Galley Talk

Peter Robinson’s Banks and Cabbot mysteries are some of the best in the genre; he’s one of a handful of top-ranking writers of British mysteries, along with Ruth Rendell, Reginald Hill, Ian Rankin and Elizabeth George—I must simply drop everything the moment I get my hands on their newest books. Robinson hasn’t had his breakout book yet, but he’s currently a secret among mystery aficionados. It’s not just the suspense, either. Robinson’s finely drawn characters and excellent descriptive writing—in particular, his love for music—make his novels a feast for the senses as well. In Friend of the Devil [Morrow, Jan.], Alan Banks investigates the death of a young woman who has been raped and murdered in Eastvale, while a woman in a wheelchair is found slain at the edge of a cliff in the nearby district where Annie Cabbot is working. Her investigation of that death uncovers ties to an earlier case that has haunted them both. Simply outstanding!