Blog Tour: Book Review of Dead Ground by M.W.Craven

Delighted to have the chance to review Dead Ground because I love Poe and Tilly so much. 

Dead Ground Blurb

Available here

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

Aw, well – what can I say? – I was in Tilly and Poe heaven with Dead Ground and am already looking forward to the next. One of the things that amazes me about this series is the diversity of subject matter and storylines. You are always guaranteed to learn about something you’ve never before encountered and in Dead Ground we traverse the world to Afghanistan where we learn more about some of the things our troops faced and… it’s all woven into a perfectly satisfying crime narrative that had me guessing till nearly the end.

Then, there’s that beaut of a final twist … but enough about that – you’ll have to read it to find out about it, but believe me I didn’t see that one coming – despite the clues that Craven so meticulously dropped along the way.  

The Tillyisms are brilliant - from ‘Spastic colons’ to ‘Water Sports’ they had me chortling and snorting like a farting pig. The interactions between the characters are believable and compelling, as are the various obstacles Poe and Tilly face during the investigation.

Dead Ground is one of those satisfying reads that you can’t put down, but that you just don’t want to end either – a very satisfying position to be in as a reader.

In summary, Dead Ground is an addictive read with a lot of substance, balanced by the levity of the Poe and Tilly interactions. Pure Gold!