The Curator by M. W. Craven

It’s Christmas and a serial killer is leaving displayed body parts all over Cumbria. A strange message is left at each scene: #BSC6

Called in to investigate, the National Crime Agency’s Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are faced with a case that makes no sense. Why were some victims anaesthetized, while others died in appalling agony? Why is their only suspect denying what they can irrefutably prove but admitting to things they weren’t even aware of? And why did the victims all take the same two weeks off work three years earlier?

And when a disgraced FBI agent gets in touch things take an even darker turn. Because she doesn’t think Poe is dealing with a serial killer at all; she thinks he’s dealing with someone far, far worse – a man who calls himself the Curator.

And nothing will ever be the same again…

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I don’t often read the books in a series back-to-back, or even that close to each other, although that’s often driven by publication dates.  It’s also at least partly because it makes the books that much harder for me to review.  But this is the situation I now find myself in and, because I can’t just say “this is a brilliant series and you should all be reading it”, here’s a relatively brief review of The Curator, book three in M. W. Craven’s absolutely superb Washington Poe series.

Set some months after the events of Black Summer, Poe and Tilly are asked to support the Cumbrian Constabulary when three pairs of severed fingers – from three separate victims – are discovered in public places around Christmas with the cryptic code #BSC6 nearby.  It’s a real headscratcher of an opening – who are the victims, who left the fingers without being noticed, and what does the code mean?  As soon as I started reading, I knew that I was in for a treat, and settled in to let Craven take me on a fast-paced journey as Poe, Tilly, and a supporting cast seek answers from the scraps of clue available to them.  As with the previous novels, the pace and tension are kept high throughout, and the plotting is superb.

As ever, Poe and Tilly make a formidable team, and I loved seeing them work together to solve the crime, particularly as they bring such different things to the party.  Poe is a fairly traditional detective, although he’s capable of looking at things in different ways to his colleagues.  He follows the clues, isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, and takes a no-nonsense approach to those who cross his path.  He’s also fiercely protective of the few individuals that he considers his friends, and none more so than Tilly.  She looks at their investigation from a data-driven perspective – be that statistical modelling, or through assessing the contents of a computer, whether it’s one she’s supposed to have access to or not.  She is, quite frankly, absolutely brilliant, and such a breath of fresh air in this genre.

Three books into a series that currently stands at six titles (with a seventh on the way next year), it’s perhaps a little early for me to make this comment, but I’ve really enjoyed how different each one is so far – to each other but also to other novels in the genre.  I think that the closet comparison I have is Jeffery Deaver’s (also excellent) Lincoln Rhyme series, although I find the Washington Poe series a little darker and grittier than those novels.  Craven’s cases are absolutely brilliant, complex and well-plotted, and I can’t wait to see where he takes me next.  Highly recommended if you don’t mind the darker side of detective fiction – this is a brilliant series and you should all be reading it 😉

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The Washington Poe series:

1. The Puppet Show
2. Black Summer
3. The Curator
4. Dead Ground
5. The Botanist
6. The Mercy Chair