Stephen Booth (born 1952) is an English crime-writer. He is the author of the

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

-set Cooper and Fry series.

Early and personal life

Booth was born in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, the son of Jim and Edna Booth. At the age of two, he moved with his parents to Blackpool where he attended

Arnold School Arnold School was an independent school in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, established on the Fylde coast in 1896 during the Victorian expansion of public boarding schools in England. The school was in the United Church Schools Trust group o ...

. He lives with his wife Lesley in

Retford Retford (), also known as East Retford, is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England, and one of the oldest English market towns having been granted its first charter in 1105. It lies on the River Idle and the Chesterfie ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

Career

For over 27 years, he was a journalist for various newspapers and magazines including the ''Wilmslow Advertiser'', ''

Huddersfield Examiner The ''Huddersfield Daily Examiner'' is an English local daily evening newspaper covering news and sport from Huddersfield and its surrounding areas. History The first edition was published as a weekly, starting on 6 September 1851, as the '' ...

'', and the ''Worksop Guardian''. He also worked as a sub-editor for the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. In 2001 he gave this up to be a full-time

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

Bibliography

Cooper and Fry series, about two young Derbyshire police detectives, Ben Cooper and Diane Fry, as they try to solve various murders: #'' 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) #''Dead in the Dark'' (2017) #''Fall Down Dead'' (2018) Ben Cooper novella: * ''Claws'' (2007) Stand-alone novels: # ''Top Hard'' (2011) #''Drowned Lives'' (2019)

Awards and nominations

*2001 – Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel: ''Black Dog'' *2001 –

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. T ...

Gold Dagger The Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. From ...

for Best Crime Novel of the Year (shortlist): ''Dancing with the Virgins'' *2002 – Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel: ''Dancing With the Virgins'' *2003 –

Dagger in the Library The Dagger in the Library (Golden Handcuffs in 1992–1994) is an annual award given by the British Crime Writers' Association to a particular "living author who has given the most pleasure to readers". Yearly shortlists are drawn up of the ten auth ...

*2006 –

Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award The Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award is one of the UK's top crime-fiction awards, sponsored by Theakston's Old Peculier. It is awarded annually at Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of ...

(shortlist): ''One Last Breath'' *2007 –

(shortlist): ''The Dead Place''

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Stephen 1952 births English crime fiction writers English male journalists People educated at Arnold School People from Burnley People from Blackpool Living people Barry Award winners English male novelists