Another mystery for DCI Alan Banks to deal with.
Having problems with his private and professional life Banks is given a job out of the way. A body has been found in the bed of a dried out reservoir in Thornfield. The crime took place forty years ago so is a tricky one to solve but Banks won’t give in until he has some answers.
A great read from Peter Robinson.

Such a good series! In this one, set as usual in northern England, a skeleton found in an abandoned town which had been under a reservoir until the dry season came, is determined to have been a murder victim from around 1945. The present-day story alternates with the wartime story of those involved. Very, very good.

Here's another strong mystery from Peter Robinson. Inspector Alan Banks inherits a cold case that involves a murder committed some 75 years ago in a small village that has been flooded to construct a new reservoir. The author has written an excellent police procedural, but the real charm of this book is the intricate detail of small-town life in England during World War II.

Definitely the best Banks book I have read. This one is constructed with brilliance and holds the tension of past and present beautifully.
AND...only 1.99 on Amazon right now.
Here Banks loses wife Sandra to some other dude, connects with son long enough to hear and enjoy his band, connected with Annie for the first time as co-worker and more, and experienced other changes in his life as a single man after 20 years of marriage.
The dual storyline takes us back to WWII where we meet the life and times of a murder victim recently unearthed. The investigation required is challenging and successful even though no recognition is granted by evil Riddle.

A skeleton, the victim of a violent murder 50 years past, is discovered in a ghost town. Banks, more for personal reasons (his marriage is falling apart) than for anything else, sets out to solve the crime. But who is the victim? Why was she murdered? After fifty years these questions are not easily answered. As Banks unravels this mystery, a second mystery, a story told by an unidentified witness, takes us back to the time of the murder - Britain during WWII. It is this dual perspective that makes In a Dry Season, so wonderfully complex. With utter mastery Robinson paints an evocative portrait of wartime Britain, and before long you find yourself immersed in the spirit of the times - the coupons, the rationing, the black outs. But what truly distinguishes this book from Robinson's other mysteries is the thoroughness with which he develops the humanity of the murder victim. You become so attached to her that when she is inevitably murdered, you feel her loss.
I loved this book and want to read more Inspector Banks books!!

I went into a mystery book store and asked for recommendations. I was handed several books and I purchased two; The Chill by Ross Macdonald and this book. I read The Chill first, so needless to say I had high hopes. Then I read this book. It was terrible! I can't believe I read the whole thing. It took forever to read because I had to take time out to roll my eyes every other paragraph. Cliche, trite, predictable, boring. This book is why the mystery genre is considered as trashy as the romance novel. I want to look up the full reviews that are quoted on the back cover because clearly they have been hacked to pieces to make the book sound interesting. "Richly layered..." I say "richly layered" piles of crap. Robinson has "richly layered" pieces of other books he read because he doesn't have a single original idea. Boy oh boy do I WISH this book was "richly layered" because I wouldn't have fallen asleep so many times while reading it.

I read Peter Robinson's first Alan Banks novel, GALLOWS VIEW, and thought "Eh, not bad." At some point in many series, however, comes a book that kicks things up a notch. I get the feeling this was such a book for this series.

Banks, who's gotten onto his superior's naughty list, gets shuffled off to investigate a murder that apparently happened in the 1940's. The murder would have gone completely undetected had the reservoir that drowned the tiny village of Hobb's End not run dry and exposed the ruins of the past.

There are multiple flashbacks to the war years that can get a little confusing. Frankly, a little judicious typesetting could have gone a long way towards ameliorating some of this. But the glimpses into the daily life of wartime Britain are fascinating and detailed enough to seem authentic without being obtrusive. The book is well plotted and the prose is quite good (also without being obtrusive).

Definitely recommended.

A long drought has uncovered the remains of a village that was inundated by a reservoir, and a young boy exploring the ruins discovers the bones of a woman. This is where Banks meets Annie, who has been posted to a small country station. Their investigation alternates with excerpts from the memoir of a woman who knew the victim but has chosen not to come forward, so identification is a large part of the book. Interesting depiction of the relationships between American GI's and the locals during and after WWII.

I really enjoyed this. Not only did it have the introduction of Annie Cabbot into the series, which was well-scripted and provided some momentum for the continuation of the series, but it also contained one of the most interesting and unusual central crimes. The sections told 'in the past' worked well, and were convincingly written, and the development of the story in the present day also meshed well and kept me interested.

Too slow for me. Unengaging characters in two different time frames. Too many easy coincidences. Around page 200, when a boy produced a button that had remained in a victim's grip through a violent death, burial, decomposition to skeletal remains, and flooding of the burial site, I ended my struggle to finish this book.

Of all The Banks book of early books this is one of best.You get two stories for the price of one.A village hidden away under water when the water is dry all the secret WWII Ghosts return to claim there serving relatives This like the Morse story were when he is in hospital he solves an 19th century murder .
Dry Season proves that you never no when justice 's sword will chop your bollacks

One of my favourite Banks books to date. Couldn’t stop reading it. I normally don’t like when books go back and forth in time but this one was very well done. Both were great stories.