Strange Affair

Starred review from January 17, 2005
In his last outing (Playing With Fire
), Insp. Alan Banks nearly died when a serial killer set fire to his cottage in the Yorkshire village of Eastvale, and the melancholic detective remains understandably depressed as this superlative 15th novel in the series gets underway. Living in a rented flat, Banks is struggling to put his life back together when an urgent phone message from his younger brother, Roy—a successful, slightly shady London businessman—requests his help: "It could be a matter of life and death.... Maybe even mine." When he can't reach Roy by phone, Banks travels to London to see what's wrong and finds his brother's house unlocked and no hint about where he might have gone or why. On the night of Roy's phone call, a young woman is shot to death in her car just outside of Eastvale, and she has Banks's name and address in her pocket. Annie Cabbot, Banks's colleague on the force (and a former lover), is in charge of that case, and her investigation quickly intersects with Banks's unofficial sleuthing into his brother's inexplicable disappearance. The gripping story, which revolves around that most heinous of crimes, human trafficking, shows Robinson getting more adept at juggling complex plot lines while retaining his excellent skills at characterization. The result is deeply absorbing, and the nuances of Banks's character are increasingly compelling. Agent, Dominick Abel. (Feb. 15)

Forecast:
Robinson's reputation in the States (he is English and lives in Canada) continues to build. With the help of a big marketing campaign and an eight-city author tour, this could be a breakout novel for him.

Starred review from April 4, 2005
In this artful abridgement of Inspector Alan Banks's 15th series appearance, things get personal for the Yorkshire policeman. Still despondent over the burning of his hearth and home in Playing with Fire
, he's drawn to London by a panicked phone message left by his estranged younger brother. Meanwhile, Banks's name and old address turn up in the possession of an attractive young woman murdered on his own turf. That death is being probed by his ex-lover, Inspector Annie Cabbot. The author cleverly keeps things moving by switching from one investigation to the other, introducing both sleuths to a gallery of well-defined witnesses and potential suspects. Narrator Prebble, who can be heard on nearly 200 audiobooks, tells the story with an almost cool British reserve, slipping easily into a panoply of vocal characterizations appropriate to Robinson's large, distinctive cast. From Banks's pleasant and faintly bemused mum to Cockney thugs and smarmy swells, Prebble gets the job done. He also handles the mood swings of the two main characters with ease. Using subtle shifts in pacing and vocal timbre, he balances Annie's professional patience in her interviews against her growing anger with Banks for the mental anguish he continues to cause her. And for Banks, the narrator runs the emotional gamut—from depression to full fury to a quiet understanding that "everyone gets tainted by a murder investigation." Simultaneous release with the Morrow hardcover (Forecasts, Jan. 17).

February 1, 2005
Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks is still recovering from a fire that almost took his life (in Playing With Fire) when his estranged brother Roy leaves a message on his machine pleading for his help. When he cannot reach Roy, Alan travels to London and finds his brother's house unlocked and Roy nowhere to be found. Meanwhile back in Eastvale, a woman has been found, shot to death execution-style. In her back pocket is Banks's address, leaving Detective Inspector Annie Cabot to try to figure out who the girl is and where Alan has disappeared to. When the two finally meet up in London, they must work through their personal differences before they can resolve the two crimes. After a break with a standalone novel (The First Cut), Robinson returns to a police procedural series that just keeps getting better. Recommended for all mystery collections. Robinson lives in Toronto. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 10/1/04.]-Deborah Shippy, Moline P.L., IL

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2004
There turns out to be a connection between the mysteriously empty London mansion of Inspector Alan Banks's long-distant brother and a murder on Banks's home turf. From an Edgar/Anthony/ Le Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere winner.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2005
Robinson is one of those multiawarded authors (the Edgar, the Anthony, the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere), who is absolutely reliable. This novel marks the fifteenth in the Inspector Alan Banks series, set in Yorkshire. Depressed over the loss of his cottage in a fire, Banks is galvanized into action by a pleading message from his estranged brother in London. When Banks travels to his wealthy brother's home, he finds it totally empty yet filled with disturbing clues as to the source of his brother's money. Banks' estranged lover and sidekick, Detective Annie Cabbot, is left to cope by herself with the investigation of the murder of a young woman on the motorway. When Cabbot finds a letter addressed to Banks on the victim, the reader knows that Robinson will tie the two investigations together in fiendishly clever ways. Another Robinson winner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)