Book Review: Cold is the Grave

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Cold is the Grave     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Peter Robinson
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Series: Inspector Banks # 11
Morrow, Oct 2000, $24.00, 369 pp.

Chief Constable Jimmy Riddle “asks” a member of his staff, Yorkshire Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, to discreetly do him a favor. Alan would relish telling his detestable boss to shove it because Jimmy has all but destroyed his career. However, discretion being more important than a trip to Paris and the fact that Jimmy has just about groveled, Alan finally agrees to help.

Jimmy’s preadolescent son has found a nude picture of his teenage older sister Emily, a runaway, on the net. Jimmy wants Alan to insure his daughter is safe and to ask if she would like to come home. Alan, accompanied by his former lover Sergeant Annie Cabot, quickly finds Emily amidst two of London’s strong pillars: the drug and porno scenes. Alan succeeds in escorting the sixteen-year-old back to the nest, but a murder soon finds the DCI investigating a case tied back to Chief Constable Riddle and his now united family.

COLD IN THE GRAVE is an entertaining Alan Banks police procedural that die-hard fans of English investigative novels will enjoy. Banks retains that freshness that marks him as one of the best police characters of the last few years. However, the story line, though well written and exciting, depends too heavily on incidents that forces the reader to accept leaps of faith. Having Annie work with Alan may seem contrived yet their professional relationship adds sexual tension and causes intriguing stumbles to the investigation. Although not quite as good as the previous tale (IN A DRY SEASON), Peter Robinson’s latest story can be banked on for providing a novel that series readers will still enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner