Given that M.W. Craven is one of my favourite crime writers, when a surprise copy of his latest Washington Poe book, The Mercy Chair, arrived some months ago I could hardly contain my excitement. My enormous thanks go to Beth Wright at Little Brown for sending me a copy. It’s my absolute pleasure to share my review of The Mercy Chair today.

You’ll find my reviews of Mike’s other Washington Poe books here.

The Mercy Chair will be published by Little Brown imprint Century on 6th June 2024 and is available for purchase through the links here.

The Mercy Chair

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 . . .

My Review of The Mercy Chair

There’s a man in therapy.

I don’t think I’m going to be able to review The Mercy Chair. I’m sitting here stunned, trying to process what I’ve just read. The Mercy Chair is a magnificent crime thriller and really, all that there is to say is ‘Buy the book.’ Although The Mercy Chair can be read as a compelling stand alone with sufficient back story to Poe and Bradshaw uncovered by the presence of Linus, I’d urge readers to start from the beginning of the series, so that the emotional impact has all the more power. There are too many books published for me to bother with a series normally, but M.W. Craven’s Washington Poe books are ones I’d never miss. I have absurdly high expectations of the series and the multi-layered The Mercy Chair is, I think, the best yet. 

The plot is sensationally good. With trademark short, pacy chapters, a real sense of place, witty dialogue and numerous cliff hangers and twists, M.W. Craven builds and builds the tension so that the story is enthralling and mesmerising. This is one of those stories that genuinely removes all free will from the reader. Certainly it’s a police thriller, but it has the added mystery of what Linus is there for, as well as Poe’s condition and how that came to be, making it all the more absorbing. Even given the breaks I needed to recover my equilibrium at what I was reading, I consumed The Mercy Chair over two days because I could not put it down. Meals, conversations – indeed, all normal life – were put on hold until I’d finished it. I’m not going to say anything further about the plot as I don’t want inadvertently to reveal anything, except to say that I don’t think I’ve ever been more successfully manipulated by a writer and I was certainly listening carefully! I thought the narrative was outstanding. I am, however, outraged and aghast too and desperate for the another book, but you need to read The Mercy Chair to find out why, and why I cried! 

It’s also quite difficult to say too much about themes in The Mercy Chair because they are so intricately connected to the plot. There’s family, loyalty, relationships, religion, extremism, mental health, sexuality and so much more here. Each aspect is incorporated with mature understanding and is written about vividly, terrifyingly and convincingly. The Mercy Chair reverberates through the reader’s mind.

As in the other fabulous books in the series, the relationship between Washington Poe and other characters, especially Tilly Bradshaw, is riveting. I love the way Poe has evolved as a person over the series as a result of his interaction with Tilly and Estelle and yet he is still absolutely the curmudgeonly, tenacious Poe we expect, admire and love. I find it hard to accept that Poe is a fictional character and not a real person because he is so realistically depicted. Tilly, too, is simply wonderful and although in this story she is less present than Poe, her importance in forwarding the story, introducing light relief and adding emotional depth cannot be exaggerated. 

I am fully aware I’ve said nothing tangible about The Mercy Chair. When you’ve read it for yourself, and read it you must, you’ll see why I say it is going straight on my list of books of the year for 2024. Often brutal, surprisingly sensitive, totally brilliant and utterly captivating, The Mercy Chair must not be missed. I cannot recommend it highly enough. I thought it was fabulous.

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. The Puppet Show, the first book in his Cumbria-set Washington Poe series, was published by Little, Brown in 2018 and went on to win the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger in 2019. It has now been translated into twenty-one languages. Black Summer, the second in the series, was longlisted for the 2020 Gold Dagger as was book three, The Curator. The fourth in the series, Dead Ground followed in June 2021, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller, longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Novel of the Year 2022, and went on to win the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2022. The Botanist, the fifth  instalment, released in June 2022 was also an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Book six in the series, The Mercy Chair, will be published on 6th June 2024.

The gap is due to the publication of Mike’s new US set series starring ex-US Marshal, Ben Koenig …

Fearless was published in the UK in June 2023 and in the US in July 2023, and stars Ben Koenig, an ex-US Marshal with an interesting story. It has been picked up by a major streamer, further announcements to come in due course.

You can follow M.W. Craven on Twitter/X @MWCravenUK and visit his website for more information or find him on Facebook and Instagram.