The more Chief Inspector Alan Banks investigates the murder of a schoolgirl in a church graveyard the less he likes the whole sordid affair. The vicar at St. Mary's has been allegedly seeking sex from his sexton; the vicar's wife has been seeking solace in a bottle and the arms of a schoolteacher; and those in and around the church aren't keen on anybody who doesn't view matters as they do. And there happens to be a few suspects who meet that description. Banks investigates a murder and finds religious and societal affairs stickier than those in the normal mystery.


From Publishers Weekly
Moving his ever dependable Yorkshire-based copper, Alan Banks (Final Account, 1995, etc.), to the periphery of this work, the equally dependable Robinson focuses instead on the tragic plight of a possibly innocent man charged with murder. In the process, Robinson adds another level of nuance to his already fully dimensioned fiction and takes a quantum leap as a writer. A schoolgirl is murdered on church ground. Her school bag is left open, and her clothes are disturbed. The local vicar is already embroiled in a sex scandal, and his adulterous wife is wandering drunkenly through the grounds when the body is found. Without a decent motive, but with a plethora of damning evidence, Banks is led to one Owen Pierce, a moody young schoolteacher. Pierce is revealed as a man with enough minor aberrations in his life to fashion a believable criminal. His smutty tastes in literature, photography and teenage women invite easy condemnation, and he is further burdened with a past lover who nurses a deep grievance against him. If Banks has occasionally appeared a shade too decent and placid in past works, this eighth appearance finds him with a new, sharper edge. Banks is still a kindly enough soul, but he knowingly occupies a world that has suddenly become more richly treacherous. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


The New York Times Book Review, Marilyn Stasio
The characters have complexity and the issues range broad and deep, raising interesting moral questions about bigotry, class privilege and the terrible crime of being different.


From Booklist
Robinson is one of the best in the police-procedural business at capturing the hard reality of police work--the drudgery of interviewing reluctant witnesses, the tedium of pounding the pavement to follow up leads, the monotony of reviewing and re-reviewing evidence. Fortunately, it isn't all tedium. Robinson always adds plenty of spice in the way of fascinating characters, clever plots, psychological complexity, and intriguing glimpses into the human psyche. His latest story has intrepid hero Inspector Alan Banks attempting to solve the murder of 16-year-old Deborah Harrison, who was found strangled to death in a graveyard. The victim was the daughter of a prominent businessman, who wants the killer apprehended posthaste. A suspect is identified, jailed, and sent to trial, only to be declared innocent. Meanwhile, the never-satisfied Banks keeps reviewing the evidence, finding more questions than answers but, finally, revealing a crime as stunning in its complexity as it is shocking in its violence. Masterly, suspenseful, and riveting. Emily Melton


From Kirkus Reviews
Yorkshire Chief Inspector Alan Banks's eighth case (Final Account, 1995, etc.) is a particularly sad affair: the strangling of Deborah Harrison, a choirgirl who liked chess and horses, in St. Mary's cemetery. There's not far to look for suspects: Daniel Charters, the vicar of St. Mary's, is reeling under the accusations of sexual advances by the Croatian sexton he dismissed; the sexton himself acts furtive and defensive; and Deborah's ex-boyfriend, John Spinks, is a lowlife who seems to have a problem with rules of any sort. But under the gun of the new Chief Constable, an old friend of Deborah's titled father, Banks and his men zero in on English teacher Owen Pierce, and Pierce--whose flamboyant liaison with adventurous model Michelle Chappel seems to have been an undress rehearsal for the role of crazed sex killer--endures the agonies of interrogation, arrest, arraignment, and trial before a jury narrowly frees him to return to his shattered life, his lynch- minded neighbors, and suspicion of having committed a second murder with all the earmarks of the first. The whole plot would seem deeply old-fashioned if the characters, from go-getting Inspector Barry Stott to the vicar's embattled wife, didn't keep pulsing and seething with startling life. A standout performance from one of the last and finest masters of the understated British procedural, with plenty of passion to understate. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Midwest Book Review
The brutal murder of a teenage schoolgirl and the involvement of a small community and an influential political icon is presented in Robinson's mystery, which proves absorbing from start to finish. Politics and crime mingle in a thriller which provides hard to second guess.


Book Description

The worst that can possibly happen . . . has.

