The Cats’ Mother's Reviews > Cut Short

Cut Short is a collection of three short stories featuring Craven’s fabulous Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw. Officially they are set after The Curator (book 3) but they don’t spoil any of the main books so can be read anytime - including as an introduction to the series.
The whole thing took less than 45 minutes to read but was still totally worth it. Each story is set in Cumbria and concerns a cold case that Poe has been involved in.

The Killing Fields is about the discovery of two skeletons in the mass grave of animals culled during the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak. It’s a terribly sad reminder of the devastation it caused.

Why Don’t Sheep Shrink is set during the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown, with Tilly & Poe trapped in his croft self-isolating, they look into an old unsolved case. I had already read this as it was released for free around that time, but I’d forgotten that it features Heather Fitt - who happens to be a Facebook friend - as a nefarious gold-digger who got away with murder!

Dead Man’s Fingers is a poignant story about what happened to two star-crossed teenage lovers who disappeared from adjoining farms - this one also harks back to the 2001 epidemic.

Now I just have to wait for Book Four!