Playing With Fire - Softcover

Robinson, Peter

4.07

6,471 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061031100 ISBN 13: 9780061031106

Publisher: Avon Books, 2005

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Investigating a dual arson case that has claimed three lives on an English canal, Detective Inspector Banks teams up with fellow investigator Annie Cabot and discovers that the victims are linked to an art forgery operation. Reprint.

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Review:

Playing with Fire is a typical Peter Robinson book. And if that sounds like damning with faint praise, it's anything but. Since Gallows View in 1987, Robinson has been turning out one of the most assured and entertaining series of crime novels in the genre, with his doughty Inspector Alan Banks one of the most solidly drawn of protagonists.

But perhaps the real reason behind the considerable success of the books is that unerring combination of brilliantly turned plots and wonderfully evoked locales: the Yorkshire Dales have proved a very fertile stamping ground for Robinson's irresistible brand of restrained mayhem.

Banks is handed his most piquant problem in Playing with Fire, and the rural backdrop is once again a key player in the action. On a chill winter's morning, a fire is found to have consumed two narrow boats on the Eastvale canal. Banks and his associate DI Annie Cabbot find themselves examining some grisly remnants: charred bodies found on the remains of the two boats. But who are the victims of what appears to be a calculated act of murder? An enigmatic artist with few friends? A young couple who spent most of their time stoned on illegal substances? Banks and Cabbot quickly find themselves with a host of possible perpetrators on their hands, from the father of the young girl who died in the attack to a duplicitous art dealer. But the heat is turned on for Banks--literally--when the murderous arsonist gets to work again.

As in the seminal In a Dry Season, Robinson doesn't shirk from tackling some pretty convoluted plotting, but any confusion the reader is plunged into is very satisfyingly resolved, and Robinson's already strong reputation will grow with this book. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

Smarting from the break-up with his girlfriend, DI Annie Cabot, and still in shock from his ex-wife's recent pregnancy, DCI Alan Banks welcomes the diversion of a fire on two houseboats on the old Eastvale canal.. even though two bodies are then found on board. But was it arson or accident? And why was the boyfriend of one of the victims found lurking in the woods watching the fire-fighters in action? The case soon widens with another fire, another death, the discovery of art fraud, paedophilia and incest. And to add to it all DI Cabot has a new man - one that Banks doesn't like or trust an inch. As the case unravels and becomes ever more complicated, so Banks' personal life becomes entangled, occasionally blurring both his and Cabot's vision of the real villain in their midst. Crossing the York moors from city to village, Robinson draws a vivid picture of life in the North. Tauter than "The Summer that Never Was", the plot moves quickly and intelligently with Banks once more central to the core. Only this time he may have bitten off more than even he can chew.... A must for all Robinson fans. - Lucy Watson

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