This is the first of his I have read but I will definitely look for more - gently gripping, great story and interesting background.

Reread 13 Sep 2019.
It’s very rare for me to read a book twice - there are just too many others that I want to get through - but this was my introduction to DCI Alan Banks, and in the eleven years since I have slowly worked my way through the series from the beginning. I couldn’t remember anything about the plot, so rather than skipping over it, reacquired a copy to read it again. I’m actually quite shocked at how little I do remember - I thought it would come back to me as I got into it but there was no déjà vu whatsoever.

This tenth book in the series is quite different to all the previous ones in that Banks is investigating a cold case for the first time, but also in the way that large parts of the story were told in the first person by another character, who happens to be a writer of mystery novels, recounting past events, which was an unusual but effective way of telling the story. It was published in 1999 so I am still twenty years behind!

It’s late summer in Yorkshire and a prolonged drought has uncovered the abandoned village of Hobb’s End, flooded out in the creation of a reservoir in 1953. When a lonely boy playing amongst the ruins discovers a skeleton, DCI Banks, still in disgrace after his last case, is sent by his nemesis ACC Riddle to lead the investigation. When forensics confirm that the bones date back to the 1940s, Banks, who is still depressed after separating from his wife, and attractive local DS Annie Cabbot know that the chances of finding the killer are remote, but they are still determined to follow every clue. Meanwhile, Vivian Elmsley tells her story of her beautiful sister-in-law who helped her get through the war.

I enjoyed this just as much as the first time, in fact probably more since I now know Banks’ character and have more appreciation for Robinson’s writing. The idea of a sunken village’s secrets being exposed by an unusual run of weather was fascinating, as were the descriptions of WW2 from the point of view of an introspective teenager forced to run the family shop and care for her mother while her brother goes off to war. I enjoyed the way the story unfolds through the present and past narratives intertwining and didn’t remember or guess the outcome of the mystery at all.

I tend to shy away from war stories so didn’t know that the bombing raids went so far North - the descriptions of the blackouts and how people had to find their way home in the dark - and the tricks they used to get around this were particularly interesting. Obviously I’ve read about rationing, and the impact that the wealthy well provisioned American GIs had on local communities was not new, but scenes like Gwen and Gloria’s excitement when they receive oranges or a box of chocolates - something they haven’t tasted in years, are a good reminder of how spoiled we are now!

Even though quite a bit has changed since the first book - seven years of Banks time but closer to ten between publications, the lack of email, internet searches and cell phones, still made this show its age - as did the smoking (thankfully our hero is cutting down so while every cigarette is still described, it’s not as many as before - I really cannot wait for him to quit!) I am going to made a determined effort to read more than the one a year I’ve managed to date as I would love to get up to date!

