Dying to Sin (Abridged‪)‬

The atmospheric and terrifying new Peak District thriller, featuring Detectives Fry and Cooper from the award-winning Stephen Booth.

For decades, Pity Wood Farm has been a source of employment for poor workers passing through Rakedale, migrants with lives as abject as the labour they sought. But now it seems a far worse fate may have befallen some of those who came upon this isolated community.

Routine building work at the farm has unearthed a grisly discovery: a human hand preserved in clay. When police dig up the farmyard, they find not one, but two bodies – and several years between their burials.

With pressure from a new Superintendent and scant forensic evidence to aid them, DS Diane Fry and DC Ben Cooper have only the memories of local people to piece together the history of the farm. In a case as cold as the ground, Cooper finds himself drawn to a desperate theory: that somewhere, there lies a third body which holds the key to these dreadful crimes.

Reviews

Praise for 'Scared to Live' (HB):

'It's easy to see why Stephen Booth's novels are so popular. The Peak District's awesome scenery is an ideal background for a murder or two; he has developed his two principal characters into rounded personalities and he always gives them an intriguing mystery to investigate.' Sunday Telegraph

'A modern master of rural noir.' Guardian

'Booth's aim is to portray the darkness that lies below the surface… in this he succeeds wonderfully well.' Mark Billingham, Daily Mail

'Ingenious plotting and richly atmospheric.' Reginald Hill

Praise for Stephen Booth:

'Stephen Booth creates a fine sense of place and atmosphere … the unguessable solution to the crime comes as a real surprise.' Sunday Telegraph

'The complex relationship between [Cooper and Fry] is excellently drawn, and is combined with an intriguing plot and a real sense of place: Stephen Booth is an author to keep an eye on.' Evening Standard

'In this atmospheric debut, Stephen Booth makes high summer in Derbyshire as dark and terrifying as midwinter.' Val McDermid

'Black Dog sinks its teeth into you and doesn't let go … A dark star may be born!' Reginald Hill

'A leading light of British crime writing.' Guardian

'Best crime novel of the year.' Independent

About the author

Stephen Booth was born in the Lancashire mill town of Burnley and has remained rooted to the Pennines during his career as a newspaper journalist. He lives with his wife Lesley in a former Georgian dower house in Nottinghamshire and his interests include folklore, the Internet and walking in the hills of the Peak District. This is the eighth in the series featuring Derbyshire detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry.