Product Description

One of the first titles in the new Crime Express imprint from Five Leaves Publications. 96 pages.

CLAWS is a story from best-selling UK crime writer Stephen Booth, featuring one of his main series characters, Detective Constable Ben Cooper, on assignment to the Derbyshire Rural Crime Squad, tackling the issue of wildlife crime.

Synopsis:

"In the wild crags of the Dark Peak moorland, a ruthless conflict has been raging for years. The discovery of an illegal haul from the bedroom of a terraced house is a clue to what might be at stake - perhaps the entire future of one of the most prized landscapes in the Peak District National Park.

"For young Derbyshire police detective DC Ben Cooper, an assignment to the Rural Crime Squad means stepping into the middle of the conflict, without being quite sure whose side he's on.

"The predators come in all shapes and sizes. And in this battle, not all the victims will be human..."

"Booth is a modern master of rural noir" - The Guardian

"One of the elite British mystery writers" - Washington Times

"There are few, if any, contemporary writers who do this as well as Stephen Booth" - Arena Magazine

"Booth delivers some of the best crime fiction in the UK" - Manchester Evening News

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75088 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Synopsis
Features a short story set in the Dark Peaks.

From the Publisher
Crime Express titles are issued as small-format, flapped paperbacks.

About the Author
Stephen Booth is the creator of young Derbyshire police detectives DC Ben Cooper and DS Diane Fry, who have appeared in eight novels, the latest being DYING TO SIN.

Booth's books have won awards on both sides of the Atlantic and have been translated into fifteen languages. The Cooper & Fry series has been nominated three years running for the Theakston's UK Crime Novel of the Year Award. The author was recently described by the Sunday Telegraph as "one of our best story-tellers."

Stephen Booth was born and raised in Lancashire, but now lives in Nottinghamshire.

Customer Reviews

I liked Claws by Stephen Booth
I liked Claws by Stephen Booth. This was a different offering from Stephen in so far as we didn't encounter Diane Fry in this story. Tracey Udall who was featured in Blind to the Bones worked on this particular case with Cooper and as I read I got the feeling that Tracey is a 'lonely' character and this is my opinion that Udall looked towards Cooper for support.

As many readers of Stephen's novels featuring Cooper and Fry know that Stephen is excellent at description and in this short story this was evident in describing the illegal haul. The descriptions of the moorland where Cooper found himself was excellent and on the moorland where it was cold you could feel the effects of the weather as you read.

Only 96 pages in Claws but very interesting never the less and I don't think it will be too long before Cooper and Fry are together again.

As I read I wonder in my mind what Cooper looks like and I think that Fry does have a soft spot for Ben even though she is a tough cop.

In Claws I found that Udall also likes Ben, it would be very interesting to see Udall and Fry with Cooper in a future novel, I wonder if Ben could cope with that, the only person who would know the answer to that is Stephen and because he is a great writer I don't think it will be too long before the reader will get the answers. Well done Stephen and all the best.

A quick satisfying read
A short mystery that almost reads like a full length book. I got so emerged into the story that I felt just as satisfied at the end as if I had read a standard book. It features Ben Cooper on an assignment outside his normal police base. A very unusual crime story focusing on birds and making the crime on humans almost secondary. I loved it.

Stephen Booth's "Claws" - Express Series
This is the second in the Crime Express Series and great for quick reads and easy to put in your pocket to while a way a short time.
This was up to Booth's normal high standard of writing. It features Ben Cooper who has transferred to the Rural Crime Team. The plot covers one that is unusual and is an issue that needs to be considered and dealt with. This was a satisfying read bearing in mind this is a short story.