'This is high quality crime writing' A A Dhand

The second dark and twisted thriller in the Avison Fluke series by M. W. Craven, the acclaimed author of The Puppet Show.

Investigating how a severed hand ends up on the third green of a Cumbrian golf course is not how Detective Inspector Avison Fluke has planned to spend his Saturday. So when a secret protection unit from London swoops in quoting national security, he's secretly pleased.

But trouble is never far away. A young woman arrives at his lakeside cabin with a cryptic message: a code known to only a handful of people and it forces Fluke back into the investigation he's only just been barred from.

In a case that will change his life forever, Fluke immerses himself in a world of New Age travellers, corrupt cops and domestic extremists. Before long he's alienated his entire team, has been arrested under the Terrorism Act - and has made a pact with the Devil himself. But a voice has called out to him from beyond the grave. And Fluke is only getting started...

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

M. W. Craven was born in Carlisle but grew up in Newcastle, returning after 31 years to take up a probation officer position in Whitehaven, eventually working his way up to chief officer grade. Sixteen years later he took the plunge, accepted redundancy and became a full-time author. He now has entirely different motivations for trying to get inside the minds of criminals.

His first novel featuring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw, The Puppet Show, was published by Constable to huge acclaim, and it has since won the CWA Gold Dagger Award and been shortlisted for the Amazon Publishing Readers' Awards: Best Crime Novel, the Goldsboro Glass Bell Award and the Dead Good Reader Awards.

M. W. Craven lives in Carlisle with his wife, Joanne. When he isn't out with his springer spaniel, or talking nonsense in the pub, he can usually be found at punk gigs and writing festivals up and down the country.