Rating: 
Summary: A Remarkable First Novel
Review: Stephen Booth is a new British author and "Black Dog" is his first novel. It is set in England, in the Peak District, an area known for hiking and overrun by tourists in the summer.Laura Vernon, aged 15, of Moorhay Village disappears and foul play is suspected. The police launch a search, but it is a villager who turns up the first real evidence. Laura Vernon's family had only recently moved to the area and does not blend in well with their neighbors. And there seems to be something else no one is willing to talk about. DCs Diane Fry and Ben Cooper are part of the investigating police force. Diane had only recently transferred to the district, Ben is the local boy, "Sergeant Cooper's lad", trying to live up to the shining example his father set. Both are competing for a promotion and there is more to both of them than meets the eye. The interaction between these two is what makes up most of this book's charm. Stephen Booth does a very good job here to portray two very different characters and to show how deceiving appearances can be. This is not your usual police procedural. There is a lot more to the book than just an investigation and a criminal. The solution to the mystery is almost secondary and, to be honest, feels a bit rushed. It is the two main characters that drive the book. You get to know them very well and I would love to read more about them. I highly recommend this book. Fans of psychological mysteries like Minette Walters' will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Watch out PD James and Martha Grimes
Review: Stephen Booth's first novel, Black Dog, reminded me of two of my favorite mystery novelists, P.D. James (Adam Dagliesh) and Martha Grimes (her early Richard Jury/Melrose Plant books). Like Adam Dagliesh and Richard Jury, Ben Cooper is a complex human being who uses his intuition to solve crimes. He feels for the people involved in a criminal investigation and is an immediately likeable character. You want to see him succeed. Ben's foil is Diane Fry, a brittle, ambitious, by-the-book female officer, who not knowing how to love, only aspires to succeed. Diane needs to learn to get in touch with her emotions and deal with her past. You sense that just maybe Ben is the man to teach her. Also, like the aformentioned British crime novelists, Booth uses the small details of the day-to-day lives of the people involved in and on the periphery of the crime. And, a dastardly crime it is, too. But, as with a masterwork painting, Booth adds the layers with a fine hand, blending in the details, so that in the end you have a photorealistic look at the whole scene. What may have seemed extraneous detail becomes clear with the very satisfying conclusion. It's an "aha" moment. As a reader, I can only hope that Mr. Booth is writing the next in this series. I would like to see what happens next to Ben and Diane, to see how they grow as partners and people.
Rating:
Summary: Thais author know how to write a fine crime novel
Review: The police task force searches on foot and via helicopter for the missing teenager, Laura Vernon. While most folks hope that Laura traveled to London, Detective Constable Ben Cooper expects to find a corpse in the nearby woods. Ben's expectations are met when matter of fact, almost bored, retired miner Harry Dickinson shows him the bloody trainer. Just beyond the sneaker in an overgrowth Ben finds the body. Ben and his new partner, outsider Diane Fry, begin making inquiries. Their short list includes the enigmatic Harry, the victim's parents especially her father, and some of the hired help. As they close in on the truth, the case forces Ben and Diane, attracted to one another even as they compete for the same promotion, to look back into their own demons. Readers who enjoy plenty of non-stop action or a highly constructed complex puzzler will not want to try BLACK DOG. However, fans who enjoy the deliberately slow husking away of layers of psychological protection and hidden lives that leave bare the inner most essence of the key characters will fully enjoy this tale. The psychological suspense crowd will warmly receive author Stephen Booth's debut novel. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: good storyline, shame about the characters
Review: this first novel had a reasonably different and interesting storyline, but the characters, especially the female ones were entirely one-dimensional. The women were either cliches or stereotypes, with the 'bad girl' of the piece getting herself murdered and the cold, hard type getting herself raped. All of this is mild though compared to a fatuous and unchallenged statement made by Fry to the effect that more false rapes are reported than real ones. Could be a lot better if the author got out a bit more and met some real people.
Rating:
Summary: BLACK DOG A CLEAR WINNER IN LITERARY FICTION
Review: This is a great, moody, piece of work, and a wonderful mystery. I was struck, when I first started reading it, by the somber tone of the world I was entering. A young girl is murdered, and one by one, as the clues emerge, we begin to learn more about the people in this sad little town--more, actually, than the average person would want to know had they lived around there. Every small town has its secrets, and this one certainly does. Steven Booth has such a delicate, deft touch with his clues that the reader--particularly if all they're looking for is a fast, uncomplicated, easy read--tends to miss them, therefore doesn't have any idea who the killer is until the author wants them to know. I read this book very slowly because I could tell from page one that Booth is an incredible author, and I didn't want to miss a single word or nuance. I was struck again and again by Booth's lyrical, haunting prose as the story progressed. Only a very talented author who is sure of his craft could write like that. His countryside is so real to me that I can still feel it, even though the book is finished. I absolutely loved BLACK DOG, and I can't recommend it highly enough. And now, since I know his next book will contain the same investigators, I'm anxiously awaiting it, because I'm really interested in their lives and their own personal problems and hangups. The characterizations in this novel are subtle, yet so well done, that you'll wind up feeling Fry and Cooper are old friends you definitely want to read more about.
Rating:
Summary: Superb,Exciting,a New British Look!
Review: Well and superbly done! The twists and turns,the clever and cunning characters,and 'a new look' at British Law and Order were compelling,making it hard to put down overnight! The look into contemporary mores,styles and changes in the British scene are masterful,insightful,even frightening,enough to make me reluctant to visit again those tarns,moors and caves.Thank goodness DC's Cooper and Fry will still be in action! A most enjoyable 'two evenings read'
Rating: 
Summary: A matter of perspective...
Review: Whether or not one thinks BLACK DOG is the most amazing book ever written or a run-of-the-mill mystery will undoubtedly be tied to one's perspective and prior reading experience. I have read mostly British mysteries (ALL of Sayers, Christie, James, Dexter, Ellis, Allingham, Walters, Hall, Hill, Robinson, etc.) as well as a few American writers (Cornwall, Evanovich). For me, although BLACK DOG is well written, it is a run-of-the-mill British mystery -- great for grabbing in an airport book store to while away the hours standing in the security lines or seated on airplanes. I would not place Booth in the top tier of recently "arrived" British mystery writers (i.e. Minette Walters) as some have. However, like Jill McGowan he shows promise of surviving the long haul without becoming a super star. Booth's character development is comparable to Reginald Hill's (medium), although Ben Cooper is more akin to Peter Pasco than Dalziel. Ben Cooper has a future, but I don't find Diane Fry appealing. I think Booth would have done better to spend more time in Cooper's head and less in Fry's. Rare is the writer who can inspire a protagonist of the opposite sex. P.D. James succeeded with Adam Dalglish, but Dalglish is older like James, and older men and women tend to think more alike than not. Life simply wears one down around the edges and narrows the differences. Booth's forensics events are familiar, particularly if you are a fan of Patricia Cornwell, who did a masterful job of explaining the progression of the decomposition of the human body in BODY FARM. I suppose every mystery/crime writer has to resort to forensics these days, but it gets tiresome to read about flies and maggots over and over. Booth is not gratuitous, however, and his descriptions of the material events surrounding the death of Laura Vernon are necessary to futher his storyline. Anglophiles love the perspective that only Brits can share about their lives. BLACK DOG takes place in what appears to be an English village in or near Derbyshire in Central England. Most Americans who travel to England don't see the life Booth describes--old established connections of the family members and friends; the varous types of housing, streets, and pathways; and other aspects of daily living such as the importance of dogs, manure, and pub life. The ancectdotal bits are wonderful. I never understood the significance of the Black Dog before I read Booth's book, and now, maybe I do.
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