Innocent Graves by Peter Robinson

Innocent Graves
Peter Robinson
Pan £6.99

I'd not been familiar with Peter Robinson and his character, Detective Inspector Alan Banks before reading this book. It's actually the eighth book to feature the Yorkshire detective but my lack of familiarity with the previous novels didn't spoil my enjoyment of this book in the slightest.

The plot concerns the brutal killing of a young girl and the resulting investigation to find her killer. I must admit, judging by the cover image, I was expecting a gentle murder mystery much in the mould of Inspector Morse, but the Banks series is grounded in far more realism than we ever got with Oxford's finest.

The scenes where the police are abusing, rather than questioning, their chief suspect makes for powerful reading - it seems the fact that the man had a copy of Playboy magazine,a dirty video and a well thumbed copy of Lady Chatterley, is enough to make him a pervert in the eyes of the police. The suspect is bullied mercilessly until he starts to contradict himself, which is just what the police want. This gives us a view of the police as only too willing to arrange the evidence to suit their theories. It seems they want a conviction even if it isn't safe. I won't dwell any more on this since this section, and the following events are a master-class in keeping the reader glued to the page.

I've previously mentioned Inspector Morse and if there are any similarities between the two is that the locations are so well realised that they feel instantly recognised. With Morse the readers feels instantly familiarised with the Oxford settings, and thing are no different here. Banks' Yorkshire is so vividly brought to life that the reader can feel the breeze coming in off the Dales.

As soon as I finished this book I ordered three more Banks novels from Amazon - proof enough of how good a read this is. Inspector Banks is a flawed character who operates in a shitty world which very closely mirrors our own. And I, for one, am eager to read more of this character.

SOON ON THE ARCHIVE - WE INTERVIEW AUTHOR, PETER ROBINSON