It’s a long, hot summer in the Peak District, but the blue skies are darkened by police helicopters and the sound of birdsong is drowned out by the increasing hysteria of a full-scale search operation for a missing teenage girl. Laura Vernon is smart, sexy and the keeper of many secrets, but now she’s lying dead in a thicket in the heart of the country. Harry Dickinson found the body, but what instincts make him so bent on obstructing the police investigation into Laura’s murder? And what do he and his two fellow retired lead miners find to talk about on those long, balmy nights in the pub, hunched over their game of dominoes? Graham Vernon is a man who knows all about secrets, and the police are at a loss to understand the attitude of this powerful businessman and his glamorous wife to the death of their precious daughter. The Vernons are holding something back. But what could be more important that the discovery of Laura’s brutal murderer? Ben Cooper, a young Detective Constable living with tragedy, has known the villagers all his life, but his instinctive feelings about the case are called into question by the arrival of Diane Fry, a ruthlessly ambitious DC from outside the division. As Ben and Diane take the first steps in a complicated dance of suspicion, attraction and frustration, they discover that to understand the present, they must also understand the past — and in a world where no one is entirely innocent, pain and suffering can be the only outcome

A death in the rural family-from-hell bring Fry and Cooper to a remote and unfriendly community in the fourth psychological Peak District thriller. It’s nearly May Day and deep in the Dark Peak lies the village of Withens. Not a tranquil place but one troubled by theft, vandalism, strange disappearances and now murder. A young man is killed — battered to death and left high on the desolate moors for the crows to find. Ben Cooper, part of the investigating team, meets an impenetrable wall of silence from the man’s relatives who form Withens’ oldest family. The Oxleys are descendants of the first workers who tunnelled beneath the Peak. They stick to their own area, pass on secret knowledge through the generations, and guard their traditions from outsiders. Detective Diane Fry is in Withens on other business — looking into the disappearance of Emma Renshaw. The student vanished into thin air two years ago, but her parents are convinced she is still alive and act accordingly... which doesn’t help Fry in her efforts to re-open the case following an ominous discovery in remote countryside. But there are other secrets in Withens and more violence to come... The past is stretching its shadow over the present, not just for the inhabitants of Withens but for Cooper and Fry as well

How do you prove a murder without a body? Ten years ago, Reece Bower was accused of killing his wife, a crime he always denied. Extensive police searches near his home in Bakewell found no trace of Annette Bower’s remains, and the case against him collapsed. But now memories of the original investigation have been resurrected for Detective Inspector Ben Cooper — because Reece Bower himself has disappeared, and his new wife wants answers. Cooper can’t call on the Major Crime Unit and DS Diane Fry for help unless he can prove a murder took place — impossible without a body. As his search moves into the caves and abandoned mines in the isolated depths of Lathkilldale, the question is: who would want revenge for the death of Annette Bower?

When council officer Chris Buckley is approached by an odd old man demanding help in healing a decades-old family rift, he sends the stranger away. But then the old man is murdered, and the police arrive on the Chris’s doorstep asking questions to which he has no answers. As Chris begins to look into the circumstances of the murder, he uncovers a deadly secret in the silt and mud of the local canals that he’ll realise was better kept buried

The mountain of Kinder Scout offers the most incredible views of the Peak District, but when thick fog descends there on a walking party led by enigmatic Darius Roth, this spectacular landscape is turned into a death trap that claims a life. For DI Ben Cooper however, something about the way Faith Matthew fell to her death suggests it was no accident, and he quickly discovers more than one of the hikers may have had reason to murder their companion. To make things worse, his old colleague DS Diane Fry finds herself at centre of an internal investigations storm that threatens to drag Cooper down with it