3.5

For those brought up on the TV series, this is the one where Annie Cabbot makes her (very different) entry. She’s a DS in a Yorkshire village who is called into action because a body has been found in the exposed remains of another village, one which has been flooded for 40 years as part of the process of making a new reservoir for the city of Leeds. only there’s been a bit of a drought and water levels have plummeted. [Pause for breath.] Not an entry for Annie you’ll find familiar, not a story you’ll have seen on TV.
And this is the largest, bulkiest Banks’ book yet – weighing in at 500 pages instead of the usual 360. Never mind the quality … ?
I found it hard going. Robinson weaves together two (maybe three) parallel and converging stories – the 1990s police investigation and the 1940s story of the people involved. The 1940s story is told by a woman who is now, herself, a famous crime writer (and this is maybe already a coincidence or convenience too far). Was she the killer in her youth? What is she not telling us? Is she telling us the truth ... or selling us a story?
In the 1990s we’re made aware that Banks and his wife have separated, the (no-longer) children begin to play a more prominent part in his life, he relocates to a small cottage in which to discover (or maybe invent) a post-marital self, … and he starts to speculate about his future and future relationships. Queue the appearance of Annie.
Plenty going on, yet I struggled to stay interested – aspects of the tale seem contrived, it can be a bit coy in places, a bit convenient in others. And the 1940’s sequences are laboured … it’s as if Robinson read a book or two on wartime social history and tried to shoehorn in as many references to the era (i.e., clichés) as possible: I found myself singing “Underneath the Arches”, “We’ll Meet Again”, and other songs from the Blitz handbook while I read the 1940s sections – and frankly I have a singing voice which warrants being targeted by the Luftwaffe.
We get an interesting perspective on how to age (and sex) a skeleton, we get insight into the science of murder investigation – it can be quite interesting. It’s certainly more interesting than coping with Banks’ libido (very coy exploration though it is), his sense of self, and the politics of his relationship with the Chief Constable. And. Of course. Thrown into the mix are the usual interminable references to cigarettes, to alcohol, to food, and to various music collections.
The annoying thing is, there’s actually potential for a really good story here … it just never quite gels. Or maybe he begins with the wrong recipe? Had it been a body from the 1970s there could have been much greater potential in the hunt for a killer, in the search for explanation, in the forensic examination of the skeleton, the social history and politics of the era. There could have been a much more convincing dynamic, an electricity flowing through the passages like alternating current – 1990s … 1970s … 1990s.
The ending? Far too pat. Too obviously contrived. It’s almost as if he was down to the last page of typing paper in the box so had to hurriedly wind things up … leaving, of course, speculation enow about Banks’ love life, family, career, etc. to keep loyal fans panting outside their local bookshop door waiting for the next instalment. Shame, could have been much better, there was potential for a story there.

The mystery is complex with a number of twists, but I thought there was too much about the detectives' personal problems. There were few likable characters, but some were memorable. I did appreciate Banks's taste in music and the references to a number of specific musical works. I understand the setting is based on an actual place in England, and some scenes do convey a sense of atmosphere and history. I recognize that a good deal of research underlies the WW2 time period; the book is full of details about the privations of wartime rationing, train travel, bureaucracy, and the presence of American and Canadian military types. The sections set in the 1990s are represented by things like phones with receivers, fax machines, and an awful lot of smoking.
On the whole, I thought this was an interesting read, despite occasionally bogging down in side stories. I would have given it an unqualified rating of 4, but the epilogue is a real downer, with a graphic and gruesome description of execution and a final depressing revelation. It left a bad taste as I closed the book. So 3.5, rounded up.

This is the first time I've read anything by this author and it is a very pleasant surprise. I found this to be a very well written and interesting read. Set in England a Detective Chief Inspector, on the outs with his superiors is given a cold case that goes about solving. It turns out to be a murder from the end of WW2 that nobody expects him to solve. How he and his new partner go about doing that is very interesting. So if you enjoy a good mystery, this is a good one.

This is the tenth book in a row so you can see how much I enjoy the DCI Banks' series.
However, I found large amounts of this book quite turgid and wordy - descriptions of war time that, though very evocative, didn't move the plot forward at all. Eventually I was skipping large chunks to get on with the story.
Peter Robinson has changed his plot style here and has adopted a split time format. He also uses a diary in increasingly large wodges to explain past actions as viewed by one of the protagonists in order to backfill information.
The plot, as usual, is interesting and well-crafted. The protagonists in his books aren't mere cyphers that move the story along. Robinson really involves you in the people and draws characters who are multi-layered and develop along with the plot.
I do find boring, however, the endless lists of music that DCI Banks listens to Is this the author's listening preferences? Do we need them SO long and SO frequent?
On to Book 11 in the series and hope it's as good as books 1 - 9.

First, I struggle mightily with this narrator. He’s excellent, but in years past, I would attempt to fall asleep at night with BBC Radio 4 in the background—a bunch of posh talking heads dealing with issues that largely didn’t matter—perfect soporific. Alas, when I hear a voice like the one that narrates this book, my brain says “Ok, all systems go for sleep!” And I do! Deeply and often. I can’t even tell you how often I’ve backtracked just to get through this book. Worse still, this installment of the series is the epitome of slow and slogging when you think of British police procedurals.

