MAY 2023 - AudioFile
Simon Vance enriches this final mystery from the late author's Detective Superintendent Alan Banks series. Vance expertly connects a heartrending story that moves from 1980 to 2019. In 1980, student Alice Poole's body is found in Yorkshire; no killer is ever caught. In 2019, a body found in an archaeological dig gives the police a viable lead. Vance is equally memorable portraying Nick Hartley as a student and, later, as a successful news reporter. Vance also excels with elderly, crotchety farmer Gillespie. Empathic personal snippets of Banks's team, including Winsome's enchanting Jamaican accent and tales of her baby, add lightness. This well-rendered police procedural is gripping, especially when astonishing connections are made. Audio is a must to appreciate the engaging characters and shocking conclusion. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 02/20/2023
Bestseller Robinson’s excellent 28th novel featuring Det. Supt. Alan Banks (after 2021’s Not Dark Yet) interweaves the 1980 murder of college student Alice Poole with the discovery in 2019 of a man’s body buried in an old farm about to be razed for a shopping center in Eastvale, Yorkshire. The earlier crime is related through the eyes of Poole’s ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Hartley, who’s haunted by the fact that no one was charged with Poole’s murder—and the obvious suspect, her then boyfriend, Mark Woodcroft, who disappeared without a trace. The narrative alternates between Hartley’s lifelong interest in the case while he becomes a successful journalist and Banks leading his team, including Det. Sgt. Winsome Jackman and other regulars, in the dogged, needle-in-a-haystack search for the identity of the man buried on the farm and, ultimately, his killer. The story enables Robinson to delve deeply into Banks’s backstory, including a stint undercover in London early in his career, along with policing and corruption from Thatcherite England to the present. As always in the Banks novels, readers will enjoy the details of pop culture and social history. This is an intelligent and satisfying procedural. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
"One of the finest police procedural writers around... [Standing in the Shadows] is as narratively rich and surprising as Robinson's best work. Knowing it's his last makes the reading bittersweet." — New York Times Book Review
"Readers will love getting a fascinating primer in both modern forensics and archaeological techniques.... As usual, Banks’ steadfast, multifaceted character holds his team and the story itself together....The ending, in which the two narratives join, is a stunner." — Booklist on Standing in the Shadows
“As always in the Banks novels, readers will enjoy the details of pop culture and social history. This is an intelligent and satisfying procedural.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Standing in the Shadows
“[An] intriguing Sherlock Holmes-type mystery.” — Buzzfeed on Standing in the Shadows
"Standing in the Shadows is textbook Robinson, expertly conceived and suspenseful from start to finish.... One of the best mystery/thriller series in the business." — Book Reporter on Standing in the Shadows
"Standing in the Shadows is a worthy addition to the Banks canon... Robinson was an author at the top of his game, and Banks a detective at the top of his. Both will be sorely missed by their readers." — The Guardian
"A fascinating mystery.... Standing in the Shadows delivers a true whodunit mystery packed with details. When the dust settles, readers will find a satisfying ending that ties up all the loose ends." — Novels Alive on Standing in the Shadows
"Another thrilling ride with Inspector Banks and his crew.... Fans of the series will love this one." — Red Carpet Crash on Standing in the Shadows
"A serpentine, multilayered and intricate novel... Death stands powerless before Robinson's legacy, which will endure for longtime admirers who will recapture the magic via rereading and for those lucky souls who have yet to discover his achievements." — Free-Lance Star on Standing in the Shadows
“Peter Robinson’s superior plotting skills, strong social conscience, palpable sense of place, and, not least, voracious love of music put him in the pantheon of contemporary British crime writers... a lovely way to remember Banks and his creator, who leaves behind a legacy of novels that explore the thorniest regions of the heart, mind, and soul.” — Air Mail on Standing in the Shadows
“Robinson... zigzags deftly back and forth between present and past.” — Kirkus Reviews on Not Dark Yet
“Not Dark Yet finds Banks at an existential crossroads. . . . The plight of Zelda, it seems, has rocked Banks’s sense of himself and his career as a lawman to the core.” — Wall Street Journal
“Robinson pulls the reader in with deft characterizations, powerfully understated action scenes, and strong locales—while leaving space for this amateur musicologist's usual legion of song and album references… A strong addition to the Banks series that suggests tantalizing possibilities for the next installment.” — Kirkus Reviews on Not Dark Yet
