Strange Affair by
Peter Robinson
hbk out January 05
Published by Macmillan
at £17.99
Another Inspector Banks story from the prolific word-processor of Peter
Robinson. The Yorkshire-Detective-Chief-Inspector-with-a-bumpy-
relationship-with-a-female-colleague-or-journalist theme is becoming
almost a genre in itself, but Peter Robinson is ahead of his competitors.
This is a follow-on to the recent Playing with Fire, to which a number of
allusions are made during the book and we keeping waiting for the villian
of that story to turn up in this one.
The plot is different from the usual Alan Banks yarn, in that it takes place
almost entirely in London, as even his estranged girl-friend and assistant,
DI Annie Cabbot, spends most of her time there, commuting up and down
from Yorkshire to liaise with the Met. It all starts with Banks, who is on
leave, getting an anxious call on his answering machine from his younger
brother Roy, urgently asking Alan to contact him. Banks has always
looked on his brother as a bit of a crook and in recent years has had little
to do with him. However, family ties make him respond, but no way can
he raise Roy, so he goes down to the Smoke to find him.
At the same time, a young woman is found shot dead in her car in
Yorkshire and she has Bank's old address in her pocket. Annie Cabbot is
the Investigating Officer, but now she cannot find Alan, as he has
vanished into the wilds of London. They both pursue their investigations
independently, Banks' being unofficial and increasing dangerous,
especially after his brother is found murdered. The book ends with a
shoot-out, and nobody lives particularly happy ever after.
As always, the writing is excellent and his knowledge of police and
forensic procedure is refreshingly accurate, after the hash some writers
make of it.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
Strange Affair by
Peter Robinson
