Search results for ""Author Stephen Booth""

An atmospheric new Fry and Cooper thriller for fans of Peter Robinson and Reginald Hill A May Bank Holiday in the Peak District is ruined by the tragic drowning of an eight-year-old girl in picturesque Dovedale. For Detective Constable Ben Cooper, a helpless witness to the tragedy, the incident is not only traumatic, but leads him to become involved in the tangled lives of the Neilds, the dead girl's family. As he gets to know them, Cooper begins to suspect that one of them is harbouring a secret - a secret that the whole family might be willing to cover up. Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant Diane Fry has a journey of her own to make - a journey back to her roots. As she finds herself drawn into an investigation of her own among the inner-city streets of Birmingham, Fry realises there is only one person she can rely on to provide the help she needs. But that man is Ben Cooper, and he's back in Derbyshire, where his suspicions are leading him towards a shocking discovery on the banks of another Peak District river.

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Steeped in the atmosphere of the stunning Peak District, Secrets of Death is master crime writer Stephen Booth's most daring and clever Cooper & Fry thriller yet. A beautiful place to die ...Residents of the Peak District are used to tourists descending on its soaring hills and brooding valleys. However, this summer brings a different kind of visitor to the idyllic landscape, leaving behind bodies and secrets. A series of suicides throughout the Peaks throws Detective Inspector Ben Cooper and his team in Derbyshire's E Division into a race against time to find a connection to these seemingly random acts - with no way of predicting where the next body will turn up. Meanwhile, in Nottingham Detective Sergeant Diane Fry finds a key witness has vanished...But what are the mysterious Secrets of Death? And is there one victim whose fate wasn't suicide at all?

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Brutal acts of firestarting have ravaged the Peak District, and now a new wave of moorland infernos sweeps across the national park. For DS Ben Cooper, the blazes are best left to the firefighters, even with the arsonists still at large. But when an intruder breaks into an abandoned pub, Cooper is on the case - and he swiftly unearths a pair of grim surprises. The first is evidence of a years-old double homicide. And the second is a corpse, newly dead...What links the three deaths? Where are the missing bodies? Who is responsible - and how do the raging fires fit in? For Cooper and his rival DI Diane Fry, it's the most twisted investigation of their lives...and with an ingenious killer pulling the strings, it could also be their last. Drenched in atmosphere and danger, Stephen Booth's relentless new thriller builds to a shock finale that will catch even the most seasoned suspense readers off guard.

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In the heart of summer, in the dead of night, something wakes you. The house is quiet. The children are sleeping. The kitchen is empty. Except for the body on the floor. A series of brutal home invasions is terrorizing the Peak District. Until now, the burglars haven't left a clue. This time, they've left a corpse. But as the death toll rises, two intrepid cops begin to suspect that the robberies - and the murders - are not what they seem. Beneath the scorching summer sun, a dangerous game is in play ...and a merciless killer is hiding in plain sight. Packed with twists, suspense, and danger, The Devil's Edge is a gripping thriller to rival the very best of Peter Robinson and Peter James. PRAISE FOR STEPHEN BOOTH 'A modern master' Guardian 'Wonderful' Daily Mail 'One of our best storytellers' Sunday Telegraph

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The old Corpse Bridge is the route taken for centuries by mourners from villages on the western fringes of Derbyshire to a burial ground across the River Dove, now absorbed into the landscaped parkland of a stately home. When Earl Manby, the landowner, announces plans to deconsecrate the burial ground to turn it into a car park for his holiday cottages, bodies begin to appear once again on the road to the Corpse Bridge. Is there a connection with the Earl''s plans? Or worse, is there a terrifying serial killer at work? Back in his job after the traumatic events of previous months, Detective Sergeant Ben Cooper knows that he must unravel the mystery of the Corpse Bridge if he''s going to be able to move on with his life. As the pressure builds, Ben doesn''t know who he can trust and, when the case reaches breaking point, he has to make a call that could put everything - and everyone - at risk...

