Dancing With the Virgins

First Line: On the day the first woman died, Mark Roper had radio trouble.

In a remote area of the Peaks District in England, a prehistoric ring of stones called the Nine Virgins witnesses the brutal murder of a young cyclist. When Detective Constable Ben Cooper and Detective Sergeant Diane Fry learn that another woman was attacked by an assailant with a knife less than half a mile from the Nine Virgins, they feel they've found the start of a pattern that needs to be stopped immediately.

After enjoying the first book in the series, Black Dog, I expected to settle down to another good read, and Dancing With the Virgins did start well. Author Stephen Booth is a master of the atmospheric setting of the Peaks District-- making it appear both show more beautiful and menacing-- and his two main characters are finely drawn. However, I had several major problems with this book.

Those very same main characters that I'm getting to know so well are rubbing my fur the wrong way. Diane Fry is the Queen of Not-Letting-Anyone-Get-Close. She realizes this but doesn't know what to do about it... or if she even wants to do anything about it. She's so prickly that, no matter what anyone does, they put their foot in it. I may understand some of her motivations, but after a while prickly gets old, and I begin to wish that she could remain civil to everyone for one entire hour.

Ben Cooper, on the other hand, is the opposite of Diane Fry. Where Diane Fry sees black or white, everything is in shades of grey to Ben Cooper. He has a difficult time saying no to anyone and seems to want to be all things to all people. As a result, he seems frozen in place at times.

The pacing of the book was glacial and came very close to being a Did Not Finish for me. The first substantive clue for the main murder occurred on page 380 of a 528-page book. The culprits for this were the many subplots that sucked all the life out of the investigation into the murder of the cyclist. Besides the murder, there were plot threads involving child pornography, illegal dog fighting, a corrupt cop, two young homeless men camped out in a broken-down van, domestic violence, a young park ranger learning the ropes... and others. If there'd been fewer subplots, I think things would've moved a bit faster and the book would've held my interest.

As it stands, Dancing With the Virgins just didn't work for me. I do have the third book in the series here, and I will read it. But it will be a while before I pick it up. show less

Excellent mystery set in the north of England. Good sense of place, main characters well developed. plot complex and moves at a good pace.
Detective Ben Cooper, a local copper with a good feel fo the locals is not led off on tangents like the others, particularly Detective Diane Fry, who has recently arrived from the south. Both these characters appeared in his first novel, Black Dog, and are filled in in more detail here.
The murder of Jenny Weston and attack on Maggie Crew appear to be related but it is only towards the end that the link between them becomes clear but is muddied considerably by the apparent link with a dog fighting business. The resolution is slow coming but very satisfactory. The on-again-off-again relationship show more between Ben and Diane appears to be warming up but both have depths and secrets not yet shared.
I liked his unsparing portrayal of the characters and his unflinching and unhappy look at the world of livestock slaughterhouses and failing farms. Quite a long way from a comfortable armchair. Oh, and there's a ripping good mystery here, too! show less

Interesting second book of a series about two police officers in the Peak District. Lots of description of the area, lots of local color and legends, and a pretty good mystery to boot.

From Amazon:

Dancing With the Virgins is an atmospheric, psychological stunner— perfect for fans of Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson.

As winter closes in on the moors, so does death. The body of a young woman is found within a ring of ancient cairns, her arms and legs arranged to look as though she's dancing.

Now another young woman has been found, savagely wounded and severely traumatized, but alive. Ben Cooper and Diane Fry must unlock the memories trapped inside her mind before more blood is shed amongst the stones .

My Thoughts:

It takes a while to really get going, as with many police investigations, but pretty soon things start coming together. A nicely woven mystery is unraveled with a few surprises, both pleasant and unpleasant, show more revealed along the way. The setting of the book is once again a powerful factor in setting the mood of the story, which is not what I would term upbeat. It always feels dangerous, dark and menacing - just like a good murder mystery should. show less

Pleasant but not as interesting as the first one in the series. The local characters were there, and your heart wrung for some of them, especially the kids put on a bus near the end. The story revolved around women being attacked on the moor near a collection of strange stones, and what brought the women to the area in the first place. I am writing the review 2 days later and can hardly remember or care who the culprit was though...

A murder mystery set in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire. Quite interesting but not one of the best I've read.

Not for me.