Helpful Score: 4
I do love a good British police procedural, and this series is definitely one of the good ones! I had read a couple later on in the series and decided to start at the beginning with this book. It features Alan Banks, an inspector in Yorkshire where he's just moved to from London, expecting it to be much more serene and quiet. Ha! :)
Helpful Score: 3
good solid british mystery writer
Helpful Score: 2
GALLOWS VIEW by Peter Robinson: This is the first of the Inspector Banks series for which Robinson has become justly famous. Former London policeman Alan Banks has relocated to small Yorkshire village of Eastvale seeking some small measure of peace, but crime and violence are not limited to large cities. . Soon he is dealing with a brazen Peeping Tom who spies on attractive, unsuspecting ladies as they prepare for bed. When an elderly woman is found brutally slain in her home, Chief Inspector Banks wonders if the voyeur has progressed to more violent crimes. I am looking forward to continuing the series.
Helpful Score: 1
Very good detective story. Setting is in England. Main character is a Chief Inspector in his community. One of a series of books involving this character.
Helpful Score: 1
Excellent first-in-a-series with Chief Inspector Alan Banks who moves to a small village for a comfortable life. But there are lots of odd things going on in Eastvale. Robinson is great for this genre. I'm pleased to have found a new wonderful series with interesting characters - nothing stuffy in this story. I have ordered the next book already.
Helpful Score: 1
This book was recommended to me by another PBS member. It was a good read. I liked the character of Inspector Banks. The plot is believeable and the book was well written. In fact, I liked it so much I will request his next book. Inspector Banks is called in to investigate a "peeping tom" that is frightening women in the village. Banks ends up with not only a peeping tom but a murder and home robberies. The suspense is in reading how he solves the crimes.
Voyeurs and violent burlars are involved in this supenseful Chief Inspector Banks mystery.
London cop moves to the Yorkshire Dales expecting a quiet life.
Evocative of the Dales and the British
Evocative of the Dales and the British
Former London policeman Alan Banks relocated to Yorkshire seeking some small measure of peace. But depravity and violence are unfortunately not unique to large cities. His new venue, the quaint little village of Eastvale, seems to have more than its fair share of malefactors -- among them a brazen Peeping Tom who hides in night's shadows spying on attractive, unsuspecting ladies as they prepare for bed. And when an elderly woman is found brutally slain in her home, Chief Inspector Banks wonders if the voyeur has increased the awful intensity of his criminal activities. But whether related or not, perverse local acts and murderous ones are combining to profoundly touch Banks's suddenly vulnerable personal life, forcing a dedicated law officer to make hard choices he'd dearly hoped would never be necessary.
All of Peter Robinson's books about Inspector Banks are great. Here's one to start the series.
Great reading
Nancy S. (avidbookcollector) -
Gallows View is an okay introduction to the British mystery series featuring Inspector Alan Banks, who lives and works in Eastvale, Yorkshire. As the novel begins, the local police are trying to find a peeper who is frightening some of the town's women. As if that's not enough, an elderly woman living alone has been killed, and there are a series of unsolved break-ins. Banks, who has moved to Yorkshire to get away from the high-stress levels of police work and of life in general in London, takes the lead on all of these cases -- which may or may not be linked together.
As with most first novels in a mystery series, Banks' character isn't as well developed right away as it will hopefully be in the next ones. I expect this, though; it's very rare that a character comes fully fleshed out in a series opener. However, the crime plotting is solid, and the way Robinson writes his story leaves readers guessing until the end.
I can recommend Gallows View. If you like British mystery, or if you're looking for a solid police procedural (with some personal touches) and you haven't tried this series yet, it would be worth your while to do so. It's not on the cozy end of mystery novels, but it's not really hardcore either. Overall -- a good read, and I'll definitely be coming back to this author.
As with most first novels in a mystery series, Banks' character isn't as well developed right away as it will hopefully be in the next ones. I expect this, though; it's very rare that a character comes fully fleshed out in a series opener. However, the crime plotting is solid, and the way Robinson writes his story leaves readers guessing until the end.
I can recommend Gallows View. If you like British mystery, or if you're looking for a solid police procedural (with some personal touches) and you haven't tried this series yet, it would be worth your while to do so. It's not on the cozy end of mystery novels, but it's not really hardcore either. Overall -- a good read, and I'll definitely be coming back to this author.
I love this series with Inspector Banks.
Larraine F. (phillyartlovesbooks) reviewed Gallows View (Inspector Banks, Bk 1) on + 59 more book reviews
The book has a dual storyline. I remembered one of them, but not the other. This book was published in 1987 and the technological advances we have taken for granted - digital cameras, cell phones, the internet - are not there. It seems, in many ways, like such an old fashioned time even though it was less than 30 years ago. In this book, Banks has recently moved from a job in London to Yorkshire. He and his family are still learning to deal with the different ways of the north. He is, of course, still married to Sandra and his children, Brian and Tracy, are still very young. The two story lines are very different although they do intersect. There is a voyeur who is peeping into windows at night and watching women undress. At the same time, a shopkeeper who is trying to raise his teenaged son as a single parent, is in denial about his son's choices. His son has made friends with another boy whose older brother is teaching them the fine art of burglary. The voyeur is getting attention from the police because a local women's group is keeping the heat on the investigation. Bank's superior brings in an attractive psychologist named Jenny. They are attracted to one another, and Banks is tempted. He also feels very guilty for feeling so tempted. This is one of several of the older books in this series that I have picked up over the last few years. I'm looking forward to reading more of the older ones that form Banks into the person we meet in the current books.
Have seen part of the series on PBS, great story
As I was reading the first half of this first episode of the Inspector Banks series, I thought that it was a well written book and kept me entertained, but I was a little bit on the fence as to whether I would want to read the next installment. And then everything changed and things got very exciting and I knew why this was a best seller and became a TV series in the UK. I will definitely keep reading about this character and will also keep reading books by this author.
