Dying by the book - Judith Cutler

On a year's sabbatical from her teaching job, Sophie Rivers is enjoying a stint as a volunteer for the Big Brum Bookfest - a new literary festival promising to cast Hay and Edinburgh into the shade. But someone is determined to sabotage the Bookfest. First it's the phone calls and letters threatening the festival's authors; then the Director succumbs to a mysterious illness; then, suddenly in charge of the project, Sophie herself becomes the victim of a vicious and terrifyingly knowledgeable stalker. Sophie never could resist a mystery and it's not long before she's calling on old friend Superintendent Chris Groom to find out as much as she can about the case. But when the stalker turns murderer it's clear she's in way over her head...

Like Sophie Rivers, Judith Cutler was born and bred in the Black Country and taught for many years in a Birmingham further education college. She has lectured in Creative Writing at Birmingham University and in such different locations as a maximum security prison and the Greek island of Skyros. When not writing novels she returns to her first love, short stories, many of which have won prizes of been broadcast.

'A winner... Sophie's a likeable heroine and it's a good tale, full of West Midlands atmosphere' Coventry Evening Telegraph
'The narrative is, as always, witty and erudite, moving with assurance' Nottingham Evening Post

DYING TO SCORE:
'For all its wit and gritty drama this is a comforting book, the sub-text one of successful communication between different cultures, ages, sexes. A clever book in which the falllible central character discovers a son as well as a lover, and new readers will discover Cutler' Shots
'From PD James' Cordelia Gray onwards, British detective writing is crammed with feisty young female sleuths. But in Cutler's Sophie Rivers we are undoubtedly dealing with the creme de la creme' The Times

Previous:
'Thoroughly sharp, modern, witty and literate' Margaret Yorke;
'An excellent example of the most popular character in crime fiction at the moment, Sophie is...feisty, liberated and attractive' Evening Standard;
'If you haven't yet discovered this series which features Sophie Rivers, a Birmingham lecturer, then you are in for a treat... Sophie is certainly the most realistic female sleuth around today' Bella
'Fast-moving...set in the real world of the inner city... If you enjoy modern fiction of the Grafton and Paretsky genre, then you will probably enjoy this book' Crime Time
'Its appeal to Birmingham readers is obvious, but it must also appeal to any crime-fiction addict. She has the ability to devise a very complicated plot and to develop without losing control...Her writing is lively...amusing...one of the most appealing newcomers on the crime fiction scene for years' F.E. Pardoe