VJ Books Presents Author Stephen Booth!
 Stephen Booth was born in the English Pennine mill town of Burnley. He was brought up on the Lancashire coast at Blackpool, where he attended Arnold School. He began his career in journalism by editing his school magazine, and wrote his first novel at the age of 12. He has been a newspaper and magazine journalist for over 25 years,
After graduating from City of Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham City University), Stephen moved to Manchester to train as a teacher, but escaped from the profession after a terrifying spell as a trainee teacher in a big city comprehensive school.
Starting work on his first newspaper in Wilmslow, Cheshire, in 1974, Stephen was a specialist rugby union reporter, as well as working night shifts as a sub-editor on the Daily Express and The Guardian. This was followed by periods with local newspapers in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. He was at various times Production Editor of the Farming Guardian magazine, Regional Secretary of the British Guild of Editors, and one of the UK's first qualified assessors for the NVQ in Production Journalism.
In 2000, Stephen's first published novel, Black Dog, marked the arrival in print of his best known creations - two young Derbyshire police detectives, DC Ben Cooper and DS Diane Fry. Black Dog was the named by the London Evening Standard as one of the six best crime novels of the year - the only book on their list written by a British author. In the USA, it won the Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel and was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best First Mystery. The second Cooper & Fry novel, Dancing with the Virgins, was shortlisted for the UK's top crime writing award, the Gold Dagger, and went on to win Stephen a Barry Award for the second year running.
All the books are set in England's beautiful and atmospheric Peak District. At the end of 2006, the Peak District National Park Authority featured locations from the Cooper & Fry series in their new Peak Experience visitors' guides, recognising the interest in the area inspired by the books.
While living on a smallholding in Yorkshire, Stephen began breeding pedigree dairy goats as a hobby (and as an extreme contrast to working in busy news rooms!). He later served on the British Goat Society's governing body and judged at shows all over Britain.
In
recent years, Stephen Booth has become a Library Champion in support of
the UK's 'Love Libraries' campaign, and a Reading Champion to support
the National Year of Reading. He has also represented British literature
at the Helsinki Book Fair in Finland, filmed a documentary for 20th
Century Fox on the French detective Vidocq, taken part in online chats
for World Book Day, and given talks at many conferences, conventions,
libraries, bookshops and festivals around the world.
Stephen left journalism in 2001 to write novels full time. He and his wife Lesley live in a village in rural Nottinghamshire, England (home of Robin Hood and the Pilgrim Fathers). They have three cats.
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Stephen Booth Bibliography
Cooper and Fry Series
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Black Dog - 2000
- Dancing with the Virgins - 2001
- Blood on the Tongue - 2002
- Blind to the Bones - 2003
- One Last Breath - 2004
- The Dead Place - 2005
- Scared to Live - 2006
- Dying to Sin - 2007
- The Kill Call - 2009
- Lost River - 2010
- The Devil's Edge - 2011
- Dead and Buried - 2012
- Already Dead - 2013
- The Corpse Bridge - 2014
- The Murder Road - 2015
- Secrets of Death - 2016
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