It’s Christmas and a serial killer is leaving displayed body parts all over Cumbria. A strange message is left at each scene: #BSC6. 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…
Oh, how I’ve been looking forward to this. I read the first book, The Puppet Show on holiday last summer as loads of my bookblogger friends quite rightly said it was fantastic. That was followed by Black Summer later in the year, where Poe and Tilly went up against some very devious and dangerous shenanigans. I loved book #2 even more than the first.
And here we are with book 3, The Curator. Could M.W. Craven pull off that hat-trick?
Yes, yes he can. Look, if you’ve read the first two books you’ll need no incentive from me to go and pick up this latest instalment. Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are back on the case, and what a case is is. Someone is leaving severed digits as a trail of clues, and it’s up to our heroes to work out what’s up.
Look, I could happily read a story about Poe and Tilly taking a day off to go to the beach. Craven clearly loves these characters (as do we) and a large proportion of the fun is watching them bounce off each other as they work towards solving whatever crime they happen to be investigating.
But Craven is also a deft hand at a devious plot, with plenty of twists and turns along the way, red herrings strewn across our path like some kind of biblical plague. You’ll think you’ve got it sussed, only for something to pop up, whallop you across the chops with a large fish (like that Monty Python sketch) and run off, leaving you confused but still determined to work out what’s going on.
In short, I loved it. Go buy it and enjoy. If you’ve not met Poe and Tilly before, then get yourself to a bookshop (supporting the independents, obviously) and settle down for a treat.
Hugely enjoyable, and highly recommended.
The Curator by M.W. Craven is published by Little, Brown Book Group on 4th June 2020.
Many thanks to Beth Wright for inviting me to take part in the blog tour, and for the advance copy to review via NetGalley.
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