I've been enjoying Stephen Booth's Cooper and Fry series from the beginning. Set in England's picturesque, but menacing, Peak District the series is both typical and untypical of the classic British police procedural. The main characters, Ben Cooper and Diane Fry, are officers who often work together -- what a US police force would call partners. The pairing of a man and a woman officer is not unusual -- viz. Deborah Crombie and Jill McGown. Unlike in the books of those two authors, there is as yet no romantic relationship between Cooper and Fry. We're always given the feeling that they could become friends, at least, but their own inner demons have so far prevented that. Fry also outranks Cooper - she is a sergeant and quite concerned with her career path, while Cooper seems to be stuck at Detective Constable. Cooper is a local boy, son of a heroically dead police sergeant, with a brother who is still farming; Fry is an urban transplant from the Black Country and frequently bemoans her inability to get a handle on Cooper and the other locals. However, when it comes to investigating, they are usually on the same wavelength.It appears that Dying to Sin, published in 2007, is the most recent to be released in the US, although there are two more recent books available in the UK. I didn't dislike this book, but it did take me a while to get through, with the two police detectives both dealing with their own problems and insecurities and a lot of moaning about the plight of the British farmer. The book moves quite slowly for a good portion of its considerable length. Of course, the situation -- the discovery of an unidentified body, and then another, on a derelict farm that's being converted to a hobby farm for a rich city dweller -- engenders a certain amount of interest in the police department, but not much urgency, since the bodies have been there some time and Christmas is just around the corner. I have a fairly high tolerance for slow-moving stories but I can see that it wouldn't be to everyone's taste. The story does become mroe exciting in the last third of the book, and new developments in Cooper's and Fry's personal and professional lives add interest. I will still be looking for the subsequent volumes in the series, but I'll be hoping that Booth comes up with some resolution to his characters' depression in the next books. Recommended for Booth fans, but if you haven't read him before, don't start with this one.
This is another solid entry in the series.But it had one major flaw: it went on one chapter too long. The final line of the penultimate chapter would have been the perfect ending too the story. The last chapter – gloomy and depressing – added nothing but word count to the story.Booth still spends too much time detailing the main characters’ introspections. In the middle of a scene, the POV character will suddenly veer off into mental rambling about something only peripherally related to events. This kills the story’s forward momentum until Booth returns to the plot. Although this book is over 100 pages shorter (at roughly 500 pages) than prior entries, these asides still need more paring down.Booth continues to soften Fry’s attitude toward Cooper, which is a welcome change from earlier books where she seemed to treat him as a slightly addled stepbrother – tolerated but not accepted because he will never quite be her equal. I’m beginning to wonder why he doesn’t tell her off once and for all.Maybe it does really rain a lot in the Peak District, but Booth often has his characters standing out in it, getting soaked. In the real world, they would know enough to dress in proper rain gear. Come on, Mr. Booth, fix that.Despite these niggling irritations I keep reading these books because stripped of all the wasted words, Booth tells a great story about an engaging mystery.
What do You think about Dying To Sin (2015)?
I've heard crime novels referred to as "police procedurals", which has always struck me as inappropriate - for me, the details of police procedures are the least interesting part of an investigation. I want the mystery, the flashes of deduction and the colourful characters. However, maybe there are some people who like to read about the back office stuff - and this book is for them. There were no sudden revelations, just plodding detective work. Not my cup of tea, especially as there were no sub-plots to add variety and interest.There were also far too many explanations, very few of which came naturally from the mouths of characters, and most of them largely unnecessary to the plot. I felt as though I was reading mini-lectures on the history of British farming, the state of UK policing, the prevalence of illegal immigration in King's Lynn (nowhere near the setting of the book!), etc etc. The author had obviously done his research - but I would've preferred not to know the bits I didn't need to know.
—Dorothy
#8 DC Ben Cooper/DS Diane Fry mystery set in the Peak District of England. A body has been found at Pity Wood Farm, an old family farm recently sold off when the last remaining Sutton brother, Raymond, goes into a care home. Developers are digging and re-doing much of the farmstead when a college student unearths a hand while digging--which soon proves to be attached to a body, estimated to have been in the ground for about a year. While the forensic and pathology departments try to determine cause of death, Cooper and Fry begin interviewing neighbors and old Mr. Sutton, whose mind isn't very sharp anymore. No one has been reported missing in the area, although the villagers and people living on the surrounding farms are decidedly reticent in dealings with the police, so they're stumped as to who the body might have been. They're surmising that it may have been one of the many seasonal workers, often foreign help provided by agencies when another body turns up wrapped in the same plastic, only estimated to have died about four years previously. As Christmas approaches, the whole of the police force groans with the knowledge that celebrations with family and friends may be in short supply, and a new Det. Superintendent seems hell bent on making some major changes--one that may see Diane Fry transferring out. Cooper, meanwhile, struggles with the deepening relationship with SOCO Liz Petty.Another enjoyable visit to Edendale and surrounding area. The relationship between Cooper and Fry still irks me and the dialogue still at times feels somewhat unnatural, but the stories themselves are wonderful. I picked up on many of the clues as to 'what was going on' fairly early on (and am surprised that the cops didn't!) but didn't figure out the whole package until just before the reveal. Fry bugs the heck out of me, and sometimes I want to smack Cooper upside the head, too, but something about the books keeps drawing me back to the series and they never disappoint. A.
—Spuddie
In the 8th book about Detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry some builders find not only one both two bodies buried at a secluded farm in the Peak District. The farm has for the last couple of years used illegal immigrants as workers and it looks like some of them never left the place.Cooper and Fry do their best to talk the locals as well as digging into the past, but it's not until a foreign man arrives to the area looking for his sister that Cooper and Fry realize what's been going on at the farm. Needless to say no ordinary farm work.
—Cathrine
