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Dead Ground

The Sunday Times bestselling thriller

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Dead Ground

By: M. W. Craven
Narrated by: John Banks
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About this listen

Winner of the prestigious CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER AWARD 2022

Longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year 2022

'Heart-pounding, hilarious, sharp and shocking, Dead Ground is further proof that M.W. Craven never disappoints. Miss this series at your peril.' Chris Whitaker

'Dark and entertaining, this is top rank crime fiction.' Vaseem Khan, Author of the Malabar House series and the Baby Ganesh Agency series

'M. W. Craven is one of the best crime writers working today. Dead Ground is a cracking puzzle, beautifully written, with characters you'll be behind every step of the way. It's his best yet.' Stuart Turton

'Fantastic' Martina Cole

'Dark, sharp and compelling' Peter James

'You can taste the authenticity' Daily Mail

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 . . .


Praise for Dead Ground:

'Unmissable' Sunday Express

'I've been following M.W. Craven's Poe/Tilly series from the very beginning, and it just gets better and better. Dead Ground is a fast-paced crime novel with as many twists and turns as a country lane. I can't wait for the next one.' Peter Robinson

'Dead Ground is both entertaining and engaging with great characters and storyline. I loved this first dip into the world of Tilly and Poe!' BA Paris

Praise for M W Craven:

'A brutal and thrilling page turner' Natasha Harding, The Sun

'A thrilling curtain raiser for what looks set to be a great new series' Mick Herron

'One of the most engaging teams in crime fiction' Daily Mail

'A powerful thriller from an explosive new talent. Tightly plotted, and not for the faint hearted!'
David Mark

'A gripping start to a much anticipated new series' Vaseem Khan

'Satisfyingly twisty and clever and the flashes of humour work well to offer the reader respite from the thrill of the read.' Michael J. Malone

'Nothing you've ever read will prepare you for the utterly unique Washington Poe' Keith Nixon

'Beware if you pick up a book by M.W. Craven. Your life will no longer belong to you. He will hold you spellbound.' Linda's Book Bag

'Craven's understanding of the criminal world is obvious in this cracking read' Woman's Weekly

'Breath-taking' Random Things Through My Letterbox

'5 Stars... another fantastic literary experience and a welcome addition to the already brilliant Poe and Tilly series' Female First

'An explosive plot, slippery twists and my fave new crime-busting duo...Fantastic!' Peterborough Telegraph ©2021 M. W. Craven
Crime Crime Thrillers Modern Detectives Mystery Police Procedural Thriller Thriller & Suspense Fiction Murder Law Suspense
All stars
Most relevant
Starts off as pretty dry with a fairly complex storyline weaving it’s way through the narrative with lots of twists and turns. Basically the author sets up quite a weighty scenario and then, through his wonderful protagonists, resolves everything beautifully in surprising ways…. Great listen!

Very satisfying tale

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This was very enjoyable and kept me intrigued right up to the last page!!
Very well researched and I love Poe’s character as well as his offsider geek.

Definitely highly recommended reading/listening!

Enjoy!
Nicola South Australia

Excellent read, great narration!

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I can’t say how much I am enjoying this series… my only fear is that, I am about to start the latest/most recent book to date, and will have to wait until the next one is published 😱

Poe and Tilly are mismatches made for each other. Teamed up with ‘DI Stephanie Flynn’ they are fantastic reading. I strongly recommend this series ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dead great!

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First listen I’ve had from this author and wish I hadn’t been so late coming to the party. Incredible and super clever plot. Off to order some more of this. 👏👏👏

Brilliant, clever and entertaining

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I'm editing this review having just listened to the superb first book in the series -- The Puppet Show.
Dead Ground was the first one of the series i discovered and whilst i enjoyed it, i loved Puppet Show, Curator and Botanist even more.
Coming in cold, i wasn't sure if Tilly was overly stereotyped as the autistic genius with a little girl voice. But book 1 establishes her relationship with Poe really well, so I'm deleting that reservation and recommending listening to the books in order.

Loved the characters and the story.
Did wonder about the MI5 agent who doesn't know what luminol is, though (really?)

One of the best crime series out there

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