Dancing with the Virgins - Hardcover

Booth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743216903 ISBN 13: 9780743216906

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2001

Synopsis

One of the most acclaimed new talents in crime fiction follows up his debut Black Dog with an even darker, richly atmospheric novel of suspense set in northern England's Peak District and starring Detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry.

About this title

Review:

"Nottingham Evening Post" It is once again his talent for letting the bleakly beautiful Peaks conjure up an atmosphere of incipient menace that gives his work its particular piquancy.

From the Back Cover:

A brooding psychological thriller from the acclaimed author of 'Black Dog'

In a remote part of the Peak District stand the Nine Virgins, a ring of stones overshadowed by a dark legend. Now, as winter closes in, a tenth figure is added to the circle – the body of Jenny Weston is discovered, her limbs arranged so she appears to be dancing.

Weeks earlier another woman had been attacked on the moors. Maggie Crew was found by a local farmer's wife, severely traumatized, her face savagely cut open. Is there a maniac at loose, knifing woman at random? Unlocking the memories trapped in Maggie's mind is now a matter of utmost urgency, and Detective Sergeant Diane Fry is given the task of drawing the truth out of her.

For DC Ben Cooper there are too many lines of enquiry leading to too few answers. Two travellers, sleeping rough near the scene of the murder, baffle the detectives with their strange rituals and language which may or may not be hiding vital information. Then there is the Park ranger, Owen Fox, whose past hides a shameful secret. And what of the farmer, Warren Leach, on whose land the Nine Virgins stand: a desperate man whose own children fear him.

Against the dramatic backdrop of the White Peak, Ben and Diane struggle to make sense of a murder that seems motiveless. But the moors have witnessed more bloodshed than either realize, and violence is to beget more violence before the answer is found.

Praise for 'Black Dog'

”An exceedingly good first novel: wholly engrossing, it has well-drawn characters and a real sense of place”
TJ BINYON, 'Evening Standard'

”In this atmospheric debut, Stephen Booth makes high summer in Derbyshire as dark and terrifying as midwinter”
VAL McDERMID

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0743216903
• ISBN 13: 9780743216906
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384