Murder in Cumbria

The Curator by MW Craven is the third of a series of police procedural novels featuring DS Washington Poe who is stationed in Cumbria. He is usually assisted in his investigations by a crime analyst Tilly Bradshaw. Poe is a traditional police officer with a gift for making deductions and Tilly is young and very literal. I haven’t read any other books by this author and didn’t feel that I missed out because I hadn’t read the first two in the series.

Three pairs of severed fingers appear in strange and very unlikely places in Cumbria after the Christmas period, together with a seemingly meaningless message. It is determined that some of the fingers were severed when the owner of them was alive and some when they were dead. Tilly and Poe conduct their investigation, alongside that of the local police, and are managed by their very pregnant and grumpy boss.

This is reasonably graphic and full of red herrings and twists in the plot. Other body parts begin to turn up and the victims need to be identified as well as the murderer. The author builds up the tension and the pace of the book increases so that it is completely gripping to read – you want to know what happens next. After you are finished you might rethink the plot and discover that it is all highly improbable but you are totally drawn in while you are reading it. It’s all good entertainment.

What makes the book stand out from a raft of similar offerings is the writing and the characterisation. The people seem very real and the interaction between them is well done. The book is written with a dark humour but, although there are some grisly bits in the plot, it is easy to engage with the story. I enjoyed it a lot and will look for other offerings by this author.