GALLOWS VIEW by Peter Robinson: This is the first of the Inspector Banks series for which Robinson has become justly famous. Former London policeman Alan Banks has relocated to small Yorkshire village of Eastvale seeking some small measure of peace, but crime and violence are not limited to large cities. . Soon he is dealing with a brazen Peeping Tom who spies on attractive, unsuspecting ladies as they prepare for bed. When an elderly woman is found brutally slain in her home, Chief Inspector Banks wonders if the voyeur has progressed to more violent crimes. I am looking forward to continuing the series.

I do love a good British police procedural, and this series is definitely one of the good ones! I had read a couple later on in the series and decided to start at the beginning with this book. It features Alan Banks, an inspector in Yorkshire where he's just moved to from London, expecting it to be much more serene and quiet. Ha! :)

Excellent first-in-a-series with Chief Inspector Alan Banks who moves to a small village for a comfortable life. But there are lots of odd things going on in Eastvale. Robinson is great for this genre. I'm pleased to have found a new wonderful series with interesting characters - nothing stuffy in this story. I have ordered the next book already.

good solid british mystery writer

Very good detective story. Setting is in England. Main character is a Chief Inspector in his community. One of a series of books involving this character.

Read All Book Reviews of "Gallows View Inspector Banks Bk 1"

Gallows View is an okay introduction to the British mystery series featuring Inspector Alan Banks, who lives and works in Eastvale, Yorkshire. As the novel begins, the local police are trying to find a peeper who is frightening some of the town's women. As if that's not enough, an elderly woman living alone has been killed, and there are a series of unsolved break-ins. Banks, who has moved to Yorkshire to get away from the high-stress levels of police work and of life in general in London, takes the lead on all of these cases -- which may or may not be linked together.

As with most first novels in a mystery series, Banks' character isn't as well developed right away as it will hopefully be in the next ones. I expect this, though; it's very rare that a character comes fully fleshed out in a series opener. However, the crime plotting is solid, and the way Robinson writes his story leaves readers guessing until the end.

I can recommend Gallows View. If you like British mystery, or if you're looking for a solid police procedural (with some personal touches) and you haven't tried this series yet, it would be worth your while to do so. It's not on the cozy end of mystery novels, but it's not really hardcore either. Overall -- a good read, and I'll definitely be coming back to this author.

Voyeurs and violent burlars are involved in this supenseful Chief Inspector Banks mystery.

Great reading

London cop moves to the Yorkshire Dales expecting a quiet life.
Evocative of the Dales and the British

All of Peter Robinson's books about Inspector Banks are great. Here's one to start the series.

Former London policeman Alan Banks relocated to Yorkshire seeking some small measure of peace. But depravity and violence are unfortunately not unique to large cities. His new venue, the quaint little village of Eastvale, seems to have more than its fair share of malefactors -- among them a brazen Peeping Tom who hides in night's shadows spying on attractive, unsuspecting ladies as they prepare for bed. And when an elderly woman is found brutally slain in her home, Chief Inspector Banks wonders if the voyeur has increased the awful intensity of his criminal activities. But whether related or not, perverse local acts and murderous ones are combining to profoundly touch Banks's suddenly vulnerable personal life, forcing a dedicated law officer to make hard choices he'd dearly hoped would never be necessary.

Read All Book Reviews of "Gallows View Inspector Banks Bk 1"