Showing results by author "Peter Robinson" in All Categories

In the usually peaceful town of Eastvale, a simmering tension has now reached breaking point. An antinuclear demonstration has ended in violence, leaving one policeman stabbed to death. Fired by professional outrage, Superintendent 'Dirty Dick' Burgess descends with vengeful fury on the inhabitants of Maggie's Farm, an isolated house high on the daleside.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks has reached a turning point. With his wife now living with another man in London and his career in the doldrums thanks to Chief Constable Riddle, it is time to ring the changes. Perhaps a move to the National Crime Squad? Perhaps a second chance with Sandra? But then late one night he is summoned to Riddle's house - and his plans take a surprising new turn. For the Chief Constable's 16-year-old daughter, Emily, has run away, and for once Riddle wants Banks to use his unorthodox methods to find her without fuss.

Banks is back - and this time he's investigating the murder of one of his own. Detective Inspector Bill Reid is killed by a crossbow in the tranquil grounds of a police rehabilitation centre, and compromising photos are found in his room. DCI Banks, brought in to investigate, is assailed on all sides. By Joanna Passero, the Professional Standards inspector who insists on shadowing the investigation in case of police corruption.

Playing with Fire is the 14th novel in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series, following on from The Summer That Never Was. In the early hours of a cold January morning, two narrow boats catch fire on the dead-end stretch of the Eastvale canal. When signs of accelerant are found at the scene, DCI Banks and DI Annie Cabbot are summoned. But by the time they arrive, only the smouldering wreckage is left, and human remains have been found on both boats.

Dry Bones That Dream is the seventh novel in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series, following on from Wednesday's Child. It was 2.47 a.m. when Chief Inspector Alan Banks arrived at the barn and saw the body of Keith Rothwell for the first time. Only hours earlier two masked men had walked the...

Through the years of success in Hollywood composing music for the world's most lauded films, Chris always promised his wife they would return to the Yorkshire Dales one day. Now, after his wife's death, Chris feels he must not forget his promise. Back in the Dales, he rents an isolated house...

Dead Right is the ninth novel in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series, following on from Innocent Graves. The broken body of Jason Fox has been found in a dirty alleyway. At first it looks like a typical after-hours pub fight gone wrong. But Inspector Alan Banks soon realizes that the truth is rarely so straightforward....

‘The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are the best series on the market. Try one and tell me I’m wrong’ – Stephen King When a body is found, Banks must confront his past. A skeleton has been unearthed. Soon the body is identified, and the horrific discovery hits the headlines...

A Dedicated Man is the second novel in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series, following on from Gallows View. Near the village of Helmthorpe, Swainsdale, the body of a well-liked local historian is found half-buried under a dry stone wall. Harry Steadman has been brutally murdered. But who would want to kill such a thoughtful, dedicated man? Chief Inspector Alan Banks is called in to investigate and soon discovers that disturbing secrets lie behind the apparently bucolic facade.

One foggy night, Deborah Harrison is found lying in the churchyard behind St Mary's, Eastvale. She has been strangled with the strap of her own school satchel. But Deborah was no typical 16-year-old. Her father was a powerful financier who moved in the highest echelons of industry, defence and classified information. And Deborah, it seemed, enjoyed keeping secrets of her own....

A faceless corpse is discovered in a tranquil, hidden valley below the village of Swainshead. And when Chief Inspector Alan Banks arrives, he finds that no-one is willing to talk. Banks' frustration only grows when the identity of the body is revealed. For it seems that his latest case may be connected with an unsolved murder in the same area five years ago. Among the silent suspects are the Collier brothers, the wealthiest and most powerful family in the village.

When he receives a mysterious and disturbing telephone call from his brother, Roy, Inspector Alan Banks heads off to London to search him out. Meanwhile, DI Annie Cabbot is called to a murder scene on a quiet stretch of road just outside Eastvale. A young woman has been found dead in her car, with Banks' name and address written on a slip of paper in the back pocket of her jeans.

In the early hours of the morning, a man reports a fire on two old canal boats. One of the firefighters notices the use of accelerant at the scene and calls the police, but by the time Inspector Banks arrives, the fire brigade have put out the flames and only the smouldering wreckage remains. A body has been found on each barge, and all the evidence points towards a deliberate arson attack.

It should have been a cosy scene: log fire, sheepskin rug, Vivaldi on the stereo, Christmas lights and tree. But appearances can be deceptive. For Caroline Hartley has been brutally murdered.

Thirty-five The Hill is an ordinary house in an ordinary street, owned by an apparently ordinary young couple. But it is about to become infamous. For when Police Constables Janet Taylor and Dennis Morrisey are sent to the house following a report of a domestic disturbance, they stumble upon a truly horrific scene - a scene which leaves one of them dead and the other fighting for her life and career.

The first volume in this unabridged chilling collection of short tales from the author of the best-selling Inspector Banks series. Peter Robinson is one of the crime world's finest stylists. This is a collection that will explore our hidden paranoia, challenge all that we take for granted, and lure us to new, exotic places - only to make us wish we could run back home, and keep us up all night just waiting for the safety of the dawn.

When two social workers investigating reports of child abuse appear at Brenda Scupham's door, her fear of authority leads her to comply meekly with their requests - even when they say that they must take her seven-year-old daughter Gemma away for tests. It is only when they fail to return Gemma the following day that Brenda realises something has gone terribly wrong.

Chief Inspector Banks is back - in an original tale that makes up part of a new crime collection of twelve short stories by Peter Robinson, never published in the UK before...

It was 2.47 a.m. when Chief Inspector Alan Banks arrived at the barn and saw the body of Keith Rothwell for the first time. Only hours earlier, two masked men had walked the mild-mannered accountant out of his farmhouse and clinically blasted him with a shotgun.

A Dedicated Man is the second novel in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series, following on from Gallows View. Near the village of Helmthorpe, Swainsdale, the body of a well-liked local historian is found half-buried under a dry stone wall. Harry Steadman has been brutally murdered. But who...