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In a Dry Season
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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.
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Start ReadingBook Information
In a Dry Season
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.
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Reviews
Good mystery thriller with flahbacks
Rating: 4Peter Robinson's tenth novel in the Alan Banks series, "In A Dry Season", is one of his best. A skeleton turn up in dried-up reservoir built on the ruins of an old village, Hobb's End. Helped by Detective Sergeant Annie Cabbot, Banks quickly finds out this is not the dull assignment he thought he was being thrown into by his old boss Jimmy Riddle (whom he once punched in the face). He uncovers secrets from the Second World War, secrets long forgotten by everyone but a former resident of the village who is now an acclaimed writer. She tells Banks about her adventures as a young woman when the area was teeming with American airmen and how an innocent love affair ended in murder. Uncovering the secret behind the skeleton means Banks and Cabbot need to piece together the lives of people long dead. Robinson has done it again.
Rating: 3I enjoyed this book and it explains a lot about the relationship between characters that one misses when not reading a series in order of being written. But it's a book that does stand up on it's own two feet without having had to have read any of the others in the series.
This novel is a mix of an old story and a new story, linked across the decades, that come together rather well. Mostly, it's evenly paced but there are times when Alan Banks gets retrospective that slows the story down, just when the pace has picked up some. This sort of thing is fine at the beginning of a story but not in the last 100 pages when we are all waiting for the climax.
Worth reading.
Rating: 3This novel is a mix of an old story and a new story, linked across the decades, that come together rather well. Mostly, it's evenly paced but there are times when Alan Banks gets retrospective that slows the story down, just when the pace has picked up some. This sort of thing is fine at the beginning of a story but not in the last 100 pages when we are all waiting for the climax.
Worth reading.
Robinson interweaves a contemporary detective investigation with the wartime journals of Gwen Shackleton. Gwen turns out to be the sister-in-law of Gloria Shackleton, whose skeleton is discovered in a dried-out reservoir constructed on the site of a deserted Yorkshire village.Gloria was a land girl whose husband, Matthew, went missing during the war, believed killed in a Japanese POW camp. Fifty years on, Chief Inspector Alan Banks has the unenviable task of trying to solve Gloria's murder. There's a great sense of period in Gwen's journals, and the two time threads work well together. The novel reminded me a lot of the detective fiction of Peter Lovesey, which I like a great deal. Banks is also quite similar to Lovesey's detective, Peter Diamond - they're basically just ordinary, decent chaps - 'bright working class boys' to use Robinson's description of Banks.The answer to Gloria's murder is drawn out gradually and satisfyingly. There are no contrived plot twists or deus ex machina surprises. A very solid detective novel, and the historical fiction element gives it an extra dimension.
Rating: 3I found the book to be slow moving and at times hard to follow. I didn't get caught up in the story until I got to about page 150, I had to continue to read in hopes that the book would eventually become exciting, as exciting as the jacket described it to be. The main thing about this book is that there is three main stories with about 4 to 5 subplots. There was way too much information given about minor characters. However, the main character, Alan Banks, although a bit strange was a very strong character. Eventually you get halfway through the book and the story becomes interesting, but unfortunately, I figured out who the murderer was early on in the story. It seemed as though it was difficult for Peter Robinson to keep the story moving forward. It wasn't the worst book I've read, but it could have been better.
Rating: 2With In a Dry Season, Peter Robinson creates a mostly suspenseful tale in which the much beleaguered DCI, Allan Banks and the freethinking DS Annie Cabbot grapple with a decades old murder, love, their own pasts and family ties. However, brevity is the soul of suspense as well as wit, and this books is not blessed with anything akin to brevity. While I found all facets of book, including the detectives' personal lives,intriguing there were many times when sections could have been neatly pared to achieve greater impact. Too often I found myself skipping bits tended to the overly ponderous. If this had not been the case I would have rated it more highly. Some ethical issues will make it excellent fodder for the book club
Rating: 3A well crafted plot and endearing characters.
