Born in a Burial Gown

By: M. W. Craven

Narrated by: John Banks

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

The first gritty thriller in the Avison Fluke series by M. W. Craven, the acclaimed author of The Puppet Show.  

Detective Inspector Avison Fluke is a man on the edge. He has committed a crime to get back to work, concealed a debilitating illness and is about to be made homeless. 

Just as he thinks things can't get any worse, the body of a young woman is found buried on a Cumbrian building site.  

Shot once in the back of the head, it is a cold, calculated execution. When the postmortem reveals she has gone to significant expense in disguising her appearance, Fluke knows this is no ordinary murder.   

With the help of a psychotic ex-Para, a gangland leader and a woman more interested in maggots than people, Fluke must find out who she was and why she was murdered before he can even think about finding her killer.

©2019 M. W. Craven (P)2019 Hachette Audio UK

Critic Reviews

"Deeply layered, fiendishly clever and absorbing." (Matt Hilton, author of the Joe Hunter series) 

LOVED IT

I just loved this book from start to finish.

I have got to say M.W. Craven, unlike many other authors, does not keep repeating phrases to increase the word count.
I applaud you Mr. Craven

Craven's Good Start is a Fluke!

A new author for me and this is a really decent start to a new series! I have always loved the Lake District and it's clear that Craven knows the area well as familiar names and places dominate this book. Obviously the key to any detective series is the lead and this one is a complete Fluke! In an interesting twist on the dysfunctional detective Avison Fluke has many of the typical characteristics of brilliant deduction, difficulties with authority figures, a tad on the anti-social side at times but his dysfunction is mainly his illness which never quite lets him out of his grip. It makes for an interesting dynamic and the chemistry between him and the other characters works well.

The story itself has lots of clever elements to it, the mystery of the 'crime' that Fluke has committed, the insect behavior elements but mostly the central mystery of the young woman which I thought was quite clever and original. If I had any kind of problem with the writing style though it was how Fluke went from being sharp as a razor on deductions one minute to being slower than a donkey in concrete overshoes the next. There was one not so subtle set of interactions with two hospital doctors where I was sighing and almost yelling at my headphones about how slow he was at taking the hint. In fairness having said that, with the clever central mystery a couple of times I was surprised at how slow he was being only to realise that I was actually completely wrong. That's a good detective story.

John Banks helps capture the local feel of the story with his excellent narration and really brings some of these characters to life with considerable warmth and personality. He also ramps up the tension nicely and is particularly strong at portraying the thoughtful side of Fluke.

So, this is a really good start, Avison Fluke and his fellow denizens of Cumbria are well worth spending time with. This is a fairly detailed police procedural with some nice touches like the bugs, medical knowledge and some very good interview scenes. I'll no doubt be getting the second book sometime soon because the central mystery was very skillfully unfolded in this one.

Excellent

I fell for Washington Poe and Tilly so was reluctant to meet Avison. I want t disappointed and now am waiting for Mr Craven to write some more...

Excellent

I was drawn in from the very first words! And my interest didn't waver, an excellent book with good characters...... (I hope that Mr Craven is still intending more in his Washington Poe series too!)

I am so happy to have found this author, I'm just off to download number 2!

Big fan of Poe, and this doesn't disappoint!

I came to M W Craven via Washington Poe novels which I love. This Avison Fluke novel offers another brilliantly crafted story with the same humour as Cravens other novels. I thoroughly enjoy John Banks narration too, spot on. Enjoy!

Very good, but not perfect

I agree with those who are saying that Avison Fluke bears too many similarities to Washington Poe but despite that, this is a very good story, extremely well written and superbly well read by John Banks, worthy of 5 stars in all categories. For me, it would have been better if the author could have given us a completely different character to Poe but as it's such an engaging story, I can forgive Mike Craven for this lapse. I shall definitely listen to the next in the Fluke series and know that I'll enjoy it.

Washington Poe?

Although I enjoyed this book, after listening to the Washington Poe series it was difficult to distinguish the two in my head and when the dci was addressed as fluke my brain disagreed. Same kind of detective, same food likes, same enjoyment of good coffee, same Para, Marines, SAS links in the story. If I hadn’t listened to the Washington Poe series 1st I would have loved it but then I’d have had the same disgruntlement with Poe!

Good, but too similar to Washington Poe!

I did enjoy this but having listened to the Washington Poe series I expected something different and this wasn't really. The main character is also a police detective from Cumbria, drives the same car, has planning problems with the remote land he bought and lives on, is single and also has issues with authority. Too many similarities which is strange as you would have thought the author would be conscious of this, but not so and ultimately not as good as the previous series.

Excellent

Having absolutely loved the Washington Poe books I thought I would try this one too!
It’s very similar and the author was definitely trying out these characters before moving on to Poe. However I enjoyed it just as much and will definitely get the next one.

Brilliant

I loved this book, the twists and turns made sure i finished it over 2 nights, or early hours to be specific. Excellent.

Just amazing!

I absolutely love Craven's Washington Poe series, so had to read his older work. And guess what? I love Avison Fluke too :-)

This is a stunning series debut with a fascinating protagonist. Avison Fluke has more than a few personal demons and has just returned to work (against doctors orders) after a cancer diagnosis. He is a loner and lives in a log cabin in the middle of a forest. The other standout character is Fluke's sidekick, DS Matt Towler, who I absolutely loved.

The murder investigation he is thrown into on returning to work is complicated and baffling. It is cleverly written and there are all the usual twists and turns with suspense building throughout the book.

The setting is once again Cumbria which is portrayed beautifully. I can't wait to read/listen to the next in the series.