Many Rivers to Cross

December 1, 2019
Many murders to solve, too, in this latest thicket of felonies for DCI Alan Banks and the staff of the Eastvale Police (Careless Love, 2019, etc.). Why would whoever stabbed Syrian immigrant Samir Boulad to death take the risk of dumping his body in Edith Grunwell's trash bin, where the retired nurse found him when she took out her trash? Although Malden Terrace is no more immune from nativist racism than other neighborhoods, the traces of cocaine in the dead boy's pocket hint at equally sinister connections--from low-end Howard Stokes, a diabetic heroin user found dead in his home, to high-end developer Connor Clive Blaydon, an associate of Albanian Mafia stalwart Leka Gashi who's more recently partnered with equally dodgy Timmy and Tommy Kerrigan to build Elmet Centre, which, Blaydon piously assures Banks, will do the area no end of good. As Banks and his team make their inquiries, police consultant Nelia Melnic, who'd rather be called Zelda, has problems of her own. A superrecognizer rescued from sex slavery to become a valuable asset to the constabulary and a self-appointed seeker for Phil Keane, an associate of the brothers who first kidnapped Zelda 20 years ago and who almost killed Banks when he set his house on fire, she's upset to learn that her boss, Trevor Hawkins, has died in an equally suspicious house fire and upset in a completely different way when she suddenly bumps into Goran Tadic, one of her kidnappers. There'll be precious little downtime for Banks and company, as they're forced to deal with more mystery, more murder, and some uncomfortable moral conundrums posed for both the characters and readers before Robinson pulls down the curtain, not with a bang but with a final piercing twist. Reliable procedural entertainment from a pro's pro, with an ending that guarantees more drama ahead.

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January 13, 2020
In Robinson’s discursive 26th police procedural featuring Yorkshire Det. Supt. Alan Banks (after 2018’s Careless Love), Zelda, “a consultant helping to build a database for facial recognition of sex traffickers” and longtime friend of Banks, joins the investigation into the death of Banks’s boss, Trevor Hawkins. Meanwhile, Banks is called out to a housing estate where the body of a 12- or 13-year-old boy has been crammed into a trash bin. Because a small amount of cocaine was found in the boy’s pocket, Banks and his team believe they may be dealing with a drug ring. However, they can’t rule out the possibility that it was a hate crime based on the boy’s Middle Eastern appearance. Soon, property schemes, insider trading, sex trafficking, and gang murders all start swirling into the mix, which includes a tenuous link to Zelda’s inquiry. Banks’s musings about music, food, and politics may not charm those who haven’t already come to admire the character; such digressions can feel more like padding than anything that adds interest to the lead. This isn’t the starting place for newcomers. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary.

August 1, 2019

When Inspector Alan Banks of Yorkshire's Eastvale police force finds a Middle Eastern boy stabbed to death, he knows he's facing a possible hate crime. But the case is endlessly confounded. The boy was stabbed elsewhere--but where?--and the seemingly unrelated death of a heroin addict may not have been an overdose. Meanwhile, a close friend's troubles weigh heavily on Banks. From an Edgar and CWA Dagger in the Library winner; with a 75,000-copy first printing.

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