A Necessary End
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
"Thoughtful . . . vivid . . . challenging . . . Like the region that breeds them, the people in Robinson's mystery flaunt their colors but keep their secrets." —The New York Times Book Review
The third installment in the internationally bestselling Inspector Banks series
Violence erupts at an anti-nuclear demonstration in the usually peaceful town of Eastvale, leaving one young policeman stabbed to death with over a hundred suspects. Detective Chief Inspector Banks is called upon to investigate the murder, but things get difficult when an old rival, the volatile Superintendent Richard "Dirty Dick" Burgess, is sent from London to lead the investigation. As Burgess narrows his suspicions on the inhabitants of "Maggie's Farm," an isolated house high on the daleside, Banks sifts through a host of unusual suspects and disturbing discoveries about the police themselves.
Then Banks is warned off the case, and he realizes that the only way he can salvage his career is by beating Burgess to the killer. As the two head for a final confrontation, Banks pieces together the full story behind his most tragic case so far.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Chief Inspector Alan Banks of Britain's Eastvale Regional Police reappears in another fluently written, superior mystery. In this third outing he plays good cop while Supt. Richard (``Dirty Dick'') Burgess, a special investigator from London CID, plays bad cop in investigating the murder of a young constable sent to keep order at an anti-nuclear demonstration. ``A full-blown riot in Eastvale, admittedly, on a small scale, was near unthinkable,'' Banks muses. It's a drowsy town of 14,000 that time has passed by, yet a murderer--one of the demonstrators--undeniably has struck with a flick-knife (switchblade). Dirty Dick, a notorious stud and heavy drinker, roars into town, convinced that Bolshies and terrorists have killed PCsic Gill. A user of terror tactics himself, he's intent on making a collar even if the evidence must be bent. He brushes off Banks's suggestions that the demonstration may have been used as cover for a grudge killing. In a story that uses considerable psychological subtlety in exploring the afterlives of '60s flower children, Banks traces the crime to its roots in the past. Toronto author Robinson ( Gallows View ; A Dedicated Man ) has created a stalwart cop in Alan Banks, a man who loves justice and understands a woman's heart. Mystery Guild alternate; paperback rights to Avon .