Gallows View is not very good. I give it one star because on this site you can't get lower. While not so good with too much sexism of strange heterosexual middle-aged unattractive men and too much drinking alcohol, the novel still has an interesting detective twist.

This is the second Inspector Banks book written by Peter Robinson and the first published. The first book and the second published is 50% is better but still only one star.

The first of the novels are saved by the TV series with Stephen Tomlinson as Inspector Banks. The series reveals a very interesting person. So, I have read on and at this point up to book 7 in the series. and now the books are getting three stars.

Fine music, art, literature, poetry become frequent reference points in the novels. As well, Robinson, pulls in delicious old words which add depth and some acute observations of the human condition. And then there is a whole undulating quality in each plot laid out over the undulating Yorkshire Dales. As you read on you become familiar with the Robinson's nostalgic appreciation of this place and its people. The place names are fictional except for the real places of York and Leeds, but his Eastvale has the places and qualities of a large town in the Dales.

I read elsewhere that Robinson himself has a PhD in literature and particularly in a period of poetry. He started writing these novels from his academic post in Canada and reflecting back on his home place. The novels have a quality of memory, of love of place, of care between people and the disruption caused by murder and the breaking of trust.

There are lots of good things in reading these, one after another as I have been doing, but there is still that imbibing of far too much alcohol far too often and a warped idea of male sexuality; of a sense that men assume that all women are attracted to them just because they are male even if they are gross in form and ugly in face or nature. Robinson's men are not my experience of being a male person. ( )

I really disliked this book from page one to the final paragraph. The Inspector is dull and boring - outside of his utterly adulterous behavior. Every character is constantly drinking. Every scene or action of the novel deals with sex in some twisted way (peeping Tom, rape, adultery, porn). The behaviors of the characters are toxic and stupid. The writing is inconsistent. And I think one of the worst characters ever to be written is in this one (Dr. Fuller is a farcical, toxic, inconsistent, tool. Not a solid, valid character.)

Recommended for the fireplace, eh? ( )

Inspector Alan Banks moved from London to the quiet Yorkshire dales city of Eastvale to escape the stress of his job. The plan seemed solid - nothing happens in small sleepy English towns, right? Well, that may be semi-true in real life but in the imagination of the British crime writers, they are worse than the big city.

A few months into the job he catches a few cases that appear to be unrelated - a peeping Tom terrorizes the women of the town, someone keeps burglarizing homes and one day an old woman is killed, seemingly while she surprised someone trying to steal what little she owned.

The police is struggling a bit with a very vocal feminist about the police not carrying about the Peeping Tom because he does not threaten men so the chief decides to bring in a psychologist, Jenny Fuller, to assist. The fact that she is a beautiful woman and has a connection to the already mentioned feminist makes her even better in the eyes of most people. The fact that she knows it and shares it makes for a funny moment.

And off we are, chasing after all the perpetrators. Except that the tracks keep crossing and you never know when pieces from one of the cases will show up in another. And in the middle of that Alan is being very British and is resisting his attraction to his colleague (being married and all) and all that tension is almost palpable through the novel. And just when the things get completely jumbled, the cases start breaking open one after another and Alan needs to decide who he needs to protect - Jenny or his wife. And the decision has nothing to do with love - he needs to think as a policeman - and that is not exactly easy at that point.

The novel will probably sound a bit dated if one does not check when it was written - police and society had evolved since these days (or so one hopes). But even with those pieces in, it works. Alan Banks is a likeable character, not perfect and human enough, to make one want to read more of this series. It is a very good start of a series that is still going - #27 is expected in March 2021. ( )

Insp. Banks, Londoner trans to Yorkshire, peeper & teen robberies

I have found a new mystery series! Unfortunately, they are hard to come by, but will be worth the extra effort. Gallows View was a book I had picked up about a year ago and then put on the "I'll get to it eventually" shelf. There are essentially two mysteries in the book, a peeping Tom on the loose and the murder of an elderly lady. DCI Banks must determine if the two are connected and apprehend the criminals. The mystery was good and had enough twists to keep my interest. Though I had guessed the peeper before the end of the book, I was surprised at the result of the murder and how it did or didn't tie in. The personal aspects of the story involving DCI Banks and his family were neatly intertwined with the story. So many mystery authors include the family or friends almost as an after thought, leaving it a little awkward. Not so in this one. Overall, I loved the book and will be hunting down the rest of the series. ( )