Cold is the Grave: A Novel of Suspense - Softcover

Robinson, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380809354 ISBN 13: 9780380809356

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2001

Synopsis

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks' life is shaken to the core when he is unexpectedly pulled into the investigation of a young girl's disappearance in this shattering suspense novel from the hand of a modern master.

"Full of twists and surprises....Robinson shows he has only begun to dig into the personality of his tenacious, thoughtful inspector."--Chicago Tribune

When the nude photo of a teenage runaway shows up on a website, the girl's father turns to Detective Chief Inspector Alan banks for help. But these aren't unusual circumstances, for the runaway is the daughter of a man who's determined to destroy the dedicated Yorkshire policeman's career and good name. Still, it's a case that Banks--a father himself--dares not ignore as he follows its trail into teeming London. But when a series of gruesome murders follows soon after, Banks finds himself pulled into the past and private world of his most powerful enemy, Chief Constable Jimmy Riddle.

Peter Robinson is at the height of his storytelling skills in this twisting novel of suspense that proves one can never escape their pasts--especially when there are sordid secrets waiting to be revealed.

About this title

Review

"Superbly crafted . . . One of the year's best books".

St. Louis Post Dispatch

"Sharply nuanced pain, hard-won wisdom, and moral complexity everywhere...Mystery-mongering at once as sensitive and grandly scaled as P.D. James's."--"Kirkus Reviews"A cunningly constructed plot, enhanced by Robinson's engaging descriptions and insights."--"Booklist"A great read for those dark and stormy nights."--"Library Journal"With the fading of P.D. James and Ruth Rendell, British crime fiction needs a new leader. Peter Robinson may be the next top gun."--"San Antonio Express-News"A winner....returning to the world of Banks is, as always, a pleasure." --"Houston Chronicle..".a page turner. Expect to stay up late. It's very hard to put down."--"Wichita Falls, TX, Times Record News"Superbly crafted."--"St. Louis Post-Dispatch"Full of twists and surprises....Robinson shows he has only begun to dig into the personality of his tenacious, thoughtful inspector.""Chicago Tribune"I thought IN A DRY SEASON was his best until I finished COLD IS THE GRAVE. Each of his books takes me deeper into Banks's world."--"Boston Globe

From the Author

Like so many stories, Cold is the Grave started with a simple, "What if.?"

In this case, what if a young boy, not really old enough to understand what he was seeing, found himself by mistake at an Internet porn site looking at pictures of his runaway teenage sister? And what if this wayward girl happened to be the daughter of the Chief Constable, Detective Inspector Alan Banks's overbearing and malicious boss? Naturally, the best man for the job of finding her and bringing her home is Banks himself, and so the story begins.

It seemed to me that over the last three or four books, Chief Constable Riddle had become a stereotypical by-the-book boss, the sort of person we have all had to deal at one time or another in our working lives, with an unexplained loathing for Banks. I could either keep things that way until I simply tired of him and had him retire, or I could pick up the challenge and try to make him a more sympathetic, understandable human being: someone who has good reasons for being the way he is. I chose the latter course, and through trying to find out what makes him tick, I came up with the story behind the Riddle family, in the process discovering the reason he has such a particular loathing for Banks.

In order to find Riddle's daughter, Banks first has to head to London's sleazy Soho district, far from his regular North Yorkshire patch, but he is soon back up there among the drystone walls, the steeply rising dalesides, the limestone scars and the cobbled market squares, the crumbling castles and narrow, twisting streets of Eastvale. This is the landscape I fell in love with as a child, when I first visited it with my father on his photographic expeditions. We would set off by bus or train, as we didn't have a car, on daytrips to Richmond, Knaresborough, Ripon or Skipton, where I would wait around until the light was right for my father's photographs I never thought then that the landscape would become such a part of my life's work, but looking back, I must have been absorbing it and observing its nuances as I waited for the sun to come out from behind a cloud.

I've always thought that Banks and I led very similar lives until we diverged in our late teens-me to university, teaching and writing, and Banks to the police, marriage and children-and that has always allowed me to pass off certain of my early memories and experiences as his. This is no less a feature of Cold is the Grave as it is of the other books, and here you'll find Banks musing about a school friend who disappeared without trace and a nasty incident down by the canal. Banks's sergeant, Annie Cabbot, also has to confront her past in this book, where people are rarely what they seem, and their reactions to events and revelations are as unpredictable as the Yorkshire weather.

Writing the book was as much a voyage of discovery for me as I hope it will be for the reader. As usual, when I posed my simple "What if?" I had no idea what the journey would be like, what more I would discover about Banks and Annie, and what complications would result, what secrets would be revealed.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0380809354
• ISBN 13: 9780380809356
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 400