Biography of British Crime Author Stephen Booth
Award-Winning Writer of the Ben Cooper and Diane Fry Series
Jun 17, 2009 Elizabeth Gregory
Stephen Booth was born in Burnley, Lancashire and was always destined to be a writer, producing his first novel at the age of twelve. Like many writers, Booth's background is in journalism, a profession which he entered after a very brief spell as a trainee teacher in Manchester. Booth spent over twenty five years as a journalist, beginning as a sports reporter in Cheshire and going on to write for a range of newspapers and magazines, including the Daily Express and The Guardian.
Early Works and Awards
Booth's career was to change rapidly after he was shortlisted in 1999 for the prestigious Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger competition for new writers. In the same year, he also won the Lichfield Prize for his unpublished novel The Only Dead Thing, which led to a contract with Harper Collins to write two crime novels.
These books were to be an immediate success. The first, Black Dog, appeared in 2000, and was a hit in both the UK and in America, where Booth scooped the Barry Award for Best British Novel as well as being nominated for an Anthony Award for Best First Mystery. The second in the series, Dancing With the Virgins, was similarly successful, receiving another Barry Award in the USA as well as achieving a nomination for the UK's highest prize for crime writers - the CWA's Gold Dagger Award.
Ben Cooper and Diane Fry
Later books in the series have continued this success, with 2003's Blind to the Bones winning the CWA's Dagger in the Library Award, voted for by librarians as the writer who had given their readers the most pleasure.
So what exactly makes Booth's books so well-regarded, both by the critics and by the reading public? The answer would seem to lie in two areas that Booth manages with great skill - the creation of atmosphere through settings, and the presentation of two engaging characters with a fascinatingly unpredictable relationship. Detective Constable Ben Cooper and Detective Sergeant Diane Fry first meet in Black Dog, and the twists and turns of their working relationship have kept readers enthralled for nine novels now.
Booth's Peak District
The other secret of the series' success is Booth's ability to recreate an evocative setting throughout the novels -that of the Peak District, a National Park in the heart of England, between Manchester and Sheffield. Even readers who have never visited the area will feel they can picture the rolling green hills, dotted with villages and farms, that appear so often in the novels. Sometimes the setting plays a key part in the story, such as in Dancing With the Virgins, where a young woman is left dead amongst a group of stones similar to Stonehenge, so-called because they supposedly represent maidens who were turned to stone as punishment for taking part in a dance.
Books in the Series
The Cooper/Fry series is now up to number nine, and shows no sign of running out of steam. The full list of novels appears below along with date of publication.
Black Dog (2000)
Dancing With the Virgins (2001)
Blood on the Tongue (2002)
Blind to the Bones (2003)
One Last Breath (2004)
The Dead Place (2005)
Scared to Live (2006)
Dying to Sin (2007)
The Kill Call (2009)
For more information about Stephen Booth, visit his website.
Cover of Dancing with the Virgins
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Reading & Literature
Latest Articles