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When the Music's Over: An Inspector Banks Novel    by Peter Robinson Amazon.com order for
When the Music's Over
by Peter Robinson
Order:  USA  Can
William Morrow, 2016 (2016)
Hardcover, Softcover, CD
* *   Reviewed by Bob Walch

This twenty-third installment of the award winning Inspector Banks series attests to the popularity and durability of the long running set of novels about the British police officer.

Alan Banks has been bumped up to Detective Superintendent and this latest investigation involves two sexual abuse cases that are separated by decades. While Banks and Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot have two crimes linked by their circumstances, one is a more high profile case involving a lauded poet and aging pop star. The poet, Linda Palmer, has come forward after many years to charge the singer raped her when she was just fourteen. Of course, her claim has been denied so it will take some astute and probing interrogations to get at the truth and find a link to the more recent crime, if one exists.

A staple of British crime fiction, the Inspector Banks novels always land atop the Best Seller charts whenever a new one is released. When the Music's Over is no exception and notches another hit on the author's list of hit titles.

2nd Review by Mary Ann Smyth:

It's a good day when I hold one of author Peter Robinson's wonderful mysteries in my hot little hands. His work should never be passed by on any shelf. When the Music's Over is his latest. And it is at least as good as any of his twenty-two other Inspector Banks books.

A teenage girl is thrown from a moving van into a foul smelling ditch. She has been drugged and ill-used. She can hear laughter as the van pulls away to leave her on a deserted road in the middle of the night. Seeing a car coming, she tries to flag it down but fate takes over.

The girl is recovering in a hospital, not remembering who she is, when poet Linda Palmer enters the picture. She gains entrance to the girl's room and wins her confidence. Linda claims that aging pop star Danny Claxton raped her when she was just fourteen years old. Her claims then went unheard. She is determined to show him up for just what he is – a rapist.

Enter newly promoted Detective Superintendent Banks and equally newly promoted Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot. Together they must investigate two crimes that are nearly fifty years apart.

Robinson's books have been compared to many of the very popular mystery writers of today. I beg to differ. Peter Robinson stands alone in his genre. I needn't point out his good points. They speak for themselves: plot, dialogue, characterizations, scene settings, and, yes, a touch of humor now and then. Treat yourself to a fine piece of writing.

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