Rating: 4I read a New York Times Book review of a latter Inspector Banks mystery and decided to investigate the series. I haphazardously picked In A Dry Season to read and boy did I get lucky. The plot is complex and the details are engrossing. The literary device used in this particular story is quite effective and it caught the reaqders up on the details of the story. I especially found the Yorkshire related details endearing since I had spent a number of weeks in Yorkshire for work. The place names and the attitudes portrayed in the book is spot on of how I remembered Yorkshire people. His use of musical history is also a great vehicle to pull the interested reader in. Since music is so very important for those of us who are in this generation, this small hook digs deeply into the rader's psyche. I found the pacing taut and engrossing, the character studies involving. I liked the characters, which is more than half the battle when a story is being told. I have since read Close to the Grave too. In fact I read it in one day, so I gess Peter Robinson has hooked me. I am thiking that I will be finishing the rest of the Inspector Banks books some time soon.
Rating: 5A superb read from the Inspector Banks series. During a drought a previously submerged village appears and reveals the remains of a long-dead woman. The investigation takes many twists and turns and has several possible outcomes. I especially liked the glimpses into the past of old relationships and the fascinating references to life during World War ll.Chief Inspector Banks is not a favourite with his new superior and his personal life is complicated by a new partner who seems very deep, a surprise visit from his estranged wife and the return of the psychologist Jenny to whom he has always been attracted. Great reading.
Rating: 4Usually I do not like books with retrospective narration paralleling the current plot. But in this case, with the insight into the British home front during World War II, it was interesting.
Rating: 3The best of the Inspector Banks novels, and most of them are pretty good. This one shines because a lot of the narrative takes place in a WWII-era provincial village. Robinson does a good job of recreating the feel of that time & place. Our time spent with Banks is relatively limited and the arc of his story isn't really advanced very far through this story. One feels this could well have been a stand-alone, but it works very well in any case.
Rating: 4Excellent read
Rating: 4One of the better suspense mysteries I've read in a long time.
Rating: 4Great combo of anthropology, police procedural detective story, murder mystery, great characters, forensic science and how a cold case can always be resurrected. I continue to enjoy the Inspector Banks series.
Rating: 4A village that has been flooded to create a reservoir is uncovered during a particularly dry summer. While exploring, a boy discovers a human skeleton that, in all likelihood had been put there over 50 years ago. Was the person murdered or was it an accident? Will it be possible to solve such an old case?
The man chosen for the job is DI Alan Banks. He's been out of favour with his superiors, prompting his selection for what sees to be a hopeless, dead-end job. But, through determination, perseverance and help from local sergeant, Annie Cabbot, he makes slow progress. As Inspector Banks uncovers clues and chases up leads, we are taken back to when it all took place and get to witness every detail first hand. It really is a technique that works extraordinarily well.
As far as police procedurals go, this ranks very highly with pieces of the puzzle revealing a more and more tragic story, leading right up to the consequences played out in the climactic present-day scenes. This is definitely a book to put on your must-read list, particularly if you are a fan of well-constructed mysteries.
Rating: 4The man chosen for the job is DI Alan Banks. He's been out of favour with his superiors, prompting his selection for what sees to be a hopeless, dead-end job. But, through determination, perseverance and help from local sergeant, Annie Cabbot, he makes slow progress. As Inspector Banks uncovers clues and chases up leads, we are taken back to when it all took place and get to witness every detail first hand. It really is a technique that works extraordinarily well.
As far as police procedurals go, this ranks very highly with pieces of the puzzle revealing a more and more tragic story, leading right up to the consequences played out in the climactic present-day scenes. This is definitely a book to put on your must-read list, particularly if you are a fan of well-constructed mysteries.
Didn't like this as well as some of the previous books in the series, but it's still a good read.
Rating: 3Peter Robinson is my current favorite mystery and crime thriller author. Of all the Detective Alan Banks novels this is the best. The switching back and forth between present day and WWII England makes it simply impossible to put down.
