Gallows View: The First Inspector Banks Mystery FROM THE PUBLISHER
Former London policeman Alan Banks relocated to Yorkshire seeking some small measuer of peace. But depravity and violence are unfortunately not unique to large cities. His new venue, the quaint little village of Eastvale, seems to have more than its fair share of malefactors—among them a brazen Peeping Tom who hides in night's shadows spying on attractrive, unsuspecting ladies as they prepare for bed. And when an elderly woman is found brutally slain in her home, Chief Inspector Banks wonders if the voyeur has increased the awful intensity of his criminal activities. But whether relatied or not, perverse local acts and murderous ones are combining to profoundly touch Banks's suddenly vulnerable perosonal life, forcing a dedicated law officer to make hard choices he'd dearly hoped would never be necessary.
FROM THE CRITICS
Washington Post
An exceptional series.
Los Angeles Times
An intimate procedural, nicely and comfortably done, suspenseful as well and satisfying in its resolutions.
New York Times Book Review
An extremely well-fashioned police procedural.
Publishers Weekly
The considerable appeal of this first novel, an English village police procedural, lies in Robinson's updating of the genre with realistic treatment of contemporary violence and sexual issues, while maintaining the charm and civility of the setting. Chief Inspector Alan Banks, a big-city detective newly arrived in the Yorkshire town of Eastvale, is suddenly confronted with a minor crime wave. A Peeping Tom is alarming his victims and arousing Eastvale's strident feminists. Then a pair of young toughs take to harrassing and robbing the elderly. When an old woman is murdered in her home, Banks must determine if yet a third criminal--a killer--has surfaced, and if any or all of these events are related. Complicating matters is his attraction to the psychologist brought in on the Peeping Tom case and the fact that his own wife has become one of the Peeper's targets. In a climactic moment, these two women are in simultaneous but separate danger and Banks must try and save them both. There is one final secret to be revealed in this impressive debut. (Dec.)
Home
