Writer misses out on top prize

IT WAS third time unlucky for a former Worksop journalist when he was again beaten in the finals of the UK Crime Novel of the Year Awards.

Stephen Booth, aged 55, was one of six authors nominated for the award, presented at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival, for his novel The Dead Place, the sixth featuring young police detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry.

Stephen has been nominated three years running and this year was the second time he had reached the finals.

But the winner was Allan Guthrie for his novel, Two Way Split. He won 3,000 and a miniature handmade oak beer cask crafted by one of Britain's last coopers.

Stephen lives in North Nottinghamshire, where he was deputy editor of the Worksop Guardian before leaving journalism six years ago to write crime novels full-time.

He previously worked for the Barnsley Chronicle series while living near Holmfirth.

His books, all set in the Peak District, have found success on both sides of the Atlantic, and have been translated into 15 languages.

In 2003, he won the Dagger in the Library Award, presented by the Crime Writers' Association for the author whose books have given readers most pleasure.

"It was an excellent shortlist again this year, and I was very honoured to be on it. It's so hard to believe some of the most influential crime novelists in this country, such as Ruth Rendell and PD James, were nominated but failed to make the shortlist. These are the writers whose books I've admired for years as a reader."

One of Stephen's characters, Det Con Ben Cooper, has been a finalist for the Sherlock Award for the best detective created by a British author, and the series has twice won awards in the USA.

The Dead Place is an atmospheric thriller, in which chilling phone messages are made to the police, and human remains are discovered in the Derbyshire countryside.