A Necessary End (Inspector Banks, No.3)

Peter Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, and is the author of a number of previous novels featuring Inspector Banks. He is the winner of numerous awards in the United States, Britain and Canada, and in 2002 he won the CWA Dagger in the Library. As I also come from Leeds the background to his stories is something that I have experienced first hand and because of this I have a special affection for his books. However they would be first class crime fiction wherever they were based. Ironically as usually happens with anti nuclear demonstrations and marches for peace etc. violence breaks out at a demonstration in Eastvale and ends with serious consequences, a police office is stabbed to death. Because of the nature of the crime and where it took place there are literally over a hundred initial suspects, but then these are narrowed down to the people who live at a place called "Maggie's Farm" an isolated house high up in the dale. Among the suspects is a social worker, Dennis Osmond who is involved with Jenny Fuller, a friend of Inspector Banks. If this isn't a large enough problem for Banks he finds out than an old enemy of his, Detective Superintendent Burgess is to head the investigation. Finally, warned off the case the only way that Banks can achieve any respectability and salvage his career is by finding the killer before Burgess does . . .

This book, dealing with the death of a policeman at a demonstration, was an excellent read. All characters are portrayed in depth and the mystery is difficult to figure out. The end is plausible - almost realistic. The plotting is done with care and the author pays attention to details. This book is entertaining, puzzling and intriguing.

The quiet town of Eastvale in Yorkshire is rocked by an anti-nuclear demonstration that turns violent. A police constable named Edwin Gill is stabbed to death during the demonstration and Inspector Alan Banks is on the case. Unfortunately, his superior is not the supportive and sensible Superintendent Gristhorpe but "Dirty Dick" Burgess, a sadistic, chauvanistic, hard-drinking CID Superintendent who has a hatred for "commies" and hippie-types. Burgess roars into town and immediately starts threatening the locals, using his bullying style of interrogation to get results.With Sandra and the kids out of town for a few weeks, Banks has plenty of time to follow a few leads of his own. Most of his suspicions are centered around a commune known as "Maggie's Farm," where some sixties-type people live together. One of the residents, Paul Boyd, is a particularly suspicious character, since he has a lengthy police record. Banks wants to find out if Officer Gill was murdered deliberately or if his killing was merely a random act of violence. "A Necessary End" is not notable for being a scintillating mystery. The resolution of the story is a bit anti-climactic. What Robinson does well is develop character. From the brutal Dick Burgess to the gentle and loving Mara (who lives in the commune), each character comes alive as a result of Robinson's vivid descriptive writing and realistic dialogue. I recommend "A Necessary End". It is a well-paced novel that is also filled with colorful and authentic Yorkshire atmosphere.

Banks is one of the more enjoyable fictional detectives because he's a whole person who can't be categorized. The same can be said of the other characters in this readable and satisfying book that, among other things, suggests that you can't tell a person by his politics. Example: Inspector Burgess, the mean and sometimes mean-spirited visitor from London suspects reds under every bed, left-wing conspiracies behind everything and yet ... likes Billie Holiday. Osmond, who seems a knee-jerk left-winger, talks about the way all anti-nuclear people are presumed to be on the same page on every subject. They're not, he notes, pointing to the anti-abortion position of some left-wing Catholics.All of this humanizes an interesting detective story. Robinson, who seems to have come to notice in "In A Dry Season'' is up there with the best of the mystery writers and this book is up there with his best.

When a demonstration goes out of control, many demonstrators and policemen are left wounded and one constable is found stabbed to death. With over 100 demonstrators, Inspector Banks has his work cut out for him. We meet Jenny Fuller, the psychologist, again, though this time not in a professional capacity. She is dating one of the many suspects of the crime. Is this a crime of passion? Or is it a more sinister premeditated murder using the demonstration as a facade? Banks deals with a number of a fleshed out characters which the reader will quickly empathize with. It is page turner and true to the police procedural form.