married and lives in Carlisle with his wife, Joanne. When he isn’t out with his springer spaniel, or talking nonsense in the pub, he can usually be found at punk gigs and writing festivals up and down the country.

Links-http://www.mwcraven.com/

Twitter @MWCravenUK @bethwright26 @TheCrimeVault