Wed 28 Sep 2016
Reviewed by Barry Gardner: PETER ROBINSON – The Hanging Valley.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[13] Comments
PETER ROBINSON – The Hanging Valley. Alan Banks #4. Charles Scribner’s Sons, US, hardcover, 1992. Berkley, US, paperback, 1994. First published in Canada by Viking, hardcover, 1989.
Robinson’s Yorkshire detective, Chief Inspector Alan Banks, has gotten some pretty good ink from the critics. As a confirmed village mystery lover, I’d place him somewhere in the mid-ranks. Here, a faceless, maggot-ridden corpse is discovered in a tranquil valley. Links are suspected with the disappearance five years earlier of a private detective, still unsolved. The villagers aren’t talking. Eventually, the case takes Banks to Canada in search of the truth.
I find Banks to be a moderately realistic, moderately engaging character, and Robinson’s writing to be quite good. There’s a very good story of an abused wife mixed in with the mystery, and the characterizations are well done. The ending is distinctly offbeat and unexpected. No raves, but a good solid read if you like village mysteries.
Bibliographic Note: Including Sleeping in the Ground, scheduled for publication in 2017, there are (or will be) 24 books in Peter Robinson’s Inspector Banks series.
September 28th, 2016 at 2:17 pm
If Barry thought Robinson mid-level, I wonder who he thought the tops writers were?
September 28th, 2016 at 3:01 pm
By pure coincidence, I can answer that, Rick. In the next issue of his DAPA-Em zine, which I just happened to be browsing through this morning, Barry listed his top ten series characters, not in any order, except for #1:
1. Nero Wolfe (Rex Stout)
2. Parker (Richard Stark/Westlake)
3. The Continental Op (Dashiel Hammett)
4. David Audley, et al (Anthony Price)
5. Matt Helm (Donald Hamilton)
6. Lew Archer (Ross Macdonald)
7. Travis McGee (John D. MacDonald)
8. Matthew Scudder (Lawrence Block)
9. Dalziel & Pascoe (Reginald Hill)
10. First seven Spensers (Robert B. Parker)
September 28th, 2016 at 5:31 pm
I count the current book (WHEN THE MUSIC’S OVER) as #24 in the series. There are also some Banks stories in his collections NOT SAFE AFTER DARK & Other Tales and THE PRICE OF LOVE & Other Stories.
September 28th, 2016 at 6:05 pm
Here’s the list I used for my count, Jeff. It’s from the Fantastic Fiction website:
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/peter-robinson/
Inspector Banks:
1. Gallows View (1987)
2. A Dedicated Man (1988)
3. A Necessary End (1989)
4. The Hanging Valley (1990)
5. Past Reason Hated (1991)
6. Wednesday’s Child (1992)
7. Dry Bones That Dream (1994)
aka Final Account
8. Innocent Graves (1996)
9. Dead Right (1997)
aka Blood at the Root
10. In a Dry Season (1999)
11. Cold Is the Grave (2000)
12. Aftermath (2001)
13. The Summer That Never Was (2003)
aka Close to Home
14. Playing with Fire (2004)
15. Strange Affair (2005)
16. Piece of My Heart (2005)
17. Friend of the Devil (2007)
18. All the Colours of Darkness (2008)
19. Bad Boy (2010)
20. Watching the Dark (2012)
21. Children of the Revolution (2013)
22. Abattoir Blues (2014)
aka In the Dark Places
23. When the Music’s Over (2016)
24. Sleeping in the Ground (2017)
Goodreads also has 23:
https://www.goodreads.com/series/40970-inspector-banks
Are you counting Caedmon’s Song (1990), in which Banks does not appear but one site refers to as associated with the series? As you say, there are are two collections in which Banks’ stories are included, plus (if I understand it correctly) two Banks novellas published as individual books.
September 28th, 2016 at 6:11 pm
To get back to Banks himself, I guess I’d agree with Barry that he’s a “moderately engaging character.” I read one, an early one, thought it was OK, but then never found the urge to read another.
I also note that the longer the series goes on, the longer the books get. It seems to be a fad.
September 28th, 2016 at 7:00 pm
And of course I was thinking in the context of British authors / characters. I note he doesn’t list Holmes on his list, nor Peter Diamond, nor any of the golden age. If we eliminate the US character/authors, there’s not much left. I admit to not knowing David Audley, et al (Anthony Price at all, and wonder how I could have missed him.
September 28th, 2016 at 7:01 pm
But sadly he’s not here to ask, and I don’t remember his preferences with Brits.
September 28th, 2016 at 7:33 pm
Rick
As I recall, Barry did not care very much for the Golden Age type of puzzle mystery, not even Sherlock Holmes. I don’t recall him expressing any dislike of British crime fiction, per se, but I didn’t catch the fact that only two British authors were on his top ten list until you pointed it out.
Of the 19 authors whose books he reviewed in the issue of his DAPA-Em zine that I’m working through, only three of them were British. I don’t know if this is relevant or not!
September 28th, 2016 at 9:45 pm
One of those series I drop in on once in a while.
September 29th, 2016 at 7:20 am
My mistake. I see I accidentally counted the Crippen & Landru Christmas story given free to subscribers, “Blue Christmas” from 2005.
September 29th, 2016 at 7:22 am
And while Banks may not be the most exciting of detectives, I like the series a lot, even though I wish the books weren’t, as you say, getting longer these days.
September 29th, 2016 at 5:44 pm
I just wish the books didn’t dwell so much on the music Banks is listening to. Plenty of writers blend music into the story (Ian Rankin’s Rebus mysteries come to mind), but in the Banks books the action comes to a grinding halt every time he puts on a CD. Very distracting — and doesn’t add much to any of the books I’ve read.
September 30th, 2016 at 6:23 am
No, that’s certainly true. It’s one of those “hey, look at me!” moments we could do without.