Inspector Alan Banks
16 primary works • 26 total works
Book 1
‘The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are the best series on the market. Try one and tell me I'm wrong’ Stephen King
Gallows View is the first novel in Peter Robinson's bestselling Inspector Banks series.
NEW TOWN. NEW CASES. NEW DANGER.
Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks has recently relocated with his family to the Yorkshire Dales from stressful London but soon finds that life in the countryside is not quite as idyllic as he had imagined.
Three cases come to the fore: a voyeur is terrorizing the women of Eastvale. Two thugs are breaking into homes, and an old woman is dead, possibly murdered. As the tension mounts, Banks must also deal with his attraction to a young psychologist Jenny Fuller, and when both Jenny and Banks's wife are drawn deeper into events Banks realizes that his cases are weaving closer and closer together . . .
Gallows View is followed by A Dedicated Man in the Inspector Banks series.
Book 2
Ten years later, the memories of that peaceful summer are shattered by Harry's brutal murder. Inspector Banks is back, investigating a case just as confounding as his first. Who killed the kindly scholar? Penny Cartwright, a beautiful woman with a disturbing past? Harry's editor? The shady land developer? Is it possible that young Sally Lumb, locked in her lover's arms on the night of the murder, could unknowingly hold the key to the case?
Book 3
‘The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are the best series on the market. Try one and tell me I'm wrong’ – Stephen King
From the master of police procedural and bestselling author of Standing in the Shadows comes A Necessary End, book three in Peter Robinson’s Inspector Banks series.
Peace destroyed. Lives in ruin. Banks must race to find the killer . . .
Everyday life in Eastvale is shattered when a policeman is stabbed to death after an anti-nuclear demonstration turns violent. Superintendent ‘Dirty Dick’ Burgess, Banks’s nemesis, descends with vengeful fury on those he deems responsible.
Inspector Banks is uneasy about Burgess's mishandling of the case. Despite being warned off, he puts his career in jeopardy to continue his search for the truth – knowing that, if he wants to keep his job, he must beat Burgess to the killer . . .
'Inspector Banks – a man for all seasons, he knows that often the answers to the clues he seeks are hidden in his own heart' – Michael Connelly, author of Fair Warning
Adapted into a major ITV drama, DCI Banks.
A Necessary End is the third entry in this Yorkshire-based crime series. It is followed by book four, The Hanging Valley.
Book 4
Book 6
Wednesday's Child is the sixth novel in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series, following on from Past Reason Hated.
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 realizes something has gone terribly wrong.
At the same time, Banks is investigating a particularly unpleasant murder at the site of an abandoned mine. Gradually, the leads in the two cases converge, guiding Banks to one of the most truly terrifying criminals he will ever meet . . .
Wednesday's Child is followed by the seventh book in this Yorkshire-based crime series, Dry Bones That Dream.
Book 9
Book 10
During a blistering summer, drought has depleted Thornfield Reservoir, uncovering the remains of a small village called Hobb's End - hidden from view for over 40 years. For a curious young boy this resurfaced hamlet has become a magical playground . . . until he unearths a human skeleton. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks is given the impossible task of identifying the victim - a woman who lived in a place that no longer exists, whose former residents are scattered to the winds. Anyone else might throw in the towel but Banks sets out to uncover the murky past buried beneath a flood of time...
'A WONDERFUL NOVEL' Michael Connelly
Book 11
With his personal life in turmoil DCI Banks is considering his options. But then late one night the architect of his professional misfortune, Chief Constable Riddle, summons Banks to his house for his daughter Emily has run away and compromising photos have appeared online. Riddle wants Banks to use his unorthodox methods to find her without a fuss.
Banks, a father himself, cannot refuse and he follows the trail to the dark heart of London. But when a series of gruesome murders follows soon after, Banks finds himself pulled into the dangerous world of his most powerful enemy, Chief Constable Jimmy Riddle.
Cold is the Grave is a pulse-pounding tale. If you enjoyed it, then you'll love the next instalment in the Banks series - which was made into the major British ITV Drama DCI Banks - Aftermath.
*****
Critical acclaim for the Inspector Banks series
'A powerfully moving work' Ian Rankin
'Top-notch police procedure' Jeffery Deaver
'A wonderful novel' Michael Connelly
'An addictive crime-novel series' New York Times
'A guaranteed page-turner' Mirror
'Demonstrates how the crime novel, when done right, can reach parts that other books can't . . . A considerable achievement' Guardian
'One of the most authentic and atmospheric of crime series' Independent
'The master of police procedural' Mail on Sunday
'Near, perhaps, even at the top of, the British crime writers' league' The Times
'Banks is genuinely human, rather than a hard man' Observer
Book 13
Book 15
Book 19
Banks isn't back, and that's the problem.
If DCI Alan Banks had been in his office when his old neighbour came calling, perhaps it would have turned out differently.
Perhaps an innocent man would still be alive.
And perhaps Banks's daughter wouldn't be on the run with a wanted man.
But Banks is on holiday, blissfully unaware of the terrible chain of events set in motion by the discovery of a loaded gun in a young woman's bedroom, and his daughter's involvement with the ultimate bad boy . . .
Book 20
Banks is back - and this time he's investigating the murder of one of his own.
Detective Inspector Bill Quinn 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.
By his own conviction that a policeman shouldn't be deemed guilty without evidence.
By Annie Cabbot, back at work after six months' recuperation, and beset by her own doubts and demons.
And by an English girl who disappeared in Estonia six years ago, who seems to hold the secret at the heart of this case . . .
Book 21
A disgraced college lecturer is found murdered with 5,000 pounds in his pocket on a disused railway line near his home. Since being dismissed from his job for sexual misconduct four years previously, he has been living a poverty-stricken and hermit-like existence in this isolated spot.
