Dying to Sin

Nach dem Klappentext (siehe auch obenstehende Kurzbeschreibung) zu urteilen, erwartete ich einen blutrünstigen Thriller mit vielen Toten (oder so ähnlich). Tatsächlich jedoch entpuppte es sich als einer der typisch englischen Krimis, in denen neben der eigentlichen Verbrechen noch eine Reihe weiterer Themen ausgiebig beschrieben werden.
In diesem Fall sind es die Schwierigkeiten der Landbevölkerung, die mehr oder weniger gut versuchen mit den Änderungen klarzukommen (oder auch nicht), die das moderne Leben mit sich bringt. Auch den privaten Verhältnissen der beiden Hauptdarsteller wird viel Raum eingeräumt, man erfährt viel über deren Ängste, Befürchtungen, Hoffnungen, so dass man beide bald klar vor Augen hat.
Nicht ganz show more passend fand ich den Schluß: Während das Buch trotz des doch recht blutigen und grausamen Auftaktes anschließend eher einen ruhigeren Gang einschlägt, artet der Schluß zu einem regelrechten Actionfinale aus, der zwar wirklich überraschend war, aber hier irgendwie etwas übertrieben wirkte.
Fazit: Für Fans des typisch britischen Krimis ein Genuß, für die Anhänger blutiger und brutaler Thriller eher enttäuschend. show less

Stephen Booth is always a good read. A great sense of place, challenging characters, and a well-done mystery.

An improvement on the last two books. Ben and Diane's relationship seems more human and more rounded. An intriguing plot, with some cunning twists near the end. Atmospheric writing about the landscape, as usual.

Another excellent mystery. A body is dug out "by mistake" and soon we have one more. Fry and Cooper are soon involved in interviewing possible suspects, the old owner of the farm, now sold, and get to discover dark secrets and a crime ring where no one would have expected it. I loved every bit of this book, all the way to the grand finale with gunshots and danger for our heros. Fry goes to Dublin and mellows a bit, Cooper is following his instincts and scoring points, and Murfin is suspected of having taken all the chocolate bars from the lunch boxes. Now, where's the next in the series?

Another dark tale from the Peak District. A body uncovered during farm renovations leads to all kinds of revelations and strains the often uneasy relationship between DS Fry and PC Cooper. Well captured dark, brooding atmosphere but I found the plot a little plodding at times and didn't automatically reach for the book at every opportunity to finish it.

I've been enjoying [a:Stephen Booth|11160|Stephen Booth|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1306912703p2/11160.jpg]'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 show more 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 [b:Dying to Sin|1187849|Dying To Sin (Ben Cooper & Diane Fry, #8)|Stephen Booth|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181751417s/1187849.jpg|1175837], 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. show less

Stephen Booth immerses the reader in his descriptions of the Peak District. The characters have their quirks and aren't always totally likeable. This story was steeped in superstition and also modern day crimes.