The Dead Place (cooper And Fry Crime Series, Book 6)

"Soon there will be a killing. Close your eyes and breathe in the aroma. I can smell it right now, can't you? So powerful, so sweet. So irresistible. It's the scent of death�" The anonymous caller who taunts the Derbyshire Police with talk of an imminent killing seems to be just another hoaxer. But DS Diane Fry begins to take him seriously when a woman is snatched from a multi-storey car park. It's possible the chilling voice is telling the truth when it hints at earlier murders and bodies waiting to be found in 'the dead place'. DC Ben Cooper, meanwhile, has succeeded in finding a body - or rather, a collection of bones. This comes as a shock to the deceased's family, for Audrey Steele should have left no bones. Eighteen months ago, after dying from natural causes, Audrey was cremated. Their investigations lead Fry and Cooper into the world of those whose lives revolve around death. And finally, in a boarded-up ancestral home that has long been the stuff of legend in the White Peak, a crypt full of skulls yields it dark secrets. "Eminently readable with clever twists and turns throughout, Stephen Booth leads Cooper and Fry and reader alike down a spiral of unbelievable horror and corruption." � The Book Place THE DEAD PLACE is the 6th novel in the multiple award-winning Cooper & Fry series, set in England's beautiful and atmospheric Peak District. * A finalist for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. PRAISE FOR THE COOPER AND FRY SERIES: "Suspenseful and supremely engaging. Booth does a wonderful job." - Los Angeles Times "Simultaneously classic, contemporary and haunting." - Otto Penzler, Mysterious Bookshop, New York "Makes high summer in Derbyshire as dark and terrifying as midwinter." - Val McDermid, award-winning crime novelist "Intelligent and substantive crime fiction, rich with complex characters." - Library Journal "Booth has firmly joined the elite of Britain's top mystery writers." - Florida Sun-Sentinel "Crime fiction for the thinking man or woman, and damnably hard to put down." - January Magazine "Highly recommended - a great series!" - Seattle Mystery Books "Ben Cooper and Diane Fry are the most interesting team to arrive on the mystery scene in a long while." - Rocky Mountain News "One of our best story tellers." - Sunday Telegraph "There are few, if any, contemporary writers who do this as well as Stephen Booth." - Arena magazine "Booth is a modern master of rural noir." - The Guardian "Booth delivers some of the best crime fiction in the UK. "This killing will be a model of perfection. An accomplishment to be proud of. And it could be tonight or maybe next week. But it will be soon. I promise."The anonymous phone calls indicate a disturbed mind with an unnatural passion for death. Cooper and Fry are hoping against hope that the caller is just a harmless crank having some sick fun. But the clues woven through his disturbing messages point to the possibility of an all-too-real crime . . . especially when a woman vanishes from an office parking garage.But it's the mystery surrounding an unidentified female corpse left exposed in the woods for over a year that really has the detectives worried. Whoever she might have been, the dead woman is linked to the mystery caller, whose description of his twisted death rituals matches the bizarre manner in which the body was found. And the mystery only deepens when Cooper obtains a positive I.D. and learns that the dead woman was never reported missing and that she definitely wasn't murdered. As the killer draws them closer into his confidence, Ben and Diane learn everything about his deadly obsessions except what matters most: his identity and the identity of his next victim. . . .From the Hardcover edition. Soon there will be a killing. Close your eyes and breathe in the aroma. I can smell it right now, can't you? So powerful, so sweet. So irresistible. It's the scent of death. 'It's perfectly simple. All you have to do is find the dead place.' The anonymous caller who taunts the Police with talk of an imminent killing could be a hoaxer, his descriptions of death and decomposition a sick fantasy. But Detective Diane Fry is certain she's dealing with a murderer. The voice - so eerily, shiveringly calm - invites the police to meet the 'flesh eater'. Fry fears it may already be too late to save the next victim. DC Ben Cooper, meanwhile, is looking into Derbyshire's first case of body snatching. The investigation takes him into the dark, secret world of those whose lives revolve around the dead and their disposal - from funeral directors to crematorium staff and a professor whose speciality is the study of death. Where is the dead place? And what terrible deeds are done there?