Mike MW Craven Books in Order

If you want to meet Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw: The Puppet Show → Black Summer → The Curator → Dead Ground → The Botanist
If you enjoy gritty British police procedurals: Born in a Burial Gown → Assume Nothing, Believe Nobody, Challenge Everything → Body Breaker
If you prefer high-octane American thrillers: Fearless
If you want a quick sense of his range: The Puppet Show → Born in a Burial Gown → Fearless

Mike MW Craven writes tough, twisty crime fiction that moves between the wild fells of northern England and the back roads of the United States. He is best known for the Washington Poe novels and the DI Avison Fluke and Ben Koenig series.

Before fiction took over his life, Craven spent many years working in probation services, dealing daily with people who had committed serious crimes. That experience left him with a clear-eyed view of offenders, victims and the grey areas in between, and you can feel it on the page.

He began writing in the gaps around a demanding job, early in the morning and late at night. Those stolen hours eventually turned into his first DI Avison Fluke novel, a dark police procedural that let him explore the pressures of major investigations and the toll they take on detectives.

In the Fluke books, starting with Born in a Burial Gown, Craven follows a team of investigators in Cumbria as they tackle grim murders that rarely stay simple. Fluke himself is stubborn and wry, carrying his own health problems while he fights to keep his squad together. Readers often talk about how grounded these stories feel, from the rain-soaked settings to the sense that justice never comes without a cost.

Many readers first met Craven through The Puppet Show, the opening Washington Poe novel. Poe is a blunt, rule-bending investigator who would happily work alone, but the series really comes alive in his partnership with Tilly Bradshaw, a brilliant and socially awkward analyst. Across books like Black Summer, The Curator and The Botanist, the pair tackle elaborate crimes that mix serial murder, puzzles and political secrets, all while trading sharp, very human banter.

With Fearless, Craven shifted gears into a more overtly action driven thriller. Ben Koenig is a former lawman with a rare condition that means he does not feel fear, a gift and a curse that pulls him into manhunts and conspiracies across the United States. The books keep the intricate plotting and dark humour of the British series, but add car chases, shootouts and a constant sense of movement.

Across all of his work, certain themes repeat. Craven writes about outsiders who bend rules for what they believe is a greater good, and about found families that form inside messy investigation teams. He is drawn to wild, marginal places, from isolated farmhouses to remote moorland, and he often lets the landscape shape the mood of the case.

He also pays close attention to procedure and the small details of real investigations. That focus, along with tight pacing and a dry streak of humour, has brought him a loyal readership and recognition from crime-writing bodies. His books regularly appear on award lists and in festival lineups, and he spends a good chunk of the year talking with readers at events.

These days, Craven writes full time and keeps balancing new entries for his ongoing series with fresh ideas. Whether you start with Poe, Fluke or Koenig, you will find a writer who knows how to build a case, twist it at the right moment and still leave room for damaged, memorable characters.