All the Colours of Darkness: DCI Banks 18

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The theme of manipulation to commit a crime was far more subtly handled, from the staging of Othello to the consideration of how this might work in a gay relationship. It seems like a simple and tragic case of suicide but it turns out to be far from simple when the man's lover is also found dead, apparently murdered at home. Because Yorkshire is Banks' home base, it makes for a dramatic contrast between the innate picturesque beauty of the county and the tough underbelly of the people who live on the housing estates outside the tourist towns, many struggling with the high crime rate and inclement weather. If I didn't know better, I'd say this is a novel about Banks gradually losing touch with reality and probably a good deal of his cognitive ability as well.

Ten years ago, DCI Jack Logan stopped the serial child-killer dubbed "Mister Whisper", earning himself a commendation, a drinking problem, and a broken marriage in the process. The story starts with boys playing in the woods where they find a body hanging from one of the trees.She didn’t want to get so close that she might destroy or contaminate any important trace evidence, but she needed a clearer idea of what she was dealing with.

She leaves behind no memories worth keeping: her husband is dead, her boss has made no bones about disliking her, and she’s looking forward to new responsibilities and the higher salary underwritten by North Dakota’s sudden oil boom. I will say now that I could have added a whole load more quotations to support my arguments but, to be honest, I have already spent a lot longer on this than the book is worth.

It also portrays the intelligence services of Britain as having no intelligence at all, so if you're the type who would get a big chuckle out of that, you might find that entertaining all by itself. In a switch from the henning mankell novel recenyly read, we have a mystery here which is not resolved until the end. Robinson is good, very good, but I'm afraid that he's not quite in Rankin's class although it has to be said that he's done well to keep the freshness of Alan Banks after a long run of books.