When builder's labourer Danny Ward is asked to dig the foundations for a new wall during the conversion of Pity Wood Farm, he doesn't expect to find a human hand preserved in the clay.And when the police arrive to dig up the farmyard, they don't expect to find not one body, but two – with several years between their burials.DS Diane Fry and DC Ben Cooper are part of the Derbyshire CID team tasked with piecing together the lives of the Sutton family who owned the farm before it was sold for development. Why would a pair of elderly brothers have the dead bodies of two women concealed on their property? And how do you even start tracking down decades of itinerant farm workers who might be able to cast light on the mystery?With forensic evidence in short supply, Fry and Cooper have only the fragmentary memories of local people to rely on, including the landlord of the Dog Inn, the retired village bobby, and a handful of scattered neighbours in the White Peak settlement of Rakedale.Their enquiry coincides with the arrival in Edendale of a new Detective Superintendent, and the threat of more shake-ups in 'E' Division CID that might separate Cooper and Fry permanently.As Cooper becomes convinced that there ought to be a third body to provide the vital link and explain the burials at Pity Wood, Fry struggles to come to terms with one of the more unusual rural beliefs she's encountered so far - the magical properties of preserved body parts.* The 8th novel in the multiple award-winning Cooper & Fry series, set in England's beautiful and atmospheric Peak District.PRAISE FOR THE COOPER AND FRY SERIES:"Suspenseful and supremely engaging. Booth does a wonderful job." - Los Angeles Times"Simultaneously classic, contemporary and haunting." - Otto Penzler, Mysterious Bookshop, New York"Stephen Booth makes high summer in Derbyshire as dark and terrifying as midwinter." - Val McDermid, award-winning crime novelist"Intelligent and substantive crime fiction, rich with complex characters." - Library Journal"Booth has firmly joined the elite of Britain's top mystery writers." - Florida Sun-Sentinel"Crime fiction for the thinking man or woman, and damnably hard to put down." - January Magazine"Highly recommended - a great series!" - Seattle Mystery Bookstore"Ben Cooper and Diane Fry are the most interesting crime team to arrive on the mystery scene in a long while." - Rocky Mountain News"One of our best story tellers." - Sunday Telegraph"There are few, if any, contemporary writers who do this as well as Stephen Booth." - Arena magazine"Booth is a modern master of rural noir." - The Guardian"Booth delivers some of the best crime fiction in the UK." - Manchester Evening News"Stephen Booth has to be one of the best new English mystery writers." - Toadstool Bookshop, New Hampshire"Booth's aim is to portray the darkness that lies below the surface... in this he succeeds wonderfully well." - Mark Billingham, author of the DI Tom Thorne series"If you read only one new crime writer this year, he's your man." - Yorkshire Post
