Black Dog - Softcover

Booth, Professor Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0957237901 ISBN 13: 9780957237902

Publisher: Westlea Books, 2012

Synopsis

The first novel in the multiple award-winning Cooper and Fry series, set in England's beautiful and atmospheric Peak District.

It's been a long, hot summer in the Peak District national park. But summer comes to an end when the body of missing teenager Laura Vernon is found.

For young police detective Ben Cooper, the work has just begun. His community is hiding a 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 transferred from a nearby city, a woman as ruthless as she is attractive...

"Dark, intense and utterly compelling", Black Dog is an extraordinary first novel from a writer who has rapidly become one of the UK's most successful crime writers.

*Winner of the Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel of 2000

*Finalist for the Anthony Award for Best First Mystery of 2000

"Suspenseful and supremely engaging. Booth does a wonderful job." - Los Angeles Times

"Simultaneously classic, contemporary and haunting." - Mysterious Bookshop, New York

"A brilliant writer who gets everything - atmosphere, character, plot - just right. This book took my breath away." - Black Orchid Bookshop, New York

"An atmospheric, psychological stunner." - The Bookseller

"Stephen Booth makes high summer in Derbyshire as dark and terrifying as midwinter." - Val McDermid, award-winning crime novelist

"Black Dog sinks its teeth into you and doesn't let you go. A dark star is born!" - Reginald Hill, creator of Dalziel and Pascoe

"Black Dog is an exceedingly good first novel. Wholly engrossing." - London Evening Standard

"This is intelligent crime fiction at its best. It was a book I found impossible to put down." - Sherlock Magazine

About this title

Review

A neat little psychological thriller in the Barbara Vine tradition, debut novelist Stephen Booth's smart, spare suspense story introduces Detective Constable Ben Cooper, an up-and-coming English policeman who fears he'll never be able to fill the shoes of his father, a police sergeant who died a hero's death on the job in Ben's own precinct. Diane Fry, Ben's new partner, is an ambitious woman who's just been transferred to the Edendale force. She's jealous of Ben's familiarity with the locals, who won't tell her anything but treat Ben like a beloved son. The pair is teamed up to investigate the brutal murder of a 15-year-old girl whose parents, like Fry, are outsiders. The old man who finds Laura Vernon's body is an enigmatic, close-mouthed man who obviously knows more than he's telling, but even Ben can't budge Harry Dickinson from his determination to keep the real story of what happened in the dark woods of England's brooding Peak District to himself. Laura's father is anxious to pin the crime on a local boy who may have had sexual designs on her and who's conveniently gone missing. But the search for the killer turns up the dark secrets of the Vernons as well as a number of other suspects who keep Ben and Diane guessing until the last page of this well-written, carefully paced, and deeply atmospheric novel. A strong first showing from a writer worth watching, with a protagonist who'd be good company in a return engagement. --Jane Adams

About the Author

Stephen Booth is a multiple award winning British crime writer. He is best known as the creator of two young Derbyshire police detectives, DC Ben Cooper and DS Diane Fry, who have appeared in twelve novels, all set in England's beautiful and atmospheric Peak District. Stephen has been a Gold Dagger finalist, an Anthony Award nominee, twice winner of a Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel, and twice shortlisted for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year. DC Cooper was a finalist for the Sherlock Award for the best detective created by a British author, and in 2003 the Crime Writers' Association presented Stephen with the Dagger in the Library Award for 'the author whose books have given readers the most pleasure'. The Cooper & Fry series is published all around the world, and has been translated into 15 languages. The latest titles are THE DEVIL'S EDGE and DEAD AND BURIED. A former newspaper journalist, Stephen was born in Lancashire in the North West of England. He lives in a Georgian dower house in Nottinghamshire with his wife Lesley, three cats and one goat. His website is at: http://www.stephen-booth.com

About this edition

• Publisher: Westlea Books
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0957237901
• ISBN 13: 9780957237902
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 388