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An escaped convict threatens more than the summer tourist trade in the gripping fifth thriller featuring Detectives Fry and Cooper. 'Today was the day Detective Constable Ben Cooper was supposed to have died. For practical purposes, he was already dead.' Fourteen years ago Mansell Quinn was jailed for murdering his mistress. Now he has escaped and is on the run, hiding amongst the Peak District's many summer tourists. When Quinn's ex-wife is found dead, DC Cooper and his tough boss DS Fry suspect it is only a matter of time before another victim is found. And Cooper – as the son of Quinn's arresting officer – is high on the list. As they desperately search the case files for clues and the death toll rises, darker possibilities emerge. Are the killings the work of a deranged killer who cannot be found – or a desperate man, wrongly convicted?

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Dark, intense and utterly compelling, ‘Black Dog’ was an extraordinary first novel from a writer who has rapidly become the most promising crime author to emerge in the genre in years. ‘Where Cooper stood was remote and isolated… but the smell that lingered under the trees was of blood' The long hot Peak District summer came to an end when they found Laura Vernon's body. But for local policeman Ben Cooper the work has just begun. His community is hiding a young girl's killer and a past as dark as the Derbyshire night. It seems Laura was the keeper of secrets beyond her years and, in a case where no-one is innocent, everyone is a suspect. But Cooper's local knowledge and instincts are about to face an even greater challenge. The ambitious DC Diane Fry has been called in from another division, a woman as ruthless as she is attractive…

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Set in and around the dark, misty canals of Lichfield, Stephen Booth's incredible new novel is awash with mystery.When council officer Chris Buckley is approached by an odd old man demanding help in healing a decades-old family rift, he sends the stranger away.But then the old man is murdered, and the police arrive on the Chris's doorstep asking questions to which he has no answers.As Chris begins to look into the circumstances of the murder, he uncovers a deadly secret in the silt and mud of the local canals that he'll realise was better kept buried.PRAISE FOR STEPHEN BOOTH'Makes high summer as terrifying as midwinter'Val McDermid'A modern master'Guardian'Crime writing of the finest quality'Daily Mail'Ingenious plotting and richly atmospheric'Reginald Hill'A first-rate mystery'Sunday Telegraph

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Guilt, sacrifice and redemption in a freezing Derbyshire winter in this tense psychological thriller from the acclaimed author of ‘Black Dog’. 'The sun had dropped over the edge of Irontongue Hill so that the snow-covered moor was in shadow … but Marie Tennent would never see the dawn.' Marie's was not the only body lying undiscovered under the Peak District snow that January morning – nor the first. In 1945, the wreckage of a bomber was found on the Hill, full of dead crewmen. The missing pilot was declared responsible, but why would a decorated hero desert? The only other survivor refuses to talk. A young Canadian woman has arrived to uncover the truth – the pilot was her grandfather. DC Ben Cooper is intrigued. Perhaps he can help? To his boss DS Fry, investigating two frozen bodies found on the moors, her colleague's interest is entirely unprofessional. But the past has a way of influencing the present and before either knows it, a long-cold trail in the dead of winter has grown dangerously hot …

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The second in the series set in the Derbyshire Peak District, Dancing with the Virgins is a tense psychological follow-up to Stephen Booth’s acclaimed debut Black Dog. 'The body of the woman sprawled obscenely among the stones… She looked like a dead woman, dancing.' The ring of cairns known as the Nine Virgins has stood on the windswept moors of Derbyshire for centuries. Now, as winter closes in, a tenth figure is added – a body – and a modern tragedy is added to the dark legend that surrounds the stones. There's no shortage of suspects, each with their own guilty secret, but what DS Fry and DC Cooper lack is any kind of motive. As they search separately for answers, it seems the reasons for the strange behaviour of the moor's inhabitants may lie somewhere in the past, in a terrible crime yet to be discovered…

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Detectives Fry and Cooper return in another supremely atmospheric Peak District thriller, perfect for fans of Peter Robinson and Reginald Hill Building work at an isolated farm has unearthed more than just the usual remains… two human are discovered, seemingly buried years apart. With little forensic evidence to go on, Detectives Diane Fry and Ben Cooper have to look back into the farm's history, where they uncover decades of abuse of migrant workers. Is the truth to be found somewhere in this piteous history? Or does the answer lie elsewhere, hidden in the ground, and still waiting to be discovered?

