Stephen Booth
A dark night, an open bedroom window – and three bullets that strike from the darkness. The victim of the shocking assassination is a harmless middle-aged woman, living a reclusive life in a quiet Peak District village. But is she quite so harmless as she seems?
Detective Sergeant Diane Fry knows that innocence is no defence against death. She's already combing through the blackened wreckage of a family's life, sifting the tragic possessions
"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 a family of local delinquents, the Oxleys. Now the town is the focus of a murder...
In this East Midlands village, there’s only one way out . . . “Top notch crime writing with an irresistible sense of place.” ―Lancashire Evening Post
The picturesque English village of Shawhead has one road in and one road out. And on that road this morning is an abandoned vehicle . . . with an ominous bloodstain inside.
It’s a mystery. It could be a murder. Where—and
As winter closes in on the moors, so does death. The body of a young woman is found within a ring of ancient cairns, her arms and legs arranged to look as though she's dancing.
Now another young woman has been found, savagely wounded and severely traumatized,...
It's a new year for Peak District detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry, and that means new murders to solve in the icy depths of a bitter winter in Edendale, Derbyshire.
It isn't the easiest way to commit suicide, but the dead woman seems...
On a rain-swept hillside, hounds from the local foxhunt discover the body of a well-dressed man. At that exact moment, an anonymous caller reports the same body . . . lying half a mile away.
It's only the first in a series of baffling clues as Ben Cooper and Diane Fry—partners and rivals on the detective force —plunge into a case involving horses, spectacular wealth, and a mysterious "plague village" where a centuries-old outbreak
...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
"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...
Who killed Laura Vernon?
The helicopters are halted. The dogs are called off. The search for beautiful, teenaged Laura Vernon is over. Her body is found, mutilated, in the forest.
When he takes on the case, Ben Cooper is paired with a new partner: Diane Fry, a woman as tenacious as she is alluring. The two detectives are like fire and gasoline. But they must learn to work together to apprehend a killer who is hiding in plain sight.
This
...10) Dying to Sin
You never know what you might uncover . . .
While digging the foundation for the conversion of an old farmyard into upscale stables, builders unearth a human hand preserved in clay. Suddenly suspicious, the police explore further and find not one body, but two.
To...
Some sins won't wash away . . .
A summer of endless rain in the Peak District leaves the officers of Derbyshire's criminal investigation department with a problem. They have discovered a man's body lying in shallow water, but torrential downpours have swollen the rivers and flooded the roads, making travel difficult and forensic examination impossible.
And that's not all. The absence of Detective Cooper, on extended leave after an arson
...This atmospheric thriller is perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson.
A holiday weekend is ruined by a drowning in a picturesque village. The incident not only traumatizes Detective Cooper, a helpless witness to the tragedy, but leads him to become involved in the tangled lives of the victim's family.
As he gets to know them, Cooper begins to suspect that one of them is harboring a secret that the whole family is desperate
...13) Dead in the Dark
How 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...
When builder's labourer Danny Ward is asked to dig the foundations for a new wall during the conversion of Pity Wood Farm, he doesn't expect to find a human hand preserved in the clay.
And when the police arrive to dig up the farmyard, they don't expect to find not one body, but two – with several years between their burials.
DS Diane Fry and DC Ben Cooper are part of the Derbyshire CID team tasked with piecing together the lives of
15) One last breath
Around the ancient cave system in Derbyshire are thronging tourists, a medieval castle, and the thriving town of Castleton. With its underground tunnels and caverns, it's the perfect place for a man to hide—or vanish. Detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry are looking for such a man, one who...