
The Puppet Show by M. W. Craven
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By Temitope Usman
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There are a lot of ways to murder a human: gunshot, choking, multiple stabbings, flaying, dismemberment… However, there’s one particular method that takes more than the usual detailed planning to pull off because it’s as loud as it is twisted — death by immolation.
Today, we’re faced with that one serial killer who’s done it repeatedly and has no intention of stopping. He’s cruel, he’s unstoppable, and he knows more than the detectives on the case.
Worst of all? He’s right at your doorstep.
There’s a killer setting men on fire in stone circles at the Lake District, and he’s been dubbed The Immolation Man. He’s committed two murders with no evidence left behind. Detectives are left chasing their tails until the third body shows up and this time, there’s one chilling clue carved right into the victim.
Washington Poe is a disgraced detective resigned to a quiet life in Cumbria and tucked away in his stone home. That’s about the best plan he’s had going — until his old job comes knocking.
When your name is carved into a murder victim’s body and the killer is still at large, you can bet the entire police department wants you roasting until you explain your connection. That’s Poe’s case. And it doesn’t help that he’s a known troublemaker with enough nerve to piss off the wrong people for the right reasons.
Paired with the brilliant but socially awkward civilian analyst, Tilly Bradshaw, Poe must uncover why his name was carved into a corpse and why the Immolation Man picked up the torch in the first place.
It’s gruesome; it’s torturous. And it’s just twisted enough to send Poe running around like a madman.
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Temitope Usman writes book recommendations for Daily Akokite. She also writes Tee’s Book Recommendation, a WhatsApp blog where she recommends a book, weekly. She is a published creative writer.
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