Cooper put his hand on the shoulder of the carved miner, testing for a bit of warmth where the sunlight touched the wood.

‘In fact, Vernon was loved by everyone around him,’ he said. ‘He just never knew it.’

‘Ben …’

Cooper withdrew his hand and looked at Fry. But he wasn’t sure who he was talking to when he spoke again.

‘We know so little about death. But the fact is, most of us know even less about love.’

About the Author

STEPHEN BOOTH was born in the Lancashire mill town of Burnley and has remained rooted to the Pennines during his career as a newspaper journalist. He is well known as a breeder of Toggenburg goats and includes among his other interests folkore, the Internet, and walking in the hills of the Peak District, in which his crime novels are set. He lives with his wife, Lesley, in a former Georgian dower house in Nottinghamshire.

Also by Stephen Booth

Fiction

Black Dog

Dancing With the Virgins

Blood on the Tongue

Blind to the Bones

One Last Breath

Scared to Live

Dying to Sin

The Kill Call

Lost River

The Devil’s Edge

Dead and Buried

Already Dead

About the Publisher

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

Canada

HarperCollins Canada

2 Bloor Street East – 20th Floor

Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada

New Zealand

HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited

P.O. Box 1

Auckland, New Zealand

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

77-85 Fulham Palace Road

London, W6 8JB, UK

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

10 East 53rd Street

New York, NY 10022