In a Dry Season
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4.2 • 107 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author Peter Robinson delivers an unforgettable, compelling thriller of a lost village and the deadly secrets that are unearthed upon its discovery—secrets that include murder.
In the blistering, dry summer, the waters of Thornfield Reservoir have been depleted, revealing the ruins of the small Yorkshire village that lay at its bottom—ruins that house the unidentified bones of a murdered young woman. Detective Chief Inspector Banks faces a daunting challenge: he must unmask a sadistic killer who has escaped detection for half a century. For the dark secrets of Hobb's End continue to haunt the dedicated policeman, even though the town that bred them has died and its former residents have been scattered to far places—or even to their graves.
Demonstrating once again why Peter Robinson is a master of suspense, In a Dry Season is a powerful, insightful, and searing novel of past crimes and present evil.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Anyone who loves a good mystery should curl up gratefully with a cuppa to enjoy this rich 10th installment of the acclaimed British police procedural series. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, on the skids since the breakup with wife Sandra, languishes in "career Siberia" until old nemesis Chief Constable Riddle sends him to remotest Yorkshire on a "dirty, pointless, dead-end case." It seems a local kid has discovered a skeleton in dried-up Thornfield Reservoir, constructed on the site of the deserted bucolic village of Hobb's End. Banks taps into his familiar network of colleagues to identify the skeleton as that of Gloria Shackleton, a gorgeous, provocative "land girl" who worked on a Hobb's End farm while her husband was off fighting the Japanese decades ago. Apparently, Gloria had been stabbed to death. As Banks and Detective Sergeant Annie Cabbot struggle to re-create the 50-year-old crime scene, wartime Yorkshire, with all its deprivations and depravities, springs to life. (Banks revives, too, showing renewed interest in his job, and in women.) Robinson brilliantly interweaves the story of Banks's investigation with an ambiguous manuscript by detective novelist "Vivian Elmsley," a 70-ish woman once Gloria's sister-in-law. Is the manuscript a memoir of events leading to Gloria's vicious murder, or "all just a story"? Either way, every detail rings true. Once again, Robinson's work stands out for its psychological and moral complexity, its startling evocation of pastoral England and its gritty, compassionate portrayal of modern sleuthing.
Customer Reviews
Different - all about relationship
This book is way more than a who-done-it. It's really a story about relationships and the events around them over the course of many years. There is plenty of introspection on the parts of Alan and Gwen. The view of life in wartime Britain was interesting. The sense of loss and sorrow was often quite intense. Robinson sure knows how to make you feel 'sorry' for his characters. A simple tale really..., with really, no 'action'. Just 'interactions'.
Possibly the best
I am fairly new to Peter Robinson’s novels, having discovered them only in the last couple of years. This, to me, was one of his best. So thorough and so touching, completely satisfying to read. I am only sad that he left us too soon.
Highly recommend
I first started watching the series and I was hooked so I decided to start reading the book. I chose to read this book first instead of going back to the first book because it's the first time Banks met Annie. There was a definite chemistry between these two characters in the series and I want to read about them from the beginning. The case was very interesting with all the twists and turns. I was hooked. It's very addicitve. I just could not stop as I wanted to know more and more. I would recommend this book to anyone who love a good mystery, suspense, drama, and a bit of romance.