She Treads Softly: Standing in the Shadows

Monday, April 10, 2023

Standing in the Shadows

Standing in the Shadows by Peter Robinson
4/11/23; 368 pages
William Morrow
Inspector Alan Banks #28

Standing in the Shadows by Peter Robinson is a highly recommended procedural and the 28^th installment in the DCI Alan Banks mystery series. This intelligent procedural follows stories in two timelines

In November 1980, Nick Hartley learns that Alice Poole, his former girlfriend, has been killed and the police are questioning him. Nick knows that she was heading to , her current boyfriends apartment, Mark Woodcraft, and that the two were planning to take a trip. It appears that Mark has disappeared and all the questioning of Nick by the police has rumors flying that he may be the Yorkshire Ripper. Nick is determined to find out what happened to Alice.

In November 2019, an archaeologist looking for Roman remains on the site of a future shopping center uncovers a more contemporary skeleton in a field. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called in to investigate and try to determine when the remains were left and who they are.

This is a satisfying and intense procedural which can be read as a stand-alone, although those who are following the series will certainly benefit from some of the additional background information. The narrative switches back and forth between the two timelines and the obvious end goal of readers is to figure out how they fit together, after they figure out who the skeleton belongs to and how this fits into the earlier murder of Alice. Readers will have their own theories while reading and some are going to be correct.

There are plenty of details of pop culture and social events from both time periods, although the ones in question would be in 1980, and these details are realistic. Admittedly, the 1980 details were fun to look back on. In both time line, characters are portrayed as realistic fully realized unique individuals. The search for the truth in both timelines is equally intriguing and the details help keep the investigations compelling. Peter Robinson passed away and is greatly mourned by fans who will miss looking forward to the next DCI Banks novel.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of William Morrow.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.