A Necessary End

A peaceful demonstration in the normally quiet town of Eastvale ended with fifty arrests -- and the brutal stabbing death of a young constable. But Chief Inspector Alan Banks fears there is worse violence in the offing. For CID Superintendent Richard "Dirty Dick" Burgess has arrived from London to take charge of the investigation, fueled by professional outrage and volatile, long-simmering hatreds.

Almost immediately, Burgess descends with vengeful fury upon the members of a sixties-style commune -- while Banks sifts through the rich Yorkshire soil around him, turning over the earthy, unsettling secrets of seemingly placid local lives. Crossing "Dirty Dick" could cost the Chief Inspector his career. But the killing of a flawed Eastvale policeman is not the only murder that needs to be solved here. And if Banks doesn't unmask the true assassin, his superior's misguided obsession might well result in further bloodshed.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent police procedural and more

By Dave Goldberg - May 18, 2001

Banks is one of the more enjoyable fictional detectives because he's a whole person who can't be categorized. The same can be said of the other characters in this readable and satisfying book that, among other things, suggests that you can't tell a person by his politics. Example: Inspector Burgess, the mean and sometimes mean-spirited visitor from London suspects reds under every bed, left-wing conspiracies behind everything and yet ... likes Billie Holiday. Osmond, who seems a knee-jerk left-winger, talks about the way all anti-nuclear people are presumed to be on the same page on every subject. They're not, he notes, pointing to the anti-abortion position of some left-wing Catholics.All of this humanizes an interesting detective story. Robinson, who seems to have come to notice in "In A Dry Season'' is up there with the best of the mystery writers and this book is up there with his best.

Inspector Banks investigates the murder of a constable.

By E. Bukowsky "booklover10" - August 11, 2001

The quiet town of Eastvale in Yorkshire is rocked by an anti-nuclear demonstration that turns violent. A police constable named Edwin Gill is stabbed to death during the demonstration and Inspector Alan Banks is on the case. Unfortunately, his superior is not the supportive and sensible Superintendent Gristhorpe but "Dirty Dick" Burgess, a sadistic, chauvanistic, hard-drinking CID Superintendent who has a hatred for "commies" and hippie-types. Burgess roars into town and immediately starts threatening the locals, using his bullying style of interrogation to get results.With Sandra and the kids out of town for a few weeks, Banks has plenty of time to follow a few leads of his own. Most of his suspicions are centered around a commune known as "Maggie's Farm," where some sixties-type people live together. One of the residents, Paul Boyd, is a particularly suspicious character, since he has a lengthy police record. Banks wants to find out if Officer... read more

Another fine police procedural

By Debbie Tam "gabrielsmom" - May 25, 2000

When a demonstration goes out of control, many demonstrators and policemen are left wounded and one constable is found stabbed to death. With over 100 demonstrators, Inspector Banks has his work cut out for him. We meet Jenny Fuller, the psychologist, again, though this time not in a professional capacity. She is dating one of the many suspects of the crime. Is this a crime of passion? Or is it a more sinister premeditated murder using the demonstration as a facade? Banks deals with a number of a fleshed out characters which the reader will quickly empathize with. It is page turner and true to the police procedural form.