All the Colors of Darkness (Inspector Banks Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Peter Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Inspector Banks Mysteries | Publication Date: February 17, 2009

A beautiful June day in the Yorkshire Dales, and a group of children are spending the last of their half-term freedom swimming in the river near Hipswell Woods. But the idyll is shattered by their discovery of a mans body, hanging from a tree. DI Annie Cabott soon discovers he is Mark Hardcastle, the well-liked and successful set designer for the Eastvale Theatres current production of Othello. Everything points to suicide, and Annie is mystified. Why would such a man want to take his own life? Then Annies investigation leads to another shattering discovery, and DCI Alan Banks is called back from the idyllic weekend he had planned with his new girlfriend. Banks soon finds himself plunged into a shadow-world where nothing is what it seems, where secrets and deceit are the norm, and where murder is seen as the solution to a problem. The deeper he digs the more he discovers that the monster he has awakened will extend its deadly reach to his friends and family. Nobody is safe

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As much spy thriller as crime story, bestseller Robinson's solid 18th DCI Alan Banks novel (after Friend of the Devil) finds the Yorkshire copper trying to unravel a murder-suicide with potential ties to national security. While Banks is on holiday, Det. Insp. Annie Cabbot is called to the woods outside Eastvale, where a hanged man—soon identified as Mark Hardcastle, the local theater's set designer—is discovered in a tree. What looks like a simple suicide takes an unexpected turn when the badly beaten body of Hardcastle's boyfriend, Laurence Silber, is found in Silber's posh home. Banks, who returns to assist in the investigation, uncovers Silber's past life as a spy in MI6, which makes Banks doubt the prevailing theory that Hardcastle murdered Silber and then hanged himself. Robinson deftly integrates the requisite espionage elements with his regular cast. The unexpected cliffhanger will assure readers that this chapter in Banks's life is far from over. 11-city author tour. (Feb.)
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From Bookmarks Magazine

Peter Robinson rarely strikes a false note in his fiction, and All the Colors of Darkness, which draws on elements of espionage and Cold War treachery, is another solid installment in the Inspector Alan Banks series. Banks has become one of the most recognizable figures in a growing stable of gritty British crime solvers (Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus comes to mind). Critics are divided as to whether Robinson's latest effort is his best, but they are unanimous in praising the author's continued strong plotting and his main character's growth. An added bonus: Robinson's eclectic passion for music has become legendary among his faithful readers, who can find the cuts mentioned in the Banks novels on the author's Web site.
Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (February 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006136293X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061362934
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #751,082 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Robinson's award-winning novels have been named a Best-Book-of-the-Year by Publishers Weekly, a Notable Book by the New York Times, and a Page-Turner-of-the-Week by People magazine. Robinson was born and raised in Yorkshire but has lived in North America for over twenty-five years. He now divides his time between North America and the U.K.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best of Banks, January 25, 2009

By 

L. Kornblum (Tempe, Arizona) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All the Colors of Darkness (Inspector Banks Mysteries) (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Peter Robinson's books are always worth reading. I've enjoyed all of his Inspector Banks mysteries and was looking forward to number 18. Of course all the major characters are back as are the locations in the fictional Yorkshire Dales towns his fans have come to feel so familiar with. This latest entry in the series takes Inspector Banks back to London for much of the story, and Robinson tries some new subject matter, including a homosexual relationship and international terrorism, neither of which comes off very convincingly.

In All the Colors of Darkness an openly gay theatrical figure is found hanging from a tree, and the body of his mysterious lover is found badly mutilated. Robinson uses and acknowledges plot elements and themes from Ian Fleming's 007 novels, Hitchcock's North By Northwest, and even Shakespeare's Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library). Overall it just seemed a little too over-the-top for my taste. Even more disappointing are a tangential plot about thugs in the East Side Estate and an extraneous Al Qaeda attack.

