Dead Right [Paperback]

Peter Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 7, 2001

'Robinson is definitely one to watch' - "Independent on Sunday". 'Every page here is readable and compelling' - "Washington Times". The broken body of Jason Fox has been found in a dirty alleyway. At first, it looks like a typical after-hours pub fight gone wrong. But Inspector Alan Banks soon realizes that the truth is rarely so straightforward...Jason was a member of the Albion League, a white power organization. And there are many people who might have wished him dead: the Pakistani youths he had insulted in the pub that evening; the shady friends of his business partner; or someone within the Albion League itself. And just as Banks begins to get a grip on the case, an unexpected discovery forces him to reconsider everything he believes...'It would be easy to become addicted to Robinson' - "Observer".

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There's a deliberate lack of excessive angst and glamour in Peter Robinson's books about Inspector Alan Banks and his fellow Yorkshire coppers, so first-time readers might think them bland. But under the books' placid surfaces, whole worlds of crime and justice are being worked out. In this ninth book in his increasingly popular series, Robinson gives Banks some serious problems of a personal and professional nature: a neglected wife and a ruthlessly ambitious superior. He also drops Banks into a frighteningly realistic neo-Nazi group called the Albion League, whose activities include drug dealing and murder. Other books in the series available in paperback include Innocent Graves, Final Account, Gallow's View, and Hanging Valley. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

It looks like a common enough kind of crime: Outspoken young racist Jason Fox has been beaten and kicked to death in an alley on the way home from the pub where he insulted a trio of Pakistanis. But Mohammed (n‚ George) Mahmood and his friends insist that as much as they disliked Jason Fox, they had nothing to do with his murder, and there's not enough evidence to hold them. So Chief Inspector Alan Banks, more and more on the outs with his wife, plunges into the case, determined to find out who the ``policemen'' were who rummaged through Fox's flat before anyone knew he was dead, and what Fox's neo-Nazi mates in the Albion League know about his death. Unfortunately, the Albion League's headquarters are in Leeds, along with the home of Banks's favorite violist, Pamela Jeffreys--and Chief Constable Jeremiah Riddle's suspicions that Banks keeps returning to Leeds only to make beautiful music together with Pamela hardens into certainty after Banks follows an anonymous tip to Amsterdam on the very weekend when his squad is extracting a confession to the killing. Suspended from his job by Jimmy Riddle, Banks will have to work under the table with Detective Susan Gay (still sadly carrying a torch for him) to prove that sometimes you ought to look a convenient confession right back in the mouth. Though the unending whirl of soap-opera romance in Banks's life can wear thin, his ninth procedural (Innocent Graves, 1996, etc.) is abrim with racial tension, patient detective work, and the hero's appealing decency. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan (September 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0330482173
• ISBN-13: 978-0330482172
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,021,714 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

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Note change of title from UK edition, March 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood at the Root (An Inspector Alan Banks Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

For those hunting for all Peter Robinson books, you should note that "Blood at the Root" was originally published in the UK as "Dead Right". Don't go ordering both....

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not one of Robinson's best., October 17, 2000

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blood at the Root (An Inspector Alan Banks Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Having loved Robinson's splendid novel, "In a Dry Season," I have become a big fan of this talented author. Even though "Blood at the Root" is not a top notch mystery, it still features the charismatic Inspector Alan Banks. Banks is a music-loving detective with marital problems and a penchant for drinking when he gets depressed. He is also having problems with his supervisor, who absolutely loathes him. In short, Banks is a flawed individual, but when he gets on the scent of the suspect, he is persistent in tracking down any criminal unlucky enough to be in his sights. Unfortunately, this time around, Banks is mired in a dull mystery. The plot revolves around neo-Nazi types who are trying to foster racial hatred in their community. One of their members is found brutally murdered, and the main suspects are Pakistani youths who had an argument with the victim before he was killed. The victim, as well as the other people who figure in this mystery, are not particularly compelling. However, I am still impressed with Robinson's sharp dialogue and his ability to delineate characters, and I will continue to read his work.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This series gets finer and finer; his best book yet, November 10, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood at the Root (Inspector Banks Mysteries) (Hardcover)

In Eastvale, England Sandra and Alan Banks were more and more going their own way. Before Alan, a Detective Chief Inspector, can sort his feelings, he finds himself investigating the murder of Jason Fox, whose corpse was found near a local pub. Alan and his associate Detective Constable Susan Fox soon learn that Jason had a racial confrontation with three Pakistanis. They also discover that Jason worked for the Albion League, who allegedly sells illegal drugs to blacks.

Alan's personal life intercedes when a frustrated Sandra asks for a separation on the grounds that they have nothing in common anymore. Alan also has problems with his superiors, who seem to want him off the case because their superiors have their own sting operation that Alan might muddle. Increasingly becoming depressed and melancholic, Alan, with the help of his loyal sidekick, relentlessly presses on to ferret out the truth behind the killing of Jason Fox.

The Alan Banks mysteries are getting better and better as Peter Robinson has matured to the point of being one of the top writers of English police procedurals. The root of what makes BLOOD AT THE ROOT so good is the increasingly humanizing of Banks, whose character is a depository of personal problems that he struggles to keep out of his investigations. The police's official inquiry and the wealth of well written secondary characters who stomp into Alan's personal space, add a genuine feel to the novel, turning it into one of the top five releases in the sub-genre for 1997.

Harriet Klausner