One of my favorite mystery writers, M.W. Craven (Mike to his friends) is finally going to be published in the U.S. FEARLESS, the first book in a new series, will be published on 6 June 2023 (I believe by Flatiron Books) and will be available in the UK and the US. The books are US-based and star Ben Koenig, a brand-new American hero.
From the plot line, Mike sounds like he’s getting into some Lee Child/Mark Greaney/Nick Petrie territory.
Plot: Six years back Ben Koenig headed up the US Marshal’s Special Operations Group. They were the unit who hunted the bad guys. The really bad guys. They did this so no one else had to.
And then one day Ben sold his house, liquidated his assets and disappeared off the face of the earth. He told no one why and left no forwarding address. For six years he became a grey man. Someone you didn’t remember. He drifted from town to town, from state to state, never visiting the same place twice. He was untraceable – officially, he no longer existed.
But now his face is plastered across every television screen in the country. Someone from Ben’s past is going to extraordinary lengths to find him and they don’t care how they do it. They have a job for him, a revenge mission, one Ben won’t be able to refuse.
Because in the hellish heat of the Chihuahuan desert lies a town called Gauntlet. Some people in Gauntlet have a secret and they’ll do anything protect it. And they know Ben is coming.
They’ve killed before and they’ll kill again.
It’s easy to dismiss Ben Koenig as just another drifter, someone you don’t need to concern yourself about. But that would be a mistake. Because Ben has a condition, a unique disorder that means he is incapable of experiencing fear.
And that makes Ben Koenig a different kind of animal . . .
The bad new is that the Poe/Tilly series is still unavailable to U.S. readers through U.S. publishers. Amazon carries most of the titles in all types of editions though.
It should be noted that Mike has won two CWA Dagger Awards (the most prestigious awards given for excellence in crime fiction in the U.K.). He won a Gold Dagger for his first novel in the Poe/Tilly series THE PUPPET SHOW. He recently won a Steel Dagger for DEAD GROUND. I’ve read all five of the Poe/Tilly series and have given each one a rating of A (which I don’t give out lightly).