Review
Praise for Black Dog: 'Stephen Booth creates a fine sense of place and atmosphere in his first novel the unguessable solution to the crime comes as a real surprise' Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph 'Stephen Booth is a real find, and his book is almost impossible to categorize It is a crime novel, or rather a novel about people who are connected with the crime. The characterisation is brilliant, and the motivation for everything that occurs is too credible. A real winner' Shots 'Booth has achieved a tour de force in this his first outing. In fact, it is hard to believe that he is a first time author Highly recommended' Mysterybooks.com
Six weeks after solicitor Maggie Fry is found wandering Ringham Moor in an amnesiac daze after a knife slash leaves her face horribly scarred, Jenny Weston is even less lucky. She's stabbed to death and arranged in a cruel parody of a dancer's pose among the moor's Nine Virgins, stones that have stood for thousands of years only half a mile away from the site of Maggie's attack. Edendale detective Ben Cooper is convinced that he could nail Jenny's killer if only Maggie could give him a physical description of her assailant, but the tireless questioning of Ben's colleague and ex-lover, Acting Sergeant Diane Fry, seems only to make Maggie dig in her considerable heels. It looks as if the break will have to come from one of the other locals: louring farmer Warren Leach, farm hand Keith ("Slasher") Teasdale, fey Simon ("Stride") Bevington and his companion Calvin Lawrence. But the ugly, exhausting revelations that keep tumbling out-dogfighting, assault convictions, kiddie porn, an unacknowledged daughter, a remorseful suicide-don't come in time to prevent a third attack, and Ben and Diane are still struggling with half a dozen mysteries-some unrelated, some all-too-related-and with each other moments before the curtain thuds down. As mannered in its writing and cluttered in its plotting as Ben's and Diane's grim debut ("Black Dog, "2000), but even more demanding, more substantial, and more knowing about the darkest recesses of the heart. A strong brew for readers who can take it. (Kirkus Reviews)
Product Description
In a remote part of the Peak District stand the Nine Virgins, a ring of stones overshadowed by a dark legend. Now, as winter closes in, a tenth figure is added to the circle - the body of Jenny Weston is discovered, her limbs arranged so she appears to be dancing. Weeks earlier another woman had been attacked on the moors. Maggie Crew was found by a local farmer's wife, severely traumatized, her face savagely cut open. Is there a maniac at loose, knifing woman at random? Unlocking the memories trapped in Maggie's mind is now a matter of utmost urgency, and Detective Sergeant Diane Fry is given the task of drawing the truth out of her. For DC Ben Cooper there are too many lines of enquiry leading to too few answers. Two travellers, sleeping rough near the scene of the murder, baffle the detectives with their strange rituals and language which may or may not be hiding vital information. Then there is the Park ranger, Owen Fox, whose past hides a shameful secret. And what of the farmer, Warren Leach, on whose land the Nine Virgins stand: a desperate man whose own children fear him. Against the dramatic backdrop of the White Peak, Ben and Diane struggle to make sense of a murder that seems motiveless. But the moors have witnessed more bloodshed than either realize, and violence is to beget more violence before the answer is found.
