THE DEAD PLACE

Booth, Stephen

ISBN 10: 0385339062 / ISBN 13: 9780385339063

Published by Bantam Books, N.Y., 2007

About this Item

1st edition, May 2007, so stated with complete number line beginning with 1. Black cloth with silver titles. Fine in fine dust jacket, not price clipped, in protective mylar cover. . Sixth crime novel featuring Derbyshire detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry. " Despite a rather substantial flaw--the author makes the identity of the villain a little too clear, way too early in the story--this is a sharp and engaging mystery. Detective Constable Ben Cooper and his partner, Detective Sergeant Diane Fry, the popular series leads, are up against what could be their wiliest adversary yet: a psychopath who has announced that he intends to commit a murder but won't say where or when. Can Cooper and Fry follow the tangled web of clues and stop the madman? One of the many fascinating things about the novel is that Fry, one of the protagonists, comes off in the beginning as immensely unlikable. The novel's tone is grislier than that of some of the earlier entries in the series, too, following the trend of British crime fiction becoming generally more hard-edged and visceral. Booth is slowly building a reputation as one of Britain's best mystery writers, and his latest won't do anything to stop the momentum. " -- Booklist. 388 pages.

Seller Inventory # 019354

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE DEAD PLACE
• Publisher: Bantam Books, N.Y.
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385339062
• ISBN 13: 9780385339063
• Binding: Hard Cover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Book Type: Book
• Seller catalogs:
  • XBX 34
  • England
  • Police
  • Mystery and Detective

About this title

Synopsis

“This killing will be a model of perfection. An accomplishment to be proud of. And it could be tonight or maybe next week. But it will be soon. I promise.”

The anonymous phone calls indicate a disturbed mind with an unnatural passion for death. Cooper and Fry are hoping against hope that the caller is just a harmless crank having some sick fun. But the clues woven through his disturbing messages point to the possibility of an all-too-real crime . . . especially when a woman vanishes from an office parking garage.

But it’s the mystery surrounding an unidentified female corpse left exposed in the woods for over a year that really has the detectives worried. Whoever she might have been, the dead woman is linked to the mystery caller, whose description of his twisted death rituals matches the bizarre manner in which the body was found. And the mystery only deepens when Cooper obtains a positive I.D. and learns that the dead woman was never reported missing and that she definitely wasn’t murdered. As the killer draws them closer into his confidence, Ben and Diane learn everything about his deadly obsessions except what matters most: his identity and the identity of his next victim. . . .

About the Author

Stephen Booth is a two-time winner of the Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel. He is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Black Dog and Dancing with the Virgins. Other bestsellers in his Cooper and Fry series include Blood on the Tongue, One Last Breath, and Blind to the Bones, which earned him the prestigious Dagger in the Library Award. A former journalist, Stephen Booth lives in Nottinghamshire, England.