Rating: 5This is one of a series of 16 books about Inspector Alan Banks. Set in the English Midlands, each book follows the solving of a crime and also follows the events of his private life. In a Dry Season is the best of the series, taking place when his marriage has ended and he is struggling in his professional life. The mystery involves a murder committed at the end of World War II and it is fascinating the way pieces of the puzzles are slowly fit together. A really first rate mystery writer.
Rating: 4My first Inspector Banks book and I'm a fan. Even though I started in the middle of the series, it didn't matter. Banks is in hot water with his commanding officer, Riddle, so Riddle sends him on a non-sense case. His co-worker on the case is Annie Cabbot, also persona non-grata.It is the mid-90s. Thirteen year old Adam Kelley was playing in the dried up reservoir that was once the town of Hobbs End (it was flooded in the early 1950s to make the reservoir) when he fell off a roof into what was originally an outhouse. His arm sinks in the mud and when he pulls it out, he's holding the skeleton of a human hand. Banks and Cabbot are called to the scene. Robinson alternates between current events (the police procedures to find information about the victim and her associates) and a narrative of the times leading up to the murder, since murder it is.The story has a nice blend of the varying time frames and readers get a great sense of life in rural England during WW II. The current activity is interesting as the police find it difficult to get dated information. They must surmise, guess, etc.In a Dry Season held my interest from the first page and I read it as non-stop as I could in order to find out what happened. I'm not a big British mystery fan, but this may change my mind. It's a great read.
Rating: 4The small village of Hobb's End in England was turned into a reservoir a few years after World War II. A dry spell has caused the water level to recede and the town has reappeared. When a young boy is playing in the abandoned village, he falls through an out building roof and discovers a woman's skeleton. Chief Inspector Banks is called in by a superior, who has a grudge against him, to investigate the fifty year old crime. With the help of DC Annie Cabot, Banks delves into the past to discover who this woman was and why anyone would want to kill her.I enjoy reading novels that teach me something about the past. This mystery brings back to life the people who lived in a small British village during World War II. There are details about rationing, traveling, blackouts, and the destruction of the blitz. The story switches between the modern day and the 1940's, and does so seamlessly. I was never confused about where I was or when. This is a straightforward procedural mystery with a historical twist. It was a great read.
Rating: 5At times a very poorly written book, filled with characters that talk in noithing but cliches. The character of Inspector Banks I found extremely disappointing, as colourless as they come. This is my intro to Robinson and this character I hope the other books are better. The plot was intriguing along with the history, but otherwise I wish I could take back the book.
Rating: 2I agree with a number of people that this is a great series and that this book is where the series steps over to be a serious contender in the great mystery series genre. I have enjoyed the books up to now, but they did not really prepare me for the complexity of this novel. Robinson's Chief Inspector Banks is a wonderful creation. This is a book that blends the past and the present and Robinson does this seamlessly. We flit back and forth from present-day England to England during the Second World War. The book is definitely more than an exciting murder mystery. It is an exploration of human behaviour and it is very provocatively written. Banks is currently suffering a bit both in his career and in his personal life, so when a skeleton is discovered buried under a reservoir that has dried up due to drought, he knows that this case will be one that will reshape his career and hopefully add some meaning to his life as he has been trying to get used to be separated from his wife of 20 years. Even he doesn't anticipate where pursuit of the solution of this case will take him. For anyone who loves to read intelligently written British police procedural mysteries, do not miss Peter Robinson.
Rating: 5This is probably the best Banks novel that I have read so far. The story line is filled with details from the past and the present that cleverly intertwine into a wonderful investigation. As you read, you are drawn into the story and wonderful characters that hold your interest right down to the last page. The sub-plot of his developing relationship with Sergeant Abbott as well as his disintegrating relationship with his ex-wife is an interesting part of the novel. If you haven't read Robinson, you don't know what you are missing. I'm looking forward to my next Robinson read.
