Blood at the Root (An Inspector Alan Banks Mystery)

Those that have been following the Inspector Banks series know by now that Peter Robinson is an excellent author. One of the things that make him stand above the majority of his peers is that he provides much more than a mystery. This book is no exception, since we get to spend quite a bit of time learning about Bank's marital issues, that could be seen coming in previous installments, and the personal aspects take a prominent role in the story. Robinson also goes where not many dare go; he presents us with a very unlikable victim. The investigation is full of tension due to the racial elements involved, and therefore, Banks is forced to deal with a very annoying superior in the "political savvy" chief inspector Riddle. Besides the impeccable writing and the usual engaging plot, I really appreciate how Robinson takes the time to gets us involved with other secondary characters in the series. In this case, Susan will get a fairly prominent role and it works well with the overall story. Due to the nature of what is going on in Bank's life, I am eager to keep moving forward with this series. If you have read the previous books I think you will be fully satisfied with this one. For those that are new to Robinson's writing I recommend starting at the beginning because character development is a central feature of this series and can be better appreciated that way.

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. Having said that I can understand to a degree why some readers may not like the books. Banks is a character that has grown over several books and the author is very comfortable not only with the character of Banks, but all the other character too. To me this makes the stories flow because the author instinctively knows how his characters are going to react in certain situations. The books are produced as a series and it is nice if you can read them all in the order they were written, but this is by no means compulsory as each book stands alone. They are what I would call `light' reading. By that I mean that they flow and not that they are third rate in any sense, in fact quite the opposite. A young man has been kicked to death in a filthy alleyway. The victim is a known racist and at first it looks like the result of a pub fight gone wrong, until that is Banks learns that Jason Fox, the victim was a member of a white power organization known as the Albion League. Fox was bound to have enemies but who hated him enough to kill him? The young Pakistanis he had insulted in the pub earlier? Shady friends of his business partner, mark Wood? Someone who resented the teenager's growing power in a brutal and unforgiving organization? One thing is for sure Banks is not going to be short of suspects . . .

A young man is beaten to death in an alleyway at night. The plot thickens when his identity is discovered: Jason Fox, a leading light of the Albion League, a thoroughly unpleasant extreme right racist fringe group. As DCI Banks and DC Susan Gay piece the details of Fox's nasty story together, their lives complicate in other ways. Susan is embarking on a relationship with Gavin, a colleague from regional HQ. Meanwhile the state of Banks' marriage is going from bad to worse as is his relationship with his boss Chief Constable Jimmy Riddle. This book, whose British title is `Dead Right', didn't seem to me to be quite as good as its predecessor `Innocent Graves' but is nonetheless another pretty strong and worthwhile procedural from Robinson.

For those hunting for all Peter Robinson books, you should note that "Blood at the Root" was originally published in the UK as "Dead Right". Don't go ordering both....

In Eastvale, England Sandra and Alan Banks were more and more going their own way. Before Alan, a Detective Chief Inspector, can sort his feelings, he finds himself investigating the murder of Jason Fox, whose corpse was found near a local pub. Alan and his associate Detective Constable Susan Fox soon learn that Jason had a racial confrontation with three Pakistanis. They also discover that Jason worked for the Albion League, who allegedly sells illegal drugs to blacks. Alan's personal life intercedes when a frustrated Sandra asks for a separation on the grounds that they have nothing in common anymore. Alan also has problems with his superiors, who seem to want him off the case because their superiors have their own sting operation that Alan might muddle. Increasingly becoming depressed and melancholic, Alan, with the help of his loyal sidekick, relentlessly presses on to ferret out the truth behind the killing of Jason Fox. The Alan Banks mysteries are getting better and better as Peter Robinson has matured to the point of being one of the top writers of English police procedurals. The root of what makes BLOOD AT THE ROOT so good is the increasingly humanizing of Banks, whose character is a depository of personal problems that he struggles to keep out of his investigations. The police's official inquiry and the wealth of well written secondary characters who stomp into Alan's personal space, add a genuine feel to the novel, turning it into one of the top five releases in the sub-genre for 1997. Harriet Klausner