LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Sending a clarion call out into the world, this crime novel is an absolute humdinger of a read as it throws down a challenge to the reader. Washington Poe needs to tell his story about a murder and an investigation, he needs to explain and reflect, he needs to be heard. This, this is the series I lie in wait for, the stories which began with The Puppet Show featuring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw, have me stalking the book news. Award-winning M.W. Craven is a master at his craft, oh-so eloquent, biting and provocative, yet fully capable of piercing empathy too. His trademark humour hits the spot, yes it’s dark and fierce, but this is a storyteller who knows exactly when a blurt of laughter is needed. I know I’ve said this before but I absolutely adore the friendship between Poe and Tilly, just as much as I love and have formed a fulled-fledged relationship with each of them. They are fabulous characters individually, together they are quite simply dynamite. When I opened The Mercy Chair I was greeted by something slightly different yet also wonderfully familiar. As I read I found my thoughts forming on several levels, working together yet darting off to wonder and speculate. This is clever writing, and I was fully on board for the ride. By the time I finished I had a book hangover, and felt drained and yet exhilarated. I had no option other than to send this novel to join our LoveReading Star Books and select it as a Liz Pick of the Month. The Mercy Chair takes no prisoners as it storms thoughts with a fierce and provocative energy. Highly recommended.
Liz Robinson
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About
The Mercy Chair Synopsis
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin . . .
Washington Poe has a story to tell.
And he needs you to listen.
You'll hear how it started with the robber birds. Crows. Dozens of them. Enough for a murder . . .
He'll tell you about a man who was tied to a tree and stoned to death, a man who had tattooed himself with a code so obscure, even the gifted analyst Tilly Bradshaw struggled to break it. He'll tell you how the man's murder was connected to a tragedy that happened fifteen years earlier when a young girl massacred her entire family.
And finally, he'll tell you about the mercy chair. And why people would rather kill themselves than talk about it . . .
Poe hopes you've been paying attention. Because in this story, nothing is as it seems . . .
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780349135564 |
| Publication date: |
6th June 2024 |
| Author: |
M. W. Craven |
| Publisher: |
Constable an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
420 pages |
| Series: |
Washington Poe Series |
| Primary Genre |
Crime and Mystery
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Press Reviews
M. W. Craven Press Reviews
"Washington Poe is a brilliant creation, from one of the finest and most inventive crime writers of today' Peter James
'Mesmerising, macabre and magnificent. The Mercy Chair is truly terrifying, laugh-out-loud funny, and impossibly clever. Poe and Tilly are unstoppable' Chris Whitaker
Author
About M. W. Craven
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 and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2023. The series has now been translated into twenty-seven languages
More About M. W. Craven
