3.5 stars ( )

After becoming immersed in Peter Robinson's more recent Inspector Banks mysteries, I found it revealing to read one of the first, “A Dedicated Man,” published in 1988.

Banks, newly transferred from London to a rural part of England, is still a relatively young man whom young women find attractive. His wife, Sandra, hasn't left him yet, and his two children still live at home. He has yet to assemble the team of detectives featured in Robinson's later books.

Also unlike most of the later mysteries in the series, there is just one case to occupy his time, at least until a teenage girl disappears. The disappearance may or may not be related to the murder of a scholarly man whom everybody seemed to like and nobody seemed to have any reason to kill. Yet someone did murder Harry Steadman.

Because there seems to be no motive to be found in the present, Banks explores the past, old relationships and especially old love affairs. Where does the secret lie?

Had I read “A Dedicated Man” back in 1988 I think I might have liked it better than I do now, for now I have Robinson's later work to compare it with, and the author has improved with time. The ending fits the model of the traditional murder mystery, but seems a bit forced and is not as convincing as the conclusions of most of his later novels that are modeled more on actual police work. ( )

Good plot. A lot of emphasis on the English countryside, sometimes to the point of distracting from the story. ( )

Alan Banks did not move to the end of Earth (well... Yorkshire but it kinda qualifies after London) just to be stuck with gruesome murders again. But being Detective Chief Inspector it is part of his job. And people don't get better and behave better just because they live in the countryside.

Harry Steadman is a local historian and archeologist who does not seem to have any enemies in the small village of Gratly. And yet, someone hit him on the head hard enough to kill him - and then hid his body (not very expertly). Small villages tend to hide secrets and Harry is somewhat of an outsider - he moved there in the last years only although he was already known from long vacations he spent in the village before that. But anyone who had ever lived in a small place knows that these places also tend to generate a lot of rumors and trying to sort between rumor and fact is hard, especially if you really do not know the area.

Alan Banks suspects from the beginning that there is something under all the rumors but even he gets surprised when the truth starts emerging. He spends the novel trying to stick to his decision to stop smoking cigarettes and instead take to a pipe (it is 1988 after all - these days, it would have been vaping I guess although then the Sherlock Holmes connection would be lost) and that makes him think of Holmes and his usual motto - eliminate the impossible and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. That is what ends up solving the case - but not before more lives are lost and a lot of happy memories shattered.

The novel is dated - it was written in 1988 and it was a different world back then. On the other hand it is too new to be different enough to be interesting because of that. As such, it has its problems - you need to keep in mind when the book is written or the blatant sexism may make you want to stop reading. But then it is normal for books written in a different time - the dales of England in the late 80s may as well be a different world sometimes.

It is not a great novel but it is a decent one and I enjoy the series. ( )

Have been reading these out of order, and would suggest Robinson did improve in later novel.

A retired archeologist is murdered and Banks investigates,

Found Bank’s preoccupation with a pipe dull & time wasting. The characters all appeared to be in their late fifties, then it became apparent they were supposed to be much younger. A teenager does some sleuthing, and she and her friends seemed to come from the fifties rather than the 1970’s.

Couldn’t quite understand why Robinson makes his detective a married man with children. They barely get walk-on parts.

Then suddenly Banks put all the pieces together. The mystery was wrapped up rapidly, and Poirot-like he gives a long tell-not-show explanation to the once-suspects. ( )