Product Description

A death in the family-from-hell bring Detectives Fry and Cooper to a remote and unfriendly rural community in their fourth psychological thriller. '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 local family-from-hell, the Oxleys. Now it is the focus of a murder investigation - a man's body has been found on the bleak moors nearby, and the man is an Oxley. To crack the case, DC Ben Cooper must break open the delinquent clan. His boss, DS Diane Fry, is also in Withens. Grim new evidence has turned up in the case of a missing student but her parents refuse to believe she could be dead. The darkness in Withens's heart is growing. And things are only going to get nastier!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5524 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 640 pages

Review
Praise for Blind to the Bones: 'He has got better with each book. This is another very fine book, masterfully plotted and filled with real flesh-and-blood personalities' Daily Telegraph 'Another of Booth's fine Derbyshire mysteries' Scotsman 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 'Stephen Booth makes high summer in Derbyshire as dark and terrifying as midwinter' Val McDermid 'A dark star may be born!' Reginald Hill 'A leading light of British crime writing' Maxim Jakubowski, Guardian

This is another of Booth's darkly atmospheric tales set in the Peak District and featuring young detectives Diane Fry and Ben Cooper. In this fourth book of the series the pair are called to the desolate moorland village of Withens where death is stalking the windblown streets. There is also the mystery of missing student Emma Renshaw, and the bizarre make-believe world inhabited by her parents. Chuck in the spooky Oxley family who have passed on arcane knowledge through the generations, and you have the ingredients for a whodunnit with murkier depths than most. It is this depth that has marked out Stephen Booth's previous novels in the series, two of which won the Barry Award at the World Mystery Convention in America. The evocative setting of Booth's stories helps give them a brooding feel that verges on the Gothic, although the characters of Fry and Cooper are as down-to-earth and thoroughly human as those in the TV series Heartbeat, and the dialogue is northern gritty. Even so, those undercurrents of previous times keep emerging, especially in this latest tale where the Oxley family seem to have knowledge of past violence that has been preserved in the most unlikely of ways - one that could never go before a jury. And when DC Cooper tries to learn some of the Oxleys' secrets, he is confronted by a surliness that itself comes close to menace. Booth has created a set of characters and a setting that are immediately appealing, but best of all he has the ability to tell a story in a new and distinctive tone of voice. He has another winner here. (Kirkus UK)

Unsolved murders are just the beginning of this bleak, perplexing tapestry of menace. In their fourth outing (Blood on the Tongue, 2002, etc.), British investigative odd couple Diane Fry and Ben Cooper are dispatched to the remote moorland village of Withens to assure Sarah and Howard Renshaw that everything possible is being done to find their missing daughter, Emma. The unofficial but commonly held police belief is that 19-year-old Emma, who's been missing for two years, was murdered. The Renshaws, however, live in a state of perpetual anticipation, speaking of their daughter in the present tense and expecting her imminent return home. The Renshaws' vigil is only one of Withens's many oddities. Fires occur randomly and without warning. The night air is regularly fouled not only by smoke but by random, unexplained screams. Many locals suspect that both these phenomena are the work of the unwieldy Oxley clan, which includes a brace of delinquent teenage boys. A rogue's gallery of other suspects populate the region as well. When one of Emma's former roommates is found murdered, with a peculiarly blackened face, Fry and Cooper intensify their probe. Booth also continues to chart the dynamics of the police squad, especially the relationship of the very private Sergeant Fry and the empathic Constable Cooper, which is tested when Fry's long-estranged sister Angie shows up on Cooper's doorstep. Complex and challenging, but equally rewarding. (Kirkus Reviews)

Val McDermid
‘Stephen Booth makes high summer in Derbyshire as dark and terrifying as midwinter’

Reginald Hill
‘A dark star may be born!’

Customer Reviews

Gripping Story

A newspaper and magazine journalist for over 25 years, Stephen Booth was born in the English Pennine mill town of Burnley. He was brought up on the coast at Blackpool. Stephen gave up journalism in 2001 to write crime novels full time.

Withens is a small village in the Peak District and like many other small town and villages it is troubled by theft and vandalism, but Withens problems stem from mainly one local family, the Oxleys, a family from hell. Now the village is the focus of a murder investigation. A young man's body has been discovered out on the cold and desolate moors nearby and the man is a member of the family from hell, he is an Oxley.

Police are also trying to solve the mystery of a young girl who vanished two years ago. Some new evidence has turned up, but her parents believe that Emma is still alive. With one murder and one unsolved disappearance Withens reputation as a grim place is growing and it looks as though things may get even worse . . .

A Gripping Story
A newspaper and magazine journalist for over 25 years, Stephen Booth was born in the English Pennine mill town of Burnley. He was brought up on the coast at Blackpool. Stephen gave up journalism in 2001 to write crime novels full time.

Withens is a small village in the Peak District and like many other small town and villages it is troubled by theft and vandalism, but Withens problems stem from mainly one local family, the Oxleys, a family from hell. Now the village is the focus of a murder investigation. A young man's body has been discovered out on the cold and desolate moors nearby and the man is a member of the family from hell, he is an Oxley.

Police are also trying to solve the mystery of a young girl who vanished two years ago. Some new evidence has turned up, but her parents believe that Emma is still alive. With one murder and one unsolved disappearance Withens reputation as a grim place is growing and it looks as though things may get even worse . . .

It's not called the Dark Peak for nothing!
Having lived for several years in the Dark Peak where this thriller is set, for me Stephen Booth has skilfully captured the essence of the stark bleak beauty of this unique area. A atmospheric book that portays the Dark Peak as something of a lost world. Good plot and strong characterisations. If you've never been there, then just watch the League of Gentlemen which is filmed in the same area.