A more permanent departure is that of DCI Banks whose creator, Peter Robinson passed away on Oct. 4 this year.
I hadn't, to my shame, read any of Robinson's books but, with an unforgivable ghoulish fascination, after reading his obituary I decided to check him out.
Nevertheless, although I'm only maybe a third of the way through it is - as they used to say back in the day - a ripping good yarn.
Set in North Yorkshire with references to Stockton, Middlesbrough, Richmond and Newcastle the scene is familiar - many's the time I've cycled up and down those moors and dales.
After discovering a body in a car in unusual circumstances, DCI Banks relaxes in his flat to reflect upon the case. For Sherlock Holmes this would have been a three pipe problem but what does Banks do?
A glass of wine, some cheese and crackers and a Chet Baker CD on the player. Not Chet Baker Sings which almost as many people have in their collection as they have Miles' A Kind of Blue but the 1983 recording that Chet made at The Canteen in London and which was, upon its release, reviewed by BSH in 2016. Maybe Banks bought it on the strength of our review - we will never know. Lance
1 comment :
This is very sad news. I've enjoyed all the DCI Banks novels, most of which I think are set in the fictional Eastvale which is very much based on Richmond, hence all the local references you mention.
In many of the books, especially the earlier ones Banks listens to jazz records or goes to jazz gigs; I seem to remember some references to Spike Robinson for example, which you don't often see.
Peter was a regular on the crime writers' talking circuit and I saw him in Harrogate, Darlington and Richmond, his home town when he returned to this country.
I tried to persuade him to come to some of our Jazz Nights at Darlington Arts Centre but I don't know if he ever came.
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