A beautiful child is dead -- defiled and murdered in a lonely graveyard on a fog-shrouded evening. It is the sort of horrific crime Chief Inspector Alan Banks fled the city to escape. But the slaying of a bright and lovely teenager from a wealthy, respected family is not the end of a nightmare. Lies, dark secrets, unholy accusations, and hints of sexual depravity swirl around this abomination like leaves in an autumn wind, leading to a shattering travesty of justice that will brutally divide a devastated community with suspicion and hatred. But Banks must remain vigilant in his hunt -- because when the devil is left free to pursue his terrible calling, more blood will surely flow.


About the Author
Peter Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, England. His previous Inspector Banks novels include In a Dry Season, which was nominated for the Edgar and won the Anthony Award, and was named a New York Times Notable Book. His most recent Inspector Banks novel, Aftermath, was an international bestseller.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Peter Robinson puts Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks onto a crime that has thrown a small town into upheaval, revealing lies and secrets that have nowhere to hide... He had seen crimes just as brutal in London, but somehow the murder of a teenage girl seemed more shocking to Detective Chief Inspector Banks in the village of Eastvale. Deborah Harrison was found in the churchyard behind St. Mary's, strangled with the strap of her school satchel. But Deborah was no typical teenager. Her father was a powerful microelectronics financier who ran in the highest echelons of industry, defense, and classified information. And Deborah, it seemed, enjoyed keeping secrets of her own, taunting her friends with teasing smiles that said I know something you don't. A harmless game among school chums - but positively deadly in the company of a killer...

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Moving his ever dependable Yorkshire-based copper, Alan Banks (Final Account, 1995, etc.), to the periphery of this work, the equally dependable Robinson focuses instead on the tragic plight of a possibly innocent man charged with murder. In the process, Robinson adds another level of nuance to his already fully dimensioned fiction and takes a quantum leap as a writer. A schoolgirl is murdered on church ground. Her school bag is left open, and her clothes are disturbed. The local vicar is already embroiled in a sex scandal, and his adulterous wife is wandering drunkenly through the grounds when the body is found. Without a decent motive, but with a plethora of damning evidence, Banks is led to one Owen Pierce, a moody young schoolteacher. Pierce is revealed as a man with enough minor aberrations in his life to fashion a believable criminal. His smutty tastes in literature, photography and teenage women invite easy condemnation, and he is further burdened with a past lover who nurses a deep grievance against him. If Banks has occasionally appeared a shade too decent and placid in past works, this eighth appearance finds him with a new, sharper edge. Banks is still a kindly enough soul, but he knowingly occupies a world that has suddenly become more richly treacherous. (Aug.)

BookList - Emily Melton

Robinson is one of the best in the police-procedural business at capturing the hard reality of police work--the drudgery of interviewing reluctant witnesses, the tedium of pounding the pavement to follow up leads, the monotony of reviewing and re-reviewing evidence. Fortunately, it isn't all tedium. Robinson always adds plenty of spice in the way of fascinating characters, clever plots, psychological complexity, and intriguing glimpses into the human psyche. His latest story has intrepid hero Inspector Alan Banks attempting to solve the murder of 16-year-old Deborah Harrison, who was found strangled to death in a graveyard. The victim was the daughter of a prominent businessman, who wants the killer apprehended posthaste. A suspect is identified, jailed, and sent to trial, only to be declared innocent. Meanwhile, the never-satisfied Banks keeps reviewing the evidence, finding more questions than answers but, finally, revealing a crime as stunning in its complexity as it is shocking in its violence. Masterly, suspenseful, and riveting.

Kirkus Reviews

Yorkshire Chief Inspector Alan Banks's eighth case (Final Account, 1995, etc.) is a particularly sad affair: the strangling of Deborah Harrison, a choirgirl who liked chess and horses, in St. Mary's cemetery. There's not far to look for suspects: Daniel Charters, the vicar of St. Mary's, is reeling under the accusations of sexual advances by the Croatian sexton he dismissed; the sexton himself acts furtive and defensive; and Deborah's ex-boyfriend, John Spinks, is a lowlife who seems to have a problem with rules of any sort. But under the gun of the new Chief Constable, an old friend of Deborah's titled father, Banks and his men zero in on English teacher Owen Pierce, and Pierce—whose flamboyant liaison with adventurous model Michelle Chappel seems to have been an undress rehearsal for the role of crazed sex killer—endures the agonies of interrogation, arrest, arraignment, and trial before a jury narrowly frees him to return to his shattered life, his lynch- minded neighbors, and suspicion of having committed a second murder with all the earmarks of the first. The whole plot would seem deeply old-fashioned if the characters, from go-getting Inspector Barry Stott to the vicar's embattled wife, didn't keep pulsing and seething with startling life.

A standout performance from one of the last and finest masters of the understated British procedural, with plenty of passion to understate.