Strange Affair: The Inspector Banks series

Peter Robinson is author of twenty-four books in the Number One Bestselling DCI Banks series as well as two collections of short stories and three standalone novels, including the Number One bestseller Before The Poison. Peter's critically acclaimed crime novels have won numerous awards in Britain, the United States, Canada and Europe, and are published in translation all over the world.

Peter's DCI Banks was a major ITV1 drama by Left Bank productions. Stephen Tompkinson (Wild at Heart, Ballykissangel) plays Inspector Banks, and Andrea Lowe (The Bill, Murphy's Law) plays DI Annie Cabbot.

Peter's standalone novel Before the Poison won the IMBA's 2013 Dilys Award as well as the 2012 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel by the Crime Writers of Canada. This was Peter's sixth Arthur Ellis award.

Peter Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, and lived between Richmond and Canada. He died in October 2022.

A bullet to the brain abruptly halted a terrified young woman’s desperate flight. In her pocket is the name of a policeman whose own life was brutally invaded, mercilessly shaken, and very nearly erased—a policeman who has since gone missing.
The dead woman in the car had been running from something—but she didn’t run far or fast enough. Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot would like to question the man the victim was apparently racing to meet: Annie’s superior—and former lover—Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. But Banks has vanished into the anonymous chaos of the city, drawn into a mad whirl of greed, inhumanity, and death, by a frantic phone call from the brother he no longer knows. Banks is unaware that the threads connecting a sinister kidnapping with a savage slaying are as thick as rope . . . and long enough for a haunted and broken rogue cop to hang himself.

“First-rate … an addictive crime series … bet you can’t read just one.” — Janet Maslin, New York Times
“Smart and shapely ... immaculately constructed.” — Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
“A damn fine crime novel...like a master class in crime fiction.” — Baltimore Sun
“If you haven’t read Robinson .... what on Earth is stopping you? .... A clever and entertaining thriller.” — Miami Herald
“Fascinating....Robinson, with his usual deft touch and unblinking eye, brings the story to an unexpectedly gut-wrenching conclusion.” — Richmond Times-Dispatch
“A fast-moving story [with] some knockout scenery and an assemblage of delicately drawn characters.” — Raleigh News & Observer
“Flawless plotting and superbly drawn characters….[Robinson] is a master craftsman.” — Tampa Tribune
“Robinson shows he’s a master ... mixes a gritty plot with intense character studies....Consistently compelling.” — Florida Sun-Sentinel
“Remarkable.” — Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“The best Banks book in years.” — Winnipeg Sun
“Superlative...Deeply absorbing...Gripping.” — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
“Robinson has won just about every mystery award there is….His latest shows why.” — Booklist (starred review)
“An engaging pleasure . . . like red wine, [Banks] gets better and more interesting with age.” — Publishers Weekly
“Robinson is on a winning streak.” — Tampa Tribune
“Deeply nuanced works of art.” — Dennis Lehane
“The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are, simply put, the best series now on the market.” — Stephen King
“Stunningly complex and intricately plotted....Peter Robinson fools and entertains me with every twist.” — Nevada Barr
“Complex and intelligent.” — Sunday Times (London)
“Exquisitely complex and atmospheric.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Taut, carefully thought out…with plots that are refreshingly cliché-free.” — Time Out London
“Cunning…authentic and atmospheric.” — The Independent (London)
“Different and intriguing.” — Sunday Telegraph
Peter Robinson is: “A gifted creator of fully fleshed and vividly present characters.” — Boston Globe
“A happy discovery.” — Lady Antonia Fraser in the London Sunday Times
“A skillful writer…” — Houston Chronicle
“Absorbing…Robinson continues to stretch the boundaries of the standard procedural.” — Orlando Sentinel
“Robinson actually seems to grow in front of our eyes, delivering books of greater complexity each time.” — Otto Penzler
“Splendid.” — San Diego Union-Tribune
“The equal of legends in the genre such as P.D. James and Ruth Rendell.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Psychologically acute fiction.” — The Strand