“Bestseller Robinson ably balances multiple plotlines in his intricate 27th novel featuring Det. Supt. Alan Banks . . . . Robinson deepens the character of Banks . . . Fans will wonder what lies ahead for his career and personal life.” — Publishers Weekly on Not Dark Yet
“This series continues to be as thoughtful and intelligent as ever . . . Long may it continue.” — The Guardian on Not Dark Yet
“Celebrated suspense writer Robinson returns with the latest in the long-running series starring Yorkshire DCI Alan Banks. Fans will welcome this latest Banks adventure and revel in what Michael Connelly calls Robinson’s ‘clear eye for the telling detail.’” — Booklist on Not Dark Yet
“Robinson is an author with amazing empathy, a snare-trap ear for dialogue, and a clear eye for the telling detail.” — Michael Connelly on Many Rivers to Cross
“Peter Robinson is a master.” — Tess Gerritsen on Many Rivers to Cross
"Robinson approaches his characters with immense compassion.” — New York Times Book Review on Many Rivers to Cross
“Thrilling, brilliantly plotted, beautifully paced.” — Louise Penny on Many Rivers to Cross
"Reliable procedural entertainment from a pro’s pro, with an ending that guarantees more drama ahead.” — Kirkus Reviews on Many Rivers to Cross
“Robinson fans will enjoy the latest entry in this long-running series. First-time readers will be motivated to seek out the previous titles. Well-written and believable, with recognizable but multifaceted characters and enough twists to keep the story riveting until the mystery is solved.” — Library Journal on Careless Love
“As usual, Robinson provides a solid police procedural enhanced by the rugged Yorkshire setting. Banks himself—jazz and solitude-loving, difficult, somewhat melancholic, unlucky in love—is always fascinating... [F]or series fans, this one is a sure bet.” — Booklist on Careless Love
“Engrossing... Those who enjoy methodical police procedurals that build to a logical, satisfying conclusion will be amply rewarded.” — Publishers Weekly on Careless Love
praise for the author New York Times Book Review
Robinson writes smart, civilized whodunits that are intellectually challenging, emotionally engaging, and always discreet.”
MAY 2023 - AudioFile
Simon Vance enriches this final mystery from the late author's Detective Superintendent Alan Banks series. Vance expertly connects a heartrending story that moves from 1980 to 2019. In 1980, student Alice Poole's body is found in Yorkshire; no killer is ever caught. In 2019, a body found in an archaeological dig gives the police a viable lead. Vance is equally memorable portraying Nick Hartley as a student and, later, as a successful news reporter. Vance also excels with elderly, crotchety farmer Gillespie. Empathic personal snippets of Banks's team, including Winsome's enchanting Jamaican accent and tales of her baby, add lightness. This well-rendered police procedural is gripping, especially when astonishing connections are made. Audio is a must to appreciate the engaging characters and shocking conclusion. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-02-08
An unexpected discovery sends Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his Eastvale crew back to investigate a murder that may or may not have involved the Yorkshire Ripper’s last victim back in 1980.
Combing a parcel of land marked as the site of a new shopping mall for evidence of Roman ruins, archaeologist Grace Hutchinson finds some decidedly more recent remains: the skeleton of a man killed only four or five years ago. The roots of the unknown victim’s death go back even further to the murder of Leeds University senior Alice Poole, a political activist who was killed only a few weeks after the Ripper claimed his last known victim. Was she another casualty of the Ripper, or was her killer someone closer to her? Her schoolmate, downstairs neighbor, and ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Hartley, who comes under suspicion from investigating officers DI Stuart Glassco and DC Christopher Marley in 1980, himself suspects Mark Woodcroft, the lover who replaced him before going AWOL, perhaps to Paris. Back in 2019, Banks, along with DS Winsome Jackman and a group of forensic techs, struggles to identify the anonymous victim. Harold Gillespie, who owned the site of Grace Hutchinson’s discovery at the time of the burial, naturally professes to know nothing about the dead man and points out that he would hardly have buried a man he killed on his own property. But the news that Gillespie is himself a retired police officer leads to a chain of further discoveries. Robinson, who died last October, zigzags deftly back and forth between present and past en route to an anticlimactic solution and a truly devastating last sentence.
Not the best of Robinson’s many Yorkshire mysteries but one of the most heartfelt.