The suspects range from several individuals at the college where he used to teach to a woman who knew the victim back in the early '70s at Essex University, then a hotbed of political activism. When Banks receives a warning to step away from the case, he realises there is much more to the mystery than meets the eye - for there are plenty more skeletons to come out of the closet . . .
Book 22
BANKS IS BACK - AND THE HUNT IS ON.
When two boys vanish under mysterious circumstances, the local community is filled with unease. Then a bloodstain is discovered in a disused World War Two hangar nearby, and a caravan belonging to one of the youths is burned to the ground. Things quickly become much more sinister.
Assigned to the case, DCI Banks and his team are baffled by the mystery laid out before them. But when a motor accident throws up a gruesome discovery, the investigation spins into a higher gear - in another direction. As Banks and his team struggle desperately to find the missing boy who holds the key to the puzzle, they find themselves in a race against time where it's their turn to become the prey . . .
Book 23
THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER
In a remote countryside lane in North Yorkshire, the body of a young girl is found, bruised and beaten, having apparently been thrown from a moving vehicle.
While DI Annie Cabbot investigates the circumstances in which a 14-year-old could possibly fall victim to such a crime, newly promoted Detective Superintendent Alan Banks is faced with a similar task - but the case Banks must investigate is as cold as they come.
Fifty years ago Linda Palmer was attacked by celebrity entertainer Danny Caxton, yet no investigation ever took place. Now Caxton stands accused at the centre of a historical abuse investigation and it's Banks's first task as superintendent to find out the truth.
While Annie struggles with a controversial case threatening to cause uproar in the local community, Banks must piece together decades-old evidence, and as each steps closer to uncovering the truth, they'll unearth secrets much darker than they ever could have guessed . . .
Book 24
The twenty fourth instalment in Peter Robinson's Number One Bestselling Banks Series.
A terrible crime. No obvious motive.
Banks is on the case.
The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are the best series on the market. Try one and tell me I'm wrong. - Stephen King
'Top-notch police procedure' - Jeffery Deaver
A shocking mass murder occurs at a wedding in a small Dales church and a huge manhunt follows. Eventually, the shooter is run to ground and things take their inevitable course.
But Banks is plagued with doubts as to exactly what happened outside the church that day, and why. Struggling with the death of his first serious girlfriend and the return of profiler Jenny Fuller into his life, Banks feels the need to dig deeper into the murders, and as he does so, he uncovers forensic and psychological puzzles that lead him to the past secrets that might just provide the answers he is looking for.
When the surprising truth becomes clear, it is almost too late.
When Karen Drew is found sitting in her wheelchair staring out to sea with her throat cut one chilly morning, DI Annie Cabbot, on loan to Eastern Area, gets lumbered with the case. Back in Eastvale, that same Sunday morning, 19-year-old Hayley Daniels is found raped and strangled in the Maze, a tangle of narrow alleys behind Eastvale's market square, after a drunken night on the town with a group of friends, and DCI Alan Banks is called in. Banks finds suspects galore, while Annie seems to hit a brick wall--until she reaches a breakthrough that spins her case in a shocking and surprising new direction, one that also involves Banks.
Then another incident occurs in the Maze which seems to link the two cases in a bizarre and mysterious way. As Banks and Annie dig into the past to uncover the deeper connections, they find themselves also dealing with the emotional baggage and personal demons of their own relationship. And it soon becomes clear that there are two killers in their midst, and that at any moment either one might strike again.
As volunteers clean up after a huge outdoor rock concert in Yorkshire in 1969, they discover the body of a young woman wrapped in a sleeping bag. She has been brutally murdered. The detective assigned to the case, Stanley Chadwick, is a hard-headed, strait-laced veteran of the Second World War. He could not have less in common with - or less regard for - young, disrespectful, long-haired hippies, smoking marijuana and listening to the pulsing sounds of rock and roll. But he has a murder to solve, and it looks as if the victim was somehow associated with the up-and-coming psychedelic pastoral band the Mad Hatters.
In the present, Inspector Alan Banks is investigating the murder of a freelance music journalist who was working on a feature about the Mad Hatters for MOJO magazine. This is not the first time that the Mad Hatters, now aging rock superstars, have been brushed by tragedy. Banks finds he has to delve into the past to find out exactly what hornets' nest the journalist inadvertently stirred up.
The twenty-fifth instalment of the Number One Bestselling DCI Banks series
'Robinson remains the master of the police procedural.' Mail on Sunday
'Robinson is prolific, but with each book he manages to ring the changes.' Guardian
*****
A young local student has apparently committed suicide. Her body is found in an abandoned car on a lonely country road. She didn't own a car. Didn't even drive. How did she get there? Where did she die? Who moved her, and why?
Meanwhile a man in his sixties is found dead in a gully up on the wild moorland. He is wearing an expensive suit and carrying no identification. Post-mortem findings indicate he died from injuries sustained during the fall. But what was he doing up there? And why are there no signs of a car in the vicinity?
As the inconsistencies multiply and the mysteries proliferate, Annie's father's new partner, Zelda, comes up with a shocking piece of information that alerts Banks and Annie to the return of an old enemy in a new guise.
This is someone who will stop at nothing, not even murder, to get what he wants - and suddenly the stakes are raised and the hunt is on.
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, lying quietly on the couch, has been brutally murdered.
Inspector Alan Banks is called to the grim scene. And he soon has more suspects than he ever imagined. As he delves into her past, he realises that for Caroline, secrecy was a way of life, and her death is no different. His ensuing investigation is full of hidden passions and desperate violence . . .
'The characterizations are unfailingly sharp and subtle' New York Times
'A definite contender for fiction's new top cop' Independent on Sunday
'Watch for those twists - they'll get you every time' IAN RANKIN