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CWA - Dead in the Dark

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Member Reviews

Stephen Booth never disappoints. This is a really good thriller. Detective Inspector Ben Cooper is looking for Reece Bower who is missing. Reece was suspected of killing his wife when she disappeared 10 years ago, but her body has never been found. Ben tries to piece together what happened to Reece and who disliked him. The plot comes together really well and Kept me engrossed the whole way through. I have read most of Stephen Booth's books and would definitely read more.

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Stephen Booth never disappoints me with the Cooper and Fry series. This is a good solid series and I would recommend them to lovers of the genre. This was fast paced, modern and had a lovely twist at the end. Thank you Net Galley for my copy.I reviewed on Amazon and Goodreads.

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Dead in the Dark by Stephen Booth

Ten years ago Annette Bower disappeared from her home in Bakewell in the Peak District. She went out to walk her dog and never returned, unlike the dog which later turned up at home. Her husband, Reece Bower, was the obvious suspect and the police were convinced that they had the right man. But murder is a difficult charge to make stick when there’s no body, even more so when the supposed victim’s father insists he spotted her in Buxton some time later. Now, all these years later, the case is about to be reopened and for the strangest of reasons – Reece Bower has also vanished. Detective Inspector Ben Cooper is certain that this is no simple missing person case. He’s sure the two disappearances are connected. Maybe at last the police can find out what really happened to Annette Bower.

DS Diane Fry is still working for the Major Crime Unit based in Nottingham. There is no beautiful scenery here, like there is for Ben. Instead she is faced with a tense urban community, torn apart by poverty and, since the closure of the coalmines, a lack of jobs. Life is particularly hard for the large population of immigrant Poles who are trying to make a life in the deprived town of Shirebrook. When one is found dead, Diane has a job on her hands to make anyone even talk about it.

Dead in the Dark is – and I can hardly believe it – the 17th novel in Stephen Booth’s wonderful Cooper and Fry series. I have yet to read them all, although I’m getting round to it, but I’ve never had a problem dipping into any of the books. They are all self-contained, although this does mean that you can miss out on the development (and history) of the relationship between Ben and Diane. I must admit that I regard the two as rather disconnected but this will probably change once I’ve read more of the earlier novels.

Dead in the Dark presents two cases – Ben’s and Diane’s. I love this series especially for its Peak District setting and so, not surprisingly, it’s Ben’s that caught my attention most of all. I love the descriptions of the landscape and I also love how Ben Cooper is such a part of it. He walks it, he has family who farm it, it’s in his blood. The Annette Bower case is particularly intriguing and I can understand why it gets under Ben’s skin. As his boss tells him, Ben is a policeman who is respected for his hunches, and his hunches are put to good use here.

Diane Fry’s case is much more gritty and this is backed up by the themes of immigration and politics – topical but no less painful for that. I completely empathised with the author’s viewpoint and it certainly made me think but I did find it a harder story to read. Rightly or wrongly, like Ben Cooper, I’m happier when walking the hills and dales of the Peaks.

This is fine storytelling. It doesn’t rely on twists or shocks, just good plotting and policing, and an intriguing case. As usual with this series, we’re introduced to an interesting set of characters who help and hinder Ben as he tries to get to the bottom of peoples’ lies and secrets. But Ben himself is such a likeable man who, despite the sadness in his past, contrasts with Diane who is clearly troubled. I love reading about these characters. I love the world in which Ben moves and I really enjoy the cases with which he is confronted. I always look forward to the next instalment of this wonderful series and now I must try and be patient again. But at least I have some of the backlist to catch up with while I wait.

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As a big fan of Stephen Booth I have read all the Ben Cooper & Diane Fry books. And this new one "Dead in the Dark" is just as amazing as all the others in this series. It's a fast paced page turner and pulled me in from the start. And the twist in the end was one more point in my score book for this author. A brilliant crime writer I can't wait to read much more of. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK!

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A different take on the typical British crime novel with two police teams working on separate cases that cleverly overlap.

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Excellent book. Great storyline and wonderful main characters. I would recommend this book.

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I understand that there are about 16 novels featuring the detectives Ben Cooper and Diane fry. I can't believe that this is the first one that I have stumbled upon.

This story is told through the eyes of several people. I think that the characters are developed in an interesting way.

This helps to create a novel which slowly unfolds. It deals with two crimes which are separated in time by a decade.

I liked the writing style and the use of real geographical locations.

I also like the way modern social problems are explored.

I will look out for future books by Stephen Booth on the strength of this novel.

I give thanks to NetGalley and Sphere for a copy in return for this review.

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I would like to thank Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for an advance copy of Dead in the Dark, the 17th novel set in the Peak District to feature detectives Cooper and Fry.

It is a while and a few books back since I last dipped into this series so there are a few changes. Ben Cooper is now a detective inspector and still in Edendale. Diane Fry is still a sergeant but now works for EMSOU which I think is the East Midlands Serious Crime Squad based in Nottingham.

Ben has his work cut out with a spate of armed robberies, a serial arsonist and the disappearance of Reece Bower. Normally CID wouldn't be bothering with a missing person but Reece Bower was charged with murder in the disappearance of his wife Annette 10 years previously although it never came to court and now Ben sees the opportunity to try and resolve that case. Diane is also in Derbyshire trying to solve the murder of a polish immigrant who was found dead in his flat after being stabbed.

Mr Booth runs these two plotlines concurrently, alternating between Ben and Diane with occasional overlaps. I usually find that it makes for a choppy read with this kind of alternating points of view as I just get settled in when it changes but after a few chapters I got used to the rhythm and caught up in both plotlines so the novel seems to flow well. It is a fairly straightforward police procedural so there are no real twists, just solid investigation, a few lucky breaks and some intuition. I love a good procedural and this ticks all the boxes.

The novel has a fair amount to say on the thorny subject of racism and immigration. The arguments are well balanced and interesting but I'm not in a position to be able to judge their accuracy.

As usual in this series the characters of Ben and Diane are at the heart of the novel. The sunny, optimistic Ben continues to follow his instinct when wanting to investigate Reece Bower's disappearance more closely. He is painstaking and by the book in his approach to police work but it pays dividends. He cuts a bit of a lonely figure despite having a close family and a budding relationship. Diane is a wholly different character. She is rude, offhand and patronising to Ben and not much better to colleagues and witnesses. She is obviously deeply unhappy but not prepared to do anything about it.

Dead in the Dark is a solid police procedural which I have no hesitation in recommending as a good read.

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