Rating: 5If you like a good mystery, this one should fit the bill. The story flashes back and forth between life in a rural English village in World War II and the present day, where the tiny hamlet was at the bottom of a now-dried-up reservoir. The drought also exposes the skeleton of a murder victim, so Inspector Banks and his attractive new partner are brought in to investigate the crime.
Overall, I found it to be a good read; I had minor quibbles about the way the sub-plots were handled and I thought the book was a couple hundred pages too long and could have used a good editor, but I’m sure die-hard Banks fans would wish it were longer.
Rating: 4Overall, I found it to be a good read; I had minor quibbles about the way the sub-plots were handled and I thought the book was a couple hundred pages too long and could have used a good editor, but I’m sure die-hard Banks fans would wish it were longer.
In a Dry Season is Peter Robinson’s tenth Inspector Banks novel. I’ve read only two of the others, which were good. This one is very good, indeed. North Yorkshire Police Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks has finally gotten a field assignment after a very long “dry season” of disciplinary desk work. He is sent to investigate the accidental discovery of the long-buried bones of a hand that turns out to be human. Excavation of the area where the hand was found - at the bottom of a reservoir that had dried up over the summer (in yet another allusion to a dry season) - uncovers the complete human skeleton of a young woman who appears to have been savagely murdered by repeated knife thrusts. Unfortunately, physical evidence indicates that the murder took place 40-50 years earlier, possibly during World War II. The novel then alternates between a third person narrative of Banks’ investigation and a first person narrative of a woman living in the area of the murder during the war. Both stories are well constructed and, no surprise here, they somehow come together in the dénouement. The description of civil life in war-time England is particularly fascinating, where the predominating experience is one of shortages and rationing of the necessities of life. Banks’ investigation encounters many loose ends and red herrings, but Robinson skillfully brings all of them together with a clever concluding twist. For fans of the series, this is the book in which Inspector Banks first gets together with Detective Sergeant Annie Cabbot. DS Cabbot has been having a “dry season” of her own after a traumatic incident nearly two years before. As the book ends, the long rainy winter results in the reservoir filling up once again, and with a hint that the dry seasons of Banks and Cabbot may be over as well.Evaluation: Robinson does not try to create the harrowing suspense or terror of a Steig Larsson or Jo Nesbo thriller, but his handling of the step-by-step solution to a puzzle is worthy of comparison to Arthur Conan Doyle. (JAB)
Rating: 4Wonderful story; engaging actually. Creative and full of interesting twists, especially the ending scene. Highly recommend it.
Rating: 5Robinson's standalone novels are just as good as the DCI Alan Banks series.
Rating: 5c
Rating: 2Reading Peter Robinson’s series about DCI Alan Banks has me wanting to drink more gin and tonics, eat more pub style food and wanting to visit Yorkshire. This is book # 10 in the DCI Banks series and I am already tucked into the next book. More on that one later. I am absolutely addicted to these police procedurals and will be at a loss when I have caught up with Robinson’s latest books.In a Dry Season starts with skeletal remains being discovered under an old outbuilding. A boy is exploring village structures which had been underwater for over 50 years. The village had been flooded to create a reservoir long ago but with drought conditions, the reservoir dried out, this old town emerges. It’s mostly preserved and as you can imagine, a child would love to snoop around in such a magical looking place. The boy falls through the roof of a structure and discovers the human bones.The mystery starts with DCI Banks being assigned to this remote little corner, teaming up with DC Annie Cabot. They have to determine if the remains are from an accident or a covered up murder. How can they possibly know who this was or what happened since the place has been underwater for so many years. The side story features a mystery novelist who is clearly upset when she views the emerging story on television news. Obviously she knows something, you can tell that from the first few pages of her storyline, but how much involvement or information does she have? The story moves back and forth between present day and 1941 in the war era.This book and Final Account have been my favorites so far. I love how Alan Banks’ character continues to develop and hearing about his personal life interjected into the investigation.I am already reading Cold is the Grave, book #11. Totally addicted!
Rating: 5