As he watches criminals target a French lorry parked by the side of the road, Stones McClure thinks his plans might actually come together for once. He’s looking forward to a life full of everything he could possibly want. Money, cars, a pair of fancy cowboy boots — who could ask for more? But things aren’t always what they seem. And Stones should know it better than anyone. It’s Nottinghamshire, England, in 1998. Derelict pits, decaying villages, rundown housing estates — all surrounded by vast, historic mansions in country parks known as the Dukeries. And there’s no sign of Robin Hood to spread a bit of the wealth around. In a world full of injustice, among people still haunted by memories of the Miners’ Strike, Stones is a man trying to put his old life behind him for good. But survival in these coalfield villages depends on the Top Hard Rule — you can’t trust anyone these days. Now it’s all about to go very wrong for Stones McClure. Someone is out to get him. And most surprising of all, it isn’t one of the women in his life... Told in a unique voice, with a cast of extraordinary characters, ‘TOP HARD’ is an irreverent crime story set in a memorable time and place. In 1998, it was a finalist for the Crime Writers’ Association’s New Writing (Debut Dagger) Award

Детективы Бен Купер и Диана Фрай – две полные противоположности. Бен эмоционален и импульсивен, склонен доверять своим ощущениям и озарениям. Диана упорядоченна и дисциплинированна и предпочитает действовать по инструкции. Эти двое плохо ладят между собой. Тем не менее они – напарники, прекрасно дополняющие друг друга. Поэтому они – лучшие… В начале января в округе Идендейла нашли сразу два мертвых тела – мужчины и женщины. Расследование показало, что в обоих случаях было совершено убийство. Сержант полиции Диана Фрай и ее команда принялись искать улики и подозреваемых. В это время в местную полицию обратилась гражданка Канады, разыскивающая своего деда, военного летчика, пропавшего без вести в этих краях еще во Вторую мировую. Ее запрос был проигнорирован – у местной полиции нет ни людей, ни времени на такие старые дела. Но историей заинтересовался констебль Бен Купер. Несмотря на недовольство Дианы, он начал свое расследование, не подозревая, что именно оно способно привести его к разгадке тайны нынешнего двойного убийства…

Впервые на русском языке – триллер английского писателя Стивена Бута «Танцуя с девственницами», повествующий о расследовании, которое ведут двое дербиширских полицейских – Диана Фрай и Бен Купер. Убийство тридцатилетней Дженни Уэстон, чье тело найдено возле древнего каменного круга, именуемого Девять Девственниц, открывает серию зловещих событий на ферме «Рингхэмский хребет». Загадки множатся одна за другой. Чей нож изуродовал лицо местной жительницы Мегги Крю, после нападения потерявшей память? Какое отношение к случившемуся имеют двое юных бродяг, живущих в сломанном фургоне, который застрял в заброшенном карьере? Как связаны друг с другом смотрительская служба местного национального парка и жестокие собачьи бои, нелегально проводящиеся ночной порой на территории фермы? Почему внезапно сводит счеты с жизнью владелец «Рингхэмского хребта» Уоррен Лич? Каковы обстоятельства смерти дочери Мегги Крю Роз Дэниелс – страстной защитницы прав животных?.. Клубок таинственных происшествий в округе запутывается все туже, погружая читателя в атмосферу пугающе-двусмысленных криминально-психологических загадок

Детективы Бен Купер и Диана Фрай — полные противоположности. Бен эмоционален и импульсивен, склонен доверять своим ощущениям и озарениям. Диана упорядоченна и дисциплинированна и предпочитает действовать по инструкции. Эти двое плохо ладят между собой. Тем не менее они — напарники, прекрасно дополняющие друг друга. Поэтому они — лучшие… Неподалеку от маленького городка в Дербишире найдена мертвой дочь одного из самых богатых местных жителей. Поначалу ни улик, ни тем более свидетелей обнаружить не удалось. Однако констебль Бен Купер, местный до мозга костей, знает округу и живущих в ней людей как свои пять пальцев и догадывается, где и что искать. Как раз в это время ему дали в напарники нового сотрудника — констебля Диану Фрай, талантливую, честолюбивую, а главное, обладающую свежим взглядом. Так двое детективов приступили к расследованию одного из самых невероятных преступлений в истории Дербишира…