If you are reader of the series, then you will want to read this one and see what happens to the continuing characters. If you are new to the Banks series, I'd say start at the beginning with Gallows View: The First Inspector Banks Mystery or with a better entry in the series (my personal favorite is still In a Dry Season) or even with his standalone thriller The First Cut: A Novel of Suspense.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A SATISFYING MULTI-LAYERED THRILLER, December 26, 2008

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All the Colors of Darkness (Inspector Banks Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Reading the 18th book in the Inspector Alan Banks series is very much like sitting down for a chat with an old friend. For many of us, Banks is comfortable, familiar, someone in whom we have an interest , a person for whom we've come to care. Whatever the case, we know in advance that the time spent together will be sometimes surprising , always satisfying. So it is with All The Colors Of Darkness.

We now find a very content Alan Banks who "stretched and almost purred" as he awakes. After all, he's with Sophia, a rare beauty who's a bit of a mystery to him but a delightful one. It's his weekend off and he and Sophia are hosting a dinner party in the evening. Thus, he's not at all agreeable when he receives a call from his associate DI Annie Cabbott saying that his help is needed. Sophia is no more understanding about Alan's sudden departure than his former wife was about their canceled plans, his unanticipated absences.

However, as concerned as he is about disappointing Sophia Banks soon finds himself caught up in one of the most challenging cases of his career - nothing is as it appears to be, it is far worse than he could have imagined. Two men are dead.

The first to be found is Mark Hardcastle whose body is hanging from "a length of yellow clothesline on a low bough...his feet about eighteen inches off the ground." Mark was gay, a set designer at the Eastvale Theatre, and evidently well liked. The second body is that of his partner, the affluent Laurence Silbert, who had been brutally beaten to death.

Jealousy? A lovers' quarrel turned deadly? A murderer then stricken with remorse a suicide? Detective Superintendent Gervaise is willing to accept that explanation. Banks and Annie are most definitely not.

As is his wont Robinson orchestrates intriguing plots, allowing the pieces to gradually fall together. For this reader there was a bit of slowness from time to time, especially during a luncheon meeting between Banks, Sophia and her parents. I found myself a bit lost with the author's historic description of nearby St. Andrew's and remembrances of T. S. Eliot quotes. That said, Robinson has done a yeoman's task of creating a compelling mystery set in places he knows well.

- Gail Cooke

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Stuck in a Groove, May 30, 2009

By 

David Cady (NYC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All the Colors of Darkness (Inspector Banks Mysteries) (Hardcover)

When Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot spells out her and Detective Chief Inspector Banks' theories about their latest case, their superintendent's response is "It...sounds far-fetched to me." I couldn't agree more. "All the Colors of Darkness" is one of those mysteries in which the reader is led on a wild goose chase of sorts (Shakespeare, spies and 9/11 are all thrown together haphazardly), only to end up at a conclusion that's both mundane and implausible. (And that's only one of the two cases the book covers. The other, involving gangland trouble on a council estate - yawn - is forgettable and pointless.)

This is certainly a step up from "Friend of the Devil," the last Banks novel, but it's still not one of this series' best. As in the latter, I think Robinson is biting off more than he can chew. Unbelievably, on top of the grisly murder/suicide that sets the novel in motion -- as well as a failed romance with a spoiled young Londoner -- Robinson throws Banks smack into the middle of a major terrorist attack, leaving him "smeared with blood and God knew what else," and questioning Man's inhumanity to Man. (It's a puzzling plot development, given that, once introduced, Robinson seems to have little interest in pursuing its monumental implications. As a device, it's remarkably arbitrary.) Banks is obviously heading for a major crash, given his black moods and heavy drinking...but I'm not sure I want to go along for the ride. Not that I have anything against hard-drinking, depressed detectives, mind you, Ian Rankin's John Rebus being a prime example. But at least Rankin leavens his Rebus novels with dry humor; the Banks series is no laughing matter.

And I'm over the constant musical references. I officially don't care what Banks has on his iPod any more than I would expect him to care what I have on mine. As I have no idea what most of the pieces are, it doesn't in any way illuminate the action or give me a better understanding of the character's state of mind.

I was excited by the appearance, halfway through the book, of a young, spunky female PI, one Tomasina (Tom) Savage. I wondered if perhaps Robinson were introducing her as the potential star of a new series. I for one would find that a welcome break from Banks and his troubles; might be that Robinson could use one as well.