Gallows View: The first novel in the number one bestselling Inspector Banks series (The Inspector Banks series, 1)

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This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Like Rendell’s Kingsmarkham…Robinson’s Eastvale and Banks and his family could be around for a good while. What makes Gallows View such an impressive debut novel is Robinson’s decision to balance his mystery with a vividly drawn set of characters…. It is a cosy scene–log fire, sheepskin rug, Vivaldi on the stereo, Christmas lights and tree–but Caroline is naked and covered in blood.

After getting his BA Honours Degree in English Literature at the University of Leeds, he came to Canada and took his MA in English and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor, with Joyce Carol Oates as his tutor, then a PhD in English at York University. A Peeping Tom is frightening the women of Eastvale; two glue-sniffing young thugs are breaking into homes and robbing people; an old woman may or may not have been murdered.A former member of the London Metropolitan Police, Inspector Alan Banks leaves the capital for a quieter life in the Dales. The considerable appeal of this first novel, an English village police procedural, lies in Robinson’s updating of the genre with realistic treatment of contemporary violence and sexual issues, while maintaining the charm and civility of the setting. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks has recently relocated with his family from stressful London to the Yorkshire Dales, but soon finds that life in the countryside is not quite as idyllic as he had imagined.

The victim was white, in his early thirties, five feet eleven inches tall, ten and a half stone in weight, and in good physical condition. The considerable appeal of this first novel, an English village police procedural, lies in Robinson's updating of the genre with realistic treatment of contemporary violence and sexual issues, while maintaining the charm and civility of the setting.

The novel was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best mysteries of the year, nominated for the 1996 Hammett Prize, [4] and won the 1997 Arthur Ellis Award for 'Best Novel'. The novel was nominated for the 1999 Hammett Prize, [6] was shortlisted for the American Edgar Award, [7] and won the 2000 Anthony and Barry Awards for Best Novel. A Yorkshire town's chief inspector tries to determine whether a Peeping Tom, a pair of toughs who harass the elderly and an old woman's murder are related. Chief Inspector Alan Banks, a big-city detective newly arrived in the Yorkshire town of Eastvale, is suddenly confronted with a minor crime wave.

Stephen Tompkinson ( Wild at Heart, Ballykissangel) plays Inspector Banks, and Andrea Lowe (The Bill, Murphy's Law) plays DI Annie Cabbot.

This is a first novel that does not read like one; he has established his leading character with such confidence that we find ourselves looking forward to meeting him again in the next Inspector Banks mystery. From the master of police procedural and bestselling author of Standing in the Shadows comes Gallows View, the first book in Peter Robinson’s the Inspector Banks series. In this first Inspector Banks novel, a peeping tom is frightening the women of Eastvale; two young thugs are breaking into homes; and an old woman may or may not have been murdered. DC Gay and Chief Inspector Alan Banks soon find plenty of suspects as they begin to delve into Caroline's past and the women's present life: Veronica's ex-husband, who is a well-known composer; a feminist poet; the cast and crew of a play Caroline was rehearsing; and Caroline's eccentric, reclusive brother, Gary Hartley. Investigating these cases is Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, a perceptive, curious and compassionate policeman recently moved to the Yorkshire Dales from London to escape the stress of city life.