The first gritty thriller in the Avison Fluke series by M. W. Craven, the acclaimed author of The Puppet Show . Detective Inspector Avison Fluke is a man on the edge. He has committed a crime to get back to work, concealed a debilitating illness and is about to be made homeless. Just as he thinks things can't get any worse, the body of a young woman is found buried on a Cumbrian building site. Shot once in the back of the head, it is a cold, calculated execution. When the post-mortem reveals she has gone to significant expense in disguising her appearance, Fluke knows this is no ordinary murder. With the help of a psychotic ex-Para, a gangland leader and a woman more interested in maggots than people, Fluke must find out who she was and why she was murdered before he can even think about finding her killer... Praise for M. W. Craven: 'Dark, sharp and compelling' PETER JAMES 'Fantastic' MARTINA COLE 'Britain's answer to Harry Bosch' MATT HILTON 'Thrilling' MICK HERRON 'Brilliantly inventive' WILLIAM SHAW 'A powerful thriller from an explosive new talent' DAVID MARK

Dark, thrilling and unputdownable with sharply drawn characters that stride off the page

Vorwort
The first dark and gripping Avison Fluke thriller by M. W. Craven, the acclaimed author of The Puppet Show and Black Summer.

Autorentext

Multi-award-winning author M.W. Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle. He joined the army at sixteen, leaving ten years later to complete a social work degree. Seventeen years after taking up a probation officer role in Cumbria, at the rank of assistant chief officer, he became a full-time author. He is an instant Sunday Times bestseller and, for his Cumbria-set Washington Poe series, a recipient of the 2019 Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger, the 2022 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, the 2023 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and the 2025 Fingerprint Crime Book of the Year. The series has now been translated into thirty languages and sold over one million copies.

Instagram: @m.w.craven
Twitter :@mwcravenuk
Facebook: MikeCravenAuthor

Klappentext

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Detective Inspector Avison Fluke is a man on the edge. He has committed a crime to get back to work, concealed an illness, and is about to be made homeless. Just as he thinks things can't get any worse, the body of a young woman is found buried on a Cumbrian building site.

Shot once through the back of the head, it is a cold, calculated murder. Wehn the post-mortem reveals she had gone to significant expense in disguising her appearance, Fluke knows this is no ordinary murder.

With the help of a psychotic ex-Para, a gangland leader and a woman more interested in maggots than people, Fluke must find out who she was and why she was murdered before he can even think of finding her killer. And as the body count rises, Fluke realises someone, somewhere has a plan - and if he can't figure out what's happening, he may well be the next victim.

Praise for M W Craven:**

'Thrilling' Mick Herron

'Fantastic' Martina Cole

'Dark, sharp and compelling' Peter James

'Brilliantly inventive' William Shaw