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A death in the family-from-hell bring Detectives Fry and Cooper to a remote and unfriendly rural community in their fourth psychological thriller. 'And as it grew dark, Withens became almost entirely silent. Except for the screaming.' A small village in the Peak District, Withens is troubled by theft and vandalism, mostly generated by local family-from-hell, the Oxleys. Now it is the focus of a murder investigation – a man's body has been found on the bleak moors nearby, and the man is an Oxley. To crack the case, DC Ben Cooper must break open the delinquent clan. His boss, DS Diane Fry, is also in Withens. Grim new evidence has turned up in the case of a missing student but her parents refuse to believe she could be dead. The darkness in Withens's heart is growing. And things are only going to get nastier…

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Master crime writer Stephen Booth ventures into the Peak District's dark subterranean world for a brand new, stunning and gasp-inducing Cooper & Fry thriller.'A modern master'GuardianHow do you prove a murder without a body?Ten years ago, Reece Bower was accused of killing his wife, a crime he always denied. Extensive police searches near his home in Bakewell found no trace of Annette Bower's remains, and the case against him collapsed.But now memories of the original investigation have been resurrected for Detective Inspector Ben Cooper - because Reece Bower himself has disappeared, and his new wife wants answers. Cooper can't call on the Major Crime Unit and DS Diane Fry for help unless he can prove a murder took place - impossible without a body. As his search moves into the caves and abandoned mines in the isolated depths of Lathkilldale, the question is: who would want revenge for the death of Annette Bower?

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'Dramatic . . . gripping'The TimesThe dramatic, gripping new Cooper & Fry crime thriller from bestseller Stephen Booth sees the stunning Peak District prove fatal for one walking party.They knew the danger, but they went anyway..."Almost before she'd stopped breathing, a swirl of mist snaked across her legs and settled in her hair, clutching her in its chilly embrace, hiding her body from view. It would be hours before she was found."The mountain of Kinder Scout offers the most incredible views of the Peak District, but when thick fog descends there on a walking party led by enigmatic Darius Roth, this spectacular landscape is turned into a death trap that claims a life.For DI Ben Cooper however, something about the way Faith Matthew fell to her death suggests it was no accident, and he quickly discovers more than one of the hikers may have had reason to murder their companion.To make things worse, his old colleague DS Diane Fry finds herself at centre of an internal investigations storm that threatens to drag Cooper down with it. 'Makes high summer as terrifying as midwinter'Val McDermid'Crime writing at its finest'Daily Mail'A modern master'Guardian'A first rate mysterySunday Telegraph'Ingenious Plotting and richly atmospheric'Reginald Hill

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Set in and around the dark, misty canals of Lichfield, Stephen Booth's incredible new novel is awash with mystery.When council officer Chris Buckley is approached by an odd old man demanding help in healing a decades-old family rift, he sends the stranger away.But then the old man is murdered, and the police arrive on the Chris's doorstep asking questions to which he has no answers.As Chris begins to look into the circumstances of the murder, he uncovers a deadly secret in the silt and mud of the local canals that he'll realise was better kept buried.PRAISE FOR STEPHEN BOOTH'Makes high summer as terrifying as midwinter'Val McDermid'A modern master'Guardian'Crime writing of the finest quality'Daily Mail'Ingenious plotting and richly atmospheric'Reginald Hill'A first-rate mystery'Sunday Telegraph

