Standing in the Shadows: The last novel in the number one bestselling Alan Banks crime series

Product Information

One of the finest police procedural writers around... [ Standing in the Shadows] is as narratively rich and surprising as Robinson's best work. Knowing it's his last makes the reading bittersweet." — New York Times Book Review He described in one interview how he spent the lively summer of 1965 “with his ear glued to his transistor radio and his eyes on the passing girls”. He went to Leeds University to study English literature. While there he wrote poetry and gave public readings around Yorkshire. Standing in the Shadows is textbook Robinson, expertly conceived and suspenseful from start to finish.... One of the best mystery/thriller series in the business." — Book Reporter on Standing in the Shadows He was born in Castleford, West Yorkshire, to Clifford Robinson, a rent collector, and Miriam (nee Jarvis), a cleaner, and grew up in Armley, a working-class suburb of Leeds (also home to fellow writers Alan Bennett and Barbara Taylor Bradford). It is not too much of a stretch to assume that aspects of Inspector Banks’s adolescence in the 1960s, as described in Close to Home (2003), the 14th novel in the series, mirrored Robinson’s own. Peter Robinson was born in Yorkshire. After getting his BA Honours Degree in English Literature at the University of Leeds, he came to Canada and took his MA in English and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor, with Joyce Carol Oates as his tutor, then a PhD in English at York University. He has taught at a number of Toronto community colleges and universities and served as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Windsor, 1992-93.

This series continues to be as thoughtful and intelligent as ever . . . Long may it continue.”— The Guardianon Not Dark Yet I want to thank NetGalley and William Morrow for forwarding to me a copy of this wonderful book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own. In 1974 he moved to Canada, to take an MA in English and creative writing at the University of Windsor, Ontario. One of his tutors was the prolific and highly esteemed American author Joyce Carol Oates, who taught him, among other things, to take his writing seriously. Even after a confession that wraps up all the loose ends, Banks can’t leave well enough alone. “They had a solid case, motive, means, confession, so what was wrong?” From Banks’s perspective, it’s all too tidy. Readers well know that Banks’s passion for justice and fairness impels him to keep poking away.

Fans will welcome this latest Banks adventure and revel in what Michael Connelly calls Robinson's ' clear eye for the telling detail.' * Booklist * In each Banks novel Robinson explored the character of the policeman a little more, but always keeping him grounded in his sense of decency and justice. Robinson was teaching at different colleges from time to time during this period – including a year as writer in residence at his old university, Windsor. The 28th and the last in series, not because the series is getting stale, but because this amazing author has passed. In fact, many of my favored authors seem to be moving on to, well who knows, but they are leaving a hole in my heart and my future reading plans. After writing so many books, I felt connected to Robinson, as I have to his character Alan Banks. Most still had a few leaves left clinging to their branches and twigs. Banks thought they seemed creepy in the louring twilight and half expected one of them to start moving like the Ents in Lord of the Rings . In 2019, at an archeological dig outside of Eastvale in the North of England, a skeleton is found. Unfortunately, evidence points to it’s burial being in the recent, rather than ancient past. A body in an abandoned field probably means murder, so Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks and his team are called in to investigate. Without clues, and unable to identify the deceased, Banks may end up without a solution to this murder.

This is Robinson’s 28th book in the DCI Banks series. I’ve read every one with great enjoyment and was devastated upon hearing of the author’s death late last year. It is to believe that this will be the last book in the series, making it a bitter sweet read. Robinson had completed another Banks novel before he died. Standing in the Shadows is due to be published next year.Although he had not necessarily intended to write a series, Robinson went on to produce a Banks novel a year – as well as award-winning short stories. He was regularly nominated for and frequently won awards in Canada, the US, France, the UK and Sweden. The final Inspector Banks novel, Standing in the Shadows, will be released on April 11, 2023 in the US, on May 16, 2023 in Canada, and on June 8, 2023, in the UK. The police do a stellar job of identifying the corpse. They discover that the dead man was a fit 50/60-something with a penchant for high-end threads. He was buried in a Tom Ford suit (think Daniel Craig in his first Bond films) and bespoke leather shoes. They release a sketch to the media, but no one steps up to identify the missing man.