Derbyshire crime writer hits the road

Stephen Booth is the creator of two young Derbyshire police detectives, DS Ben Cooper and DS Diane Fry, who have appeared in twelve crime thrillers, all set in and around the Peak District. A thirteenth book in the series, Already Dead, is due for publication in June.

Stephen is about to embark on a series of reader events which will see him visiting eighteen libraries in Yorkshire and the Midlands, as well as bookshops and other venues ranging from a castle to a story-telling tent.

“I’m a keen supporter of libraries,” said the author. “And there’s been a fantastic response from library staff around the region eager to host events for Crime Writing Month. They know how much their readers enjoy crime fiction, which remains one of the most popular genres year after year. I love meeting readers too, so I’m really looking forward to the next few weeks. I’ll be talking about how I became a writer, why I chose to write crime fiction - and of course about the Cooper and Fry series, which is what I’m best known for. Readers write to me all the time about the characters and the locations used in the books.”

Stephen was a newspaper journalist for more than 25 years, but left journalism in 2001 to write crime novels full-time after the success of his first book, Black Dog.

Since then, he’s won awards on both sides of the Atlantic, and in 2003 he was presented with the Dagger in the Library Award by the Crime Writers’ Association for “the author whose books have given readers most pleasure.” One of his characters, Detective Sergeant Ben Cooper, was a finalist for the Sherlock Award for the Best Detective created by a British author. Stephen has been described by the Sunday Telegraph as “one of our best story tellers” and by The Guardian as “a modern master of rural noir”.

Stephen Booth’s latest Cooper and Fry novel Dead and Buried was recently released in paperback, and his new book Already Dead will be published by Sphere on Thursday 20th June in hardback and ebook formats.

The author will be at Chesterfield Library on 20th June to launch Already Dead with the help of Waterstones Chesterfield. The evening starts at 7.30pm, and tickets are £3 (£2 concessions) available from the library. Phone 01629 533400 or email: [email protected]. On Saturday 22nd June, Stephen will be signing copies of his new book at Scarthin Books in Cromford from 2.30pm to 4.30pm, while on Saturday 29th June he’ll be signing at Waterstones in Derby from 12 to 2pm.

During June and July Stephen will also be doing events in Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Rutland and the West Midlands. His ‘tour’ ends with a book festival in Nottingham on 14th July.

Author’s website: http://www.stephen-booth.com

A full list of dates is at: http://www.stephen-booth.com/events.htm