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Set in and around the dark, misty canals of Lichfield, Stephen Booth's incredible new novel is awash with mystery.When council officer Chris Buckley is approached by an odd old man demanding help in healing a decades-old family rift, he sends the stranger away.But then the old man is murdered, and the police arrive on the Chris's doorstep asking questions to which he has no answers.As Chris begins to look into the circumstances of the murder, he uncovers a deadly secret in the silt and mud of the local canals that he'll realise was better kept buried.PRAISE FOR STEPHEN BOOTH'Makes high summer as terrifying as midwinter'Val McDermid'A modern master'Guardian'Crime writing of the finest quality'Daily Mail'Ingenious plotting and richly atmospheric'Reginald Hill'A first-rate mystery'Sunday Telegraph

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An atmospheric new Fry and Cooper thriller for fans of Peter Robinson and Reginald Hill. On a rain-swept Derbyshire moor, hounds from the local foxhunt find the body of a well-dressed man whose head has been crushed. Yet an anonymous caller reports the same body lying half a mile away. Called in to investigate the discovery, detectives DS Diane Fry and DC Ben Cooper become entangled in the violent world of hunting and hunt saboteurs, horse theft and a little-known sector of the meat trade. As Fry follows a complex trail of her own to unravel the shady business interests of the murder victim, Cooper realizes that the answer to the case might lie deep in the past. History is everywhere around him in the Peak District landscape - particularly in the ‘plague village’ of Eyam, where an outbreak of Black Death has been turned into a modern-day tourist attraction. But, even as the final solution is revealed, both Fry and Cooper find themselves having to face up to the disturbing reality of the much more recent past.

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A dark psychological thriller featuring Diane Fry and Ben Cooper, in which a small community is ripped apart by arson and murder. ‘Ingenious plotting and richly atmospheric’ – Reginald Hill. An assassination in the night – an open window and three bullets from the darkness – the victim a harmless middle-aged woman. But can she really be quite as innocent as she seems? The death of Rose Shepherd swarms with questions – unlike the deaths of a woman and her two children in a house fire. A tragedy, yes, but an everyday one. Then DS Fry discovers a link between the two cases, a link that crosses the borders between nations, between right and wrong, between madness and sanity. She and Ben Cooper discover why some people are scared to live – and others are fated to die…

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A summer of endless rain in the Peak District leaves the officers of Derbyshire's CID with a problem. They have discovered a man's body lying in shallow water, but torrential rain has swollen the rivers and flooded the roads, making travel difficult and forensic examination impossible. And that's not all. The absence of DS Ben Cooper, on extended leave after an arson attack, has left a serious gap. DS Diane Fry is a reluctant temporary replacement, but now their makeshift team is about to be tested to the limit. The fatal events of one damp August night are likely to remain shrouded in mystery if they can't track down a car glimpsed only as a dark outline in the rain by a passer-by.As the rain turns into a deluge, loyalties among the officers will be put under intolerable strain as they try to solve their toughest case yet. And that's before it emerges that Ben Cooper is not at home, but has vanished into thin air...Packed with atmosphere, suspense and danger, bestseller Stephen Booth's exceptional new Cooper and Fry thriller is a masterclass in British crime writing.

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This prize-winning work provides a facsimile of the 1609 Quarto printed in parallel with a conservatively edited, modernized text, as well as commentary that ranges from brief glosses to substantial critical essays. Stephen Booth’s notes help a modern reader toward the kind of understanding that Renaissance readers brought to the works.

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Ben Cooper and his team from Derbyshire Constabulary's E Division return in this gripping new page-turner from the master of the genre. For the Peak District hamlet of Shawhead, there's only one road in and one road out. Its handful of residents are accustomed to being cut off from the world by snow or floods. But when a lorry delivering animal feed is found jammed in the narrow lane, with no sign of the driver except for a blood-stained cab, it's the beginning of something much more sinister...'Booth skilfully portrays a stunning landscape with a dark heart that conceals secrets, vendettas and revenge.' Daily Mail on The Corpse Bridge

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