My favourite Poe book is the 4 th, Dead Ground. My favourite book of all time is Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. I have a warped mind. When my wife finished The Curator, she looked at me and said, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ Saying that, I was a probation officer for 16 years and the reason for the crimes have to make sense to me. The bad guys motivation has to seem real, albeit nasty. That’s my starting point. Things tend to escalate from there . . . Then, a disgraced FBI agent reaches out with a theory that sends the case in an even darker direction. Could they be dealing with someone even worse than your garden variety serial killer? The Botanist is an engrossing read, and a worthy winner of the 2023 British Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. It’s the first book by CWA Gold Dagger Award-winning author M.W. Craven that I’ve read, but won’t be the last. I really enjoy M W Craven's Washington Poe series with its quirky characters, well-developed and quite clever plots, and quality but not ¨look how smart I am¨ writing. I suspect that I would enjoy having a beer with Craven and not talking about anything special.

How could Poe have gotten it so wrong? Did he put away an innocent man – and worse yet, did his actions lead to years of misery for the young woman? Before he can get to the bottom of it, she goes missing again. Personal friend of the gritty detective Washington Poe is charged with murder. With all the evidence pointing to Estelle Doyle’s guilt, this amounts to the perfect set-up or the truth that Estelle did in fact murder her father. And finally there’s Detective Inspector Stephanie Flynn. Poe used to be her boss, she’s now his. She heads up the National Crime Agency’s Serious Crime Analysis Section – the unit charged with apprehending serial killers and solving apparently motiveless murders. It’s the country’s last line of defence and although Flynn knows managing Poe and Tilly will be like herding cats, she also knows she’s the only one who can do it . . . Meanwhile a deadly serial poisoner has started targeting vile high profile celebrities with ‘warning’ poems and pressed flowers. The Botanist is born and it seems like he can get to his victims without even entering the room they are in…

JD Kirk's DCI Jack Logan Series

A serial killer is burning people alive in the Lake District’s prehistoric stone circles. He leaves no clues and the police are helpless. A serial killer who is as elusive as he is famous, daring in his actions as he is methodical in his planning. A man with a grudge but we don’t know how and why he chooses his victims; we just know he is able to penetrate the most secure and protected of places and people. As if that's not enough pressure on its own, there's also a bit of evidence that suggests Poe himself might be one of the next targets. Meet Detective Sergeant Washington Poe. Dark, cynical, ruthless; he lives a monastic existence in a shepherd’s croft on the most desolate moorland in Cumbria. Even his secrets have secrets. He has a past he keeps there and another past he doesn’t yet know about . . . Plot -- 4 stars -- lots of unexpected twists and turns, but the criminal mind behind the evil doings is a bit too perfect to be true; it's all twisted a bit too well to have realistic feel to it.

The author is married to his wife, Joanne. The two live together in Carlisle. Michael enjoys going out with his springer spaniel or hanging out in the pub talking about nonsense. When he isn’t busy with that, he can be discovered at punk shows or writing festivals all over the country. What makes this series worth of your attention is the group of people who surround Logan. He has a dedicated team full of interesting characters who all have their own challenges and issues – including his hilarious, incredibly foul-mouthed colleague Bob Hoon (who proves so fascinating that he gets his own spin-off series). Once again, the team's investigative abilities are tested, this time by a crazed killer who seems to be able to poison his victims, even though they are under protection. The killer, named 'The Botanist' by the media, gains somewhat of a public following as the victims he is targeting initially are people with extreme views or who have taken morally-reprehensible actions. A notorious misogynist, Kane Hunt, reveals a death threat, a pressed dried flower and appalling poetry, prior to dying on a live TV talk show, he is found to have been poisoned. This is followed by the shamelessly corrupt and disgraced Tory MP for Sheffield East receiving the same type of threat, and despite being closely guarded, found dead in his bath. A far right social media commentator, monetising racism, claiming truth and facts are 'fake news', is isolated and closely monitored in hospital by both medical staff and the police, yet once again The Botanist manages to slip through the net. DI Stephanie Flynn, Poe and even Tilly struggle to find any leads, how is the botanist getting away with his crimes, he has surfaced out of the blue, how did he get to be so good? Surely he must have committed similar crimes before? In a twisted narrative a popular killer develops a cult following and Doyle is charged with murder, the pressure is on to solve 2 impossible time sensitive cases. You get a serial killer of course and mystery - all the bells and whistles of a real mind bender. As I said you really don’t know how this is going to tie together… but it does beautifully. It is not handed to you on a silver platter either you are taken there on a journey. ☠️As hard as it is I can’t share anything more about their findings and the progress in the cases but Poe and Bradshaw are at their best, both in the use of their deduction skills and the socially awkward banter between the two of them. I think it was the funniest out of all the novels so far because there were quite a few awkward remarks and I was happy not be in Poe’s shoes :-). I had no idea about the motive for either of the cases but I did come up with an idea for Estelle’s case which turned out to be the right guess. I guess my Miss Marple / Hercule Poirot switch was on and some logical thinking certainly helped. Even then it was too hard to figure out the rest and I was on pins and needles to be enlightened by Poe. Writing Style ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I love Craven’s writing style and the way he builds a story. It works brilliantly for my personal tastes, and I often think you couldn’t write any of this differently. The balance of humour and sensitivity, with the fear and tension and a forensically plotted story, put Craven up there as a favourite crime / thriller writer.