The Summer That Never Was

‘The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are the best series on the market. Try one and tell me I’m wrong’ – Stephen King When a body is found, Banks must confront his past. A skeleton has been unearthed. Soon the body is identified, and the horrific discovery hits the headlines. Fourteen-year-old Graham Marshall went missing during his paper round in 1965. The police found no trace of him. His disappearance left his family shattered and his best friend, Alan Banks, full of guilt. That friend has now become Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, and he is determined to bring justice for Graham. But he soon realizes that in this case the boundaries between victim and perpetrator, between law-guardian and law-breaker, are becoming increasingly blurred . . . In The Summer That Never Was, Alan Banks must return home and face the greatest fear of his childhood. If you enjoyed it, then you’ll love the next instalment in the Banks series – which became the major British ITV drama DCI Banks – Playing With Fire. ***** Critical acclaim for the Inspector Banks series: ’A powerfully moving work’ – Ian Rankin ’Top-notch police procedure’ – Jeffery Deaver ’A wonderful novel’ – Michael Connelly ’An addictive crime-novel series’ – The New York Times ’A guaranteed page-turner’ – Daily Mirror ’Demonstrates how the crime novel, when done right, can reach parts that other books can’t . . . A considerable achievement’ – The Guardian ’One of the most authentic and atmospheric of crime series’ – Independent ’The master of police procedural’ – The Mail on Sunday ’Near, perhaps even at, the top of the British crime writers’ league’ – The Times ’Banks is genuinely human, rather than a hard man’ – The Observer

About the Author :
Peter Robinson is author of twenty-four books in the Number One Bestselling DCI Banks series as well as two collections of short stories and three standalone novels, including the Number One bestseller Before The Poison. Peter's critically acclaimed crime novels have won numerous awards in Britain, the United States, Canada and Europe, and are published in translation all over the world. Peter's DCI Banks was a major ITV1 drama by Left Bank productions. Stephen Tompkinson (Wild at Heart, Ballykissangel) plays Inspector Banks, and Andrea Lowe (The Bill, Murphy's Law) plays DI Annie Cabbot. Peter's standalone novel Before the Poison won the IMBA's 2013 Dilys Award as well as the 2012 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel by the Crime Writers of Canada. This was Peter's sixth Arthur Ellis award. Peter Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, and lived between Richmond and Canada. He died in October 2022.

Review :
The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are the best series on the market. Try one and tell me I’m wrong A powerfully moving work Top-notch police procedure Robinson is an author with amazing empathy, a snare-trap ear for dialogue, and a clear eye for the telling detail An expert plotter with an eye for telling detail It would be easy to become addicted to Robinson Move over Ian Rankin - there's a new gunslinger in town looking to take over your role as top British police procedural author. . . Chief Inspector Alan Banks emerges as a definite contender for fiction's new top cop The master of the police procedural Near, perhaps even at the top of, the British crime writers' league Peter Robinson is a master Thrilling-brilliantly plotted, beautifully paced It demonstrates how the crime novel, when done right, can reach parts that other books can't . . . A considerable achievement Banks' slow but dogged pursuit of murderers and his meditations on the past make him a figure readers feel they know intimately and trust implicitly and, despite moments of darkness, the series warmth makes you feel all's right with the world