Standing in the Shadows, the 28th mystery centered on Yorkshire detective (now detective superintendent) Alan Banks, is a work of expert craftsmanship and consuming moral inquiry. With the October 2022 death of Peter Robinson, the novel presumably marks the end of the series. But Robinson couldn't have given Banks a better send-off: Standing in the Shadows presents the bon vivant sleuth at his intellectually nimble best.
Robinson rolls out two narratives. The novel begins in 1980 with a first-person account by university student Nick Hartley; two cops confront him at his bedsit. After one officer searches the place, they give him the news that his ex-girlfriend has been found dead, and Nick gathers that he's a suspect. Nick's narration alternates with sections from the perspective of Banks, or occasionally a colleague, taking place in 2019, when a skeleton is unearthed on disused farmland during an archeological dig. Readers are hard put to make the connection between the two narrative threads, but their ultimate lacing-together is a beautiful bit of latticework.
As in previous novels by Banks (Watching the Dark; Before the Poison), the police work is a group effort. (Note to fans of the series: Banks's sometimes-inamorata, DI Annie Cabbot, has lost a loved one and is sitting this one out.) But Standing in the Shadows finds the seasoned detective frequently enjoying his own company at home, and Robinson leaves him in a reassuringly good headspace: "He had given up worrying about his future. It would be what it would be." --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer