Already Dead by Stephen Booth is the thirteenth novel of the Cooper and Fry detective mysteries. Following Dead and Buried, this has enough of a connecting storyline that I recommend reading that before this one.
DS Ben Cooper is noticeably absent when this begins, indeed, no one can contact him. Personal issues have left him vague and distracted for nearly 300 pages. His rival DS Diane Fry is lead on the latest murder when a man is found drowned in shallow water. The victim was a meek insurance salesman in charge of rejecting claims - could the culprit be a disgruntled customer? Torrential rains have covered the Eden Valley leading to sandbagging and flooding of the River Eden. There is also a quarry near the crime scene in Shallow Wood where the arsonists from the last novel are still freely working, drawing Ben Cooper to obsessively stalk them across the district, and much of the novel has him driving from one town to another - again the Peak District countryside is well represented. Insurance fraud, blackmail, torture and adultery all surface when a local real estate agent is also killed.
Heavy on atmosphere and conflict between Cooper and Fry, this is an unusual entry in the series. Having Ben on the sidelines gave the other officers more to do, and we get to know more about them. Despite Fry having the larger role, in what she thought was a short term post, she is hard to like and she doesn't make it easy. A usual pattern would be for Cooper and Fry to join forces, instead when Ben returns they goad and irritate each other - although I must say Diane tries to reach out.
For fans of British crime TV shows, this is a good read - this entry is slower than the others but full of local character.
The Cooper and Fry series is in development for a TV series.
2014 / Tradeback / 466 pages
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