Standing in the Shadows

 Standing in the Shadows

Reviewed By  Nan van Dissel       May 10, 2023

 

Author  Peter Robinson

Distributor:      Hachette
ISBN:                 9781529343175
Publisher:         Hachette. Imprint Hodder & Stoughton
Release Date:   April 2023  

Website:    https://www.hachette.com.au 

How are two events almost thirty years apart linked? With Britain in the grips of the search for the Yorkshire Ripper, was the 1980’s murder of a young university student part of his handiworks? Peter Robinson slowly teases out the links in his latest police procedural with its well-developed characters and complex plot set in the atmospheric Yorkshire Dales.

Nicholas Hartley, who is the prime suspect in the case of the murder of his former girlfriend, Alice Poole in 1980, is also initially thought to be the Yorkshire Ripper, however the time line doesn’t fit! Why is no one searching for Mark, Alice’s mystery boyfriend, who disappeared without a trace on the night of her murder? As no arrest was made, for the next thirty years, Hartley undertakes his own investigation as he can’t give up on achieving justice for the girl he never forgot.

When in November 2019 an archaeological dig uncovers the bones of a more contemporary body, instead of Roman remains or relics, DCI Banks arrives on the isolated scene with policewoman Gerry Masterson and they are confronted with the task of ‘who, why and by whom’.

In his 28th and last twisting and turning DCI Banks tale, Peter Robinson has given the reader the final glimpse into this understated, plodding, focussed detective as the merging stories unfolds; layer upon layer.  Readers are not only totally engaged in uncovering the ultimate links between the two murders, but they will also appreciate the interesting details about culture, music and social events of both time periods.   

Peter Robinson death in October 2022 will be greatly mourned by the fans of this superb series, who no doubt were looking forward to the next DCI Banks novel.    

Crime, Fiction