The Dead Place

Soon there will be a killing. Close your eyes and breathe the aroma. I can smell it right now, can't you? So powerful, so sweet. So irresistible. It's the scent of death… The anonymous caller who taunts the Derbyshire Police with talk of an imminent killing seems to be just another hoaxer. But DS Diane Fry begins to take him seriously when a woman is snatched from a multi-storey car park. This was no opportunist attack but a carefully planned abduction - and it's possible the chilling voice is telling the truth when it hints at earlier murders and bodies waiting to be found in 'the dead place'. DC Ben Cooper, meanwhile, has succeeded in finding a body - or rather, a collection of bones. This comes as a shock to the deceased's family, for Audrey Steele should have left no bones. Eighteen months ago, after dying from natural causes, Audrey was cremated. Their investigations lead Fry and Cooper into the world of those whose lives revolve around death. And finally, in a boarded-up ancestral home that has long been the stuff of legend in the White Peak, a crypt full of skulls yields it dark secrets."Eminently readable with clever twists and turns throughout, Stephen Booth leads Cooper and Fry and reader alike down a spiral of unbelievable horror and corruption." – The Book PlaceTHE DEAD PLACE is the 6th novel in the multiple award-winning Cooper & Fry series, set in England's beautiful and atmospheric Peak District.* A finalist for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. PRAISE FOR THE COOPER AND FRY "Suspenseful and supremely engaging. Booth does a wonderful job." - Los Angeles Times"Simultaneously classic, contemporary and haunting." - Otto Penzler, Mysterious Bookshop, New York"Stephen Booth makes high summer in Derbyshire as dark and terrifying as midwinter." - Val McDermid, award-winning crime novelist"Intelligent and substantive crime fiction, rich with complex characters." - Library Journal"Booth has firmly joined the elite of Britain's top mystery writers." - Florida Sun-Sentinel"Crime fiction for the thinking man or woman, and damnably hard to put down." - January Magazine"Highly recommended - a great series!" - Seattle Mystery Bookstore"Ben Cooper and Diane Fry are the most interesting crime team to arrive on the mystery scene in a long while." - Rocky Mountain News"One of our best story tellers." - Sunday Telegraph"There are few, if any, contemporary writers who do this as well as Stephen Booth." - Arena magazine"Booth is a modern master of rural noir." - The Guardian"Booth delivers some of the best crime fiction in the UK." - Manchester Evening News"Stephen Booth has to be one of the best new English mystery writers." - Toadstool Bookshop, New Hampshire"Booth's aim is to portray the darkness that lies below the surface... in this he succeeds wonderfully well." - Mark Billingham, author of the DI Tom Thorne series"If you read only one new crime writer this year, he's your man." - Yorkshire Post