Stephen Booth

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Stephen Booth

Stephen Booth was born in the mill town of Burnley and began his career in journalism by editing his school magazine, and wrote his first novel at the age of 12. Stephen trained as a teacher, but escaped from the profession after a terrifying spell as a trainee teacher in a big city comprehensive school.

He then worked as a newspaper and magazine journalist for over 25 years on local papers in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, as well as working night shifts as a sub-editor on the Daily Express and The Guardian.

In 2000, Stephen's first published novel, Black Dog, marked the arrival of two young Derbyshire police detectives, DC Ben Cooper and DS Diane Fry. The 16th in the series, Secrets of Death, will be published in June 2016. All the books are set in the atmospheric Peak District.

While living on a smallholding in Yorkshire, Stephen began breeding pedigree dairy goats as a hobby (and as an extreme contrast to working in busy news rooms). Probably his most unusual role was as a director of an artificial insemination company!
 
Stephen left journalism in 2001 to write novels full time. He and his wife Lesley live in a village in rural Nottinghamshire.

Interviewed 14 May 2016

Ten words to sum up your working life to date ...

He’s always written. In fact, it’s all he can do.

Nine things you can see from where you're sitting ...

A stretch of rolling green countryside, swallows flying in and out of a stable, an Ordnance Survey map of the Dark Peak, a large print of the Milky Way over Ladybower Reservoir, a Show of Hands CD, two five-year diaries, a The Murder Road mug (a gift at a signing), a copy of Derbyshire Murder Stories by David Bell, and my computer screen (as always).

Eight minutes to prepare a meal. What's it going to be ?

Cheese on toast. Eight minutes is too long to wait!

Seven people you'd like to go for a drink with ...

Actually, any bunch of crime novelists is good, since we can all sit down and talk about books and murder, and complain about our agents and publishers. It’s very therapeutic.

Six things you can't live without ...

Wife, cats, books, readers, peace and quiet. That may be more than six!

Five favourite words ...

Antediluvian, phantasmagorical, crepuscular, effervescence, slither.

Four places you'd run away to ...

The Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. The Isle of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides. Orkney. Shetland. Come to think of it, any Scottish island would do…

Three books you've bought recently ...

Traitor’s Blood by Michael Arnold (Civil War Chronicles)
Peak District Through The Lens by James Grant (a crowd-funding project I supported)
After the Fall (a collection of post-apocalyptic stories from a local independent publisher, Boo Books)

Two things that make you rant ...

Rudeness, bigotry.

One thing you'd tell your teenage self ...

It will happen one day. Keep trying.