A dry summer in England’s countryside means a reservoir created soon after World War II dries up, exposing the remains of a village that inhabited the spot until immediately after the war. Thirteen-year-old Adam Kelly is acting out one of his super-hero fantasies near the ruins when he trips on a rotted rafter, falls, and disturbs what turned out to be the grave site of a murdered young woman.

The life of Inspector Banks is in a bit of a dry season as the book opens. He and his wife of three decades have called it quits, and Banks has purchased a dilapidated cottage he’s fixing up in his free time as an antidote to his depression.

The book alternates in timelines between World War II and the present. Wow! That’s such a novel idea! Nobody’s doing that! Oh, wait! Everybody’s doing that it seems. That’s perhaps another reason for allowing old Morpheus to take such iron-clad control of my reading time.

My conditioned sleepiness aside, this was a decent book, and the next book in the series looks a lot more interesting.

עוד מותחן על רצח מחריד בעיירה קרתנית שתושביה מסתירים סודות.
לצערי לא מדובר באחד מהמותחנים המעולים והמעניינים שבהם. משעמם ונשכח לחלוטין.

If this had been the first Inspector Banks book I'd read (actually listened to the audiobook), it also would have been the last. Peter Robinson's "Banks" audiobooks generally last around 9-10 hours. Volumes 1 through 9 were a delight - narrated by a low-key, easy-to-listen-to professional who did a fantastic job with the various voices and accents. The mystery moved right along and was satisfactorily resolved. Nothing deep, but very entertaining. "In a Dry Season" (#10) was 17 hours, filled with a raft of mind-numbing conversational blind alleys, and narrated by someone who sounded like he was auditioning for a cut-rate Monty Python revival. My husband and I listened to the first half on a road trip, and by then - entertained or not - we were invested. Once home, we'd listen to an hour or so every evening during dinner until it was finally over and done with. So many story flashbacks! So many plot themes! So much emotional dramaturgy! We thought it would never end. My husband's final pronouncement: "Don't ever do that to me again!"

Reading Peter Robinson’s series about DCI Alan Banks has me wanting to drink more gin and tonics, eat more pub style food and wanting to visit Yorkshire. This is book # 10 in the DCI Banks series and I am already tucked into the next book. More on that one later. I am absolutely addicted to these police procedurals and will be at a loss when I have caught up with Robinson’s latest books.

In a Dry Season starts with skeletal remains being discovered under an old outbuilding. A boy is exploring village structures which had been underwater for over 50 years. The village had been flooded to create a reservoir long ago but with drought conditions, the reservoir dried out, this old town emerges. It’s mostly preserved and as you can imagine, a child would love to snoop around in such a magical looking place. The boy falls through the roof of a structure and discovers the human bones.

The mystery starts with DCI Banks being assigned to this remote little corner, teaming up with DC Annie Cabot. They have to determine if the remains are from an accident or a covered up murder. How can they possibly know who this was or what happened since the place has been underwater for so many years. The side story features a mystery novelist who is clearly upset when she views the emerging story on television news. Obviously she knows something, you can tell that from the first few pages of her storyline, but how much involvement or information does she have? The story moves back and forth between present day and 1941 in the war era.

This book and Final Account have been my favorites so far. I love how Alan Banks’ character continues to develop and hearing about his personal life interjected into the investigation.

I am already reading Cold is the Grave, book #11. Totally addicted!

Mystery and Police Procedurals – Do you have a favorite author?

A promising premise - a long drought dries up a lake, revealing a town that had been flooded decades before and a corpse that needs explaining - turns into a mediocre mystery.

I am a big fan of Inspector Banks. In a Dry Season is perhaps his best novel. It starts with the digging up of a WW II skeleton. She has been brutally murdered but the crime took place during WW II. Inspector Banks has to research WW II life as well as the modern day. He and his assistant Cabot are able to unravel an evil that took place long ago.