Early in The Puppet Show, as we meet Washington Poe – our host for this evening series – there’s reference to a backstory. He’s been suspended and he and his former DS, now his boss-to-be (as they switch jobs) DI Stephanie Flynn talk about the fallout from a previous case. I wondered if in fact there was something I was missing.

I’d checked the front of the book jacket – though I guess they’re more just covers now than jackets – for any previous books by MW Craven and saw none listed.

Thankfully a page or two explains the history to us, however… I discovered Craven has had a previous series published centred around a fictional detective and also set in Cumbria…. published as Mike Craven. Which probably explains some of the confidence with which he writes the first in this new series.