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Careless Love: A DCI Banks Novel    by Peter Robinson Amazon.com order for
Careless Love
by Peter Robinson
Order:  USA  Can
William Morrow, 2019 (2019)
Hardcover, Softcover, CD, e-Book
* * *   Reviewed by Hilary Williamson

I'm a longtime fan of Peter Robinson's masterfully written Inspector Banks series, so opened his latest Careless Love, (#25!), with high expectations. It's all about two most unusual (and suspicious) deaths, investigated in parallel by Alan Banks, aided by DS Winsome Jackman, and by DI Annie Cabbot, assisted by DC Geraldine Masterson, another series regular.

First, the body of a young woman (in evening dress and unaccompanied by purse or cell phone) is found in an abandoned car on a country road - how did she get there? Then the corpse of a well dressed 60-something man is found in a moorland gully. He wasn't dressed for a hike, so how did he end up in that secluded spot? Though there are no clear links between the two cases, there are eerie similarities. Coincidence?

Annie's father, Ray, is in a relationship with the much younger, very beautiful Zelda, an old soul with 'a past shrouded in mystery and tragedy'. Zelda is a super recognizer, who works for an international organization against sex trafficking. She saw a photograph of Phil Keane (the forger who set fire to Banks' cottage and almost killed him in a previous episode) in a file at work, and offers to help locate him.

Though he warns her of the danger, Banks can't persuade Zelda not to pursue this. As expected, Banks and Cabbot do tie their cases together and identify the killer, but Zelda's investigation is left unfinished as this episode ends, leaving a confrontation with Banks' nemesis for the next one. I can't wait.

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