Title: The Puppet Show
Author: M.W. Craven
Year: 2018
Genre: Crime/Thriller
A serial killer is burning people alive in the Lake District. When his name is found carved into the victims, disgraced detective Washington Poe is brought back from suspension to investigate. This book is the first entry in M.W. Craven’s Washington Poe series. It was selected to be my local bookshop’s monthly book club read and I didn’t have any prior knowledge of the book before reading it.
Plot
The novel begins with the gruesome killing of a man inside one of the stone circles of the Lake District. He has been tortured and is tied to a girder and is smeared with accelerant when his killer lights him on fire.
We soon learn this is the latest killing in a series of murders in Cumbria where older men around the age of 70 have been burnt to death. The spate of crimes has meant the National Crime Agency’s Serious Crime Analysis Section (SCAS) have become involved. There, gifted but socially awkward analyst Tilly Bradshaw is analyzing forensic images of one of the latest murders where she makes a discovery, the name Washington Poe was carved into the victim along with the number 5.
Poe is a disgraced detective who has been suspended after a mistake that occurred on his watch meant a suspect in a kidnapping was killed by the victim’s father. He is bought back from suspension and into a case which he doesn’t want any involvement in.
As Tilly and Washington investigate they discover a trail of clues that only he is meant to find but as the body count rises will the two of them reach the truth in time? What will Poe uncover that could upend everything he thought he knew about himself?
Thoughts
This book gripped me from the very first pages and I found it a very entertaining debut crime novel.
The novel pulls no punches with its opening chapter depicting a very violent death which makes the reader want to know more about why the victim is there and what has happened and we immediately get pulled into a dark mystery that remains satisfying through to the end.
I liked both of the two main characters: Poe comes across as a world-weary, embattled detective who is forced back into a world he isn’t entirely sure he wants to come back to as he is still dealing with the effects of his past mistake.
Comparing this to Tilly who is in some ways quite naive and innocent to the world, she is sheltered and socially awkward but in other ways is a brilliant mind.
Seeing their relationship grow from being awkward to close friends is really enjoyable for the reader, as well seeing Tilly growing more in confidence as the world is opened up to her through the investigating with Poe. Indeed I also liked how Tilly was actually involved in solving the murder, often detective novels that have a sidekick it can sometimes feel like the sidekick is just there for us to marvel at the main characters brilliance but here Tilly has her moments of brilliance too which makes the two characters feel like a partnership, working together to solve the murder.
I also really liked the Cumbrian setting and Craven describes the setting as almost a character too with the descriptions of sparse populations and the weather such as fog creating an eerie, isolating atmosphere that adds extra tension to the story.
If I did have to say one negative I did have an inkling how the story was going to end up fairly early on, although I won’t spoil it here which was a shame, however it was still enjoyable seeing how Washington and Tilly figure out what the serial killers motivations are. Also the motivations are such that the reader is left to question what they would do and just how evil the killer actually is.
There are also some other revelations at the end which seem to lead into the books sequel and indeed the book is a first in the series and the way it ended does make me want to pick up the next entries to see how Poe and Bradshaw’s relationship grows.
Overall this is a really enjoyable debut crime novel which I would recommend reading. If you have read this book then I would love to know your thoughts so leave me a comment down below.
