A Q&A WITH PETER ROBINSON, AUTHOR OF THE DCI BANKS NOVELS
Ahead of the publication of his latest novel, Many Rivers to Cross, we asked bestselling author Peter Robinson some questions about his favourite crime writers, his best DCI Banks moments over the years, and the upcoming 26th instalment in the series…
Many Rivers to Cross is the newest installment in your bestselling series featuring the memorable DCI Banks. Can you tell us your favourite detective characters of all time?
- Philip Marlow
- Jules Maigret
- James Bond
- Modesty Blaise
- Andy Dalziel
Your new book, Many Rivers to Cross, marks the 26th DCI Banks novel. Can you tell us what your top five Banks moments have been over the years?
- First meeting with Annie (In A Dry Season)
- Rescue from burning cottage (Playing With Fire)
- Return to childhood home (Going Back/The Summer That Never Was)
- Birthday present from son Brian (Many Rivers to Cross)
- Dirty Dick’s Amsterdam canal adventure (Dead Right)
Your DCI Banks novels are set in Yorkshire, where you grew up. Can you share some of your favourite spots in Yorkshire to visit?
- York
- Richmond
- Buttertubs Pass
- Semerwater
- Tan Hill
- Hawes/Gayle
- Langsrothdale Chase
- Arkengarthdale
- Coalsgarthdale
- Sedburgh
Who are some of your favourite crime authors to read?
- P.D. James
- Ruth Rendell
- Georges Simenon
- Reginald Hill
- Ross MacDonald
If you could invite five guests to a dream dinner party, who would be your top picks?
- Emily Brontë
- Bob Dylan
- Grace Kelly
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Odysseus
And finally – could you introduce your new book, Many Rivers to Cross, in your own words?
Many Rivers to Cross is the second book in the ‘Zelda’ trilogy, in which we find out much more about Zelda’s background and objectives, and in which Banks and his team work on the case of a young Middle Eastern boy found murdered in a wheelie bin.
The 26th instalment of the Number One bestselling series
'The master of the police procedural' Mail on Sunday
'The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are the best series on the market. Try one and tell me I'm wrong' Stephen King
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A skinny young boy is found dead - his body carelessly stuffed into a wheelie bin.
Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called to investigate. Who is the boy, and where did he come from? Was he discarded as rubbish, or left as a warning to someone? He looks Middle Eastern, but no one on the East Side Estate has seen him before.
As the local press seize upon an illegal immigrant angle, and the national media the story of another stabbing, the police are called to investigate a less newsworthy death: a middle-aged heroin addict found dead of an overdose in another estate, scheduled for redevelopment.
Banks finds the threads of each case seem to be connected to the other, and to the dark side of organised crime in Eastvale. Does another thread link to his friend Zelda, who is facing her own dark side?
The truth may be more complex - or much simpler - than it seems . . .
