Before the Poison

Before the Poison by Peter Robinson is a haunting stand-alone story that, other than it’s setting of the Yorkshire Dales, has nothing in common with his detective series. This is the story of Chris Lowndes, a recent widower who returns to Yorkshire after a successful career composing the musical backdrop to many Hollywood movies. He has purchased isolated Kilnsgate House, sight unseen, a country house that has been empty for a number of years. Only after he has settled into the house does he find out that this was the site of a famous murder case that saw Grace Elizabeth Fox hanged for the murder of her husband. Chris becomes very interested in this case and soon finds himself drawn to investigating and discovering if Grace was really show more guilty.

At the beginning of each chapter are passages from a fictional true crime book that describes the 1953 case and then later Grace’s own journal is used to detail her extraordinary life as a nurse during WW II. As the book progresses, Chris’ initial curiosity becomes more like an obsession as the more he learns about Grace the more intrigued he becomes.

Before the Poison is a quiet, melancholy story that is an absorbing character study. Grace was an interesting woman and her presence infuses every page. I became totally captivated by this book that is so very different from his usual mysteries. With it’s dark and brooding atmosphere, slower pacing and haunting characters, this was a great book to curl up with on a cold winter’s afternoon. show less

The Grace Fox murder case is so cold that hardly anybody still remembers it or, if they do, still considers it an open case — until Chris Lowndes, a Hollywood film composer, returns to England and unknowingly purchases the large house where Grace Fox supposedly poisoned her husband. She was hanged for the crime in 1953. Chris moves into the house in 2010.

This is the situation in Peter Robinson's amazing standalone novel “Before the Poison” (2012).

A fan of Robinson's Inspector Banks novels, I was initially disappointed when I started reading this book and realized it is not part of the series. Yet I was quickly engrossed and wondering why he hasn't written more novels that stand on their own. Before the Poison demonstrates even show more more clearly than his mystery series what a talented writer Robinson is.

Chris is a man not unlike Banks, especially when it comes to his love of music and his ability to solve mysteries. Unlike Banks, this man mourns his deceased wife and sees ghosts. Perhaps one of the ghosts is that of Grace Fox. At any rate, he decides Grace wasn't really guilty of murder and that there must be much more to the case than came out at the trial. And so he begins to dig.

Not many people remain alive who remember Grace Fox, but Chris travels to Paris and to South Africa to track them down. He works with Louise, Grace's granddaughter, who also wants to believe in her innocence.

In the end, Grace helps solve the mystery herself after her journal describing the horrors she experienced as a nurse in World War II is discovered

You wouldn't think the investigation of a murder case this old could have so many twists and turns and surprises, but Robinson gives us everything you might hope for. And more. show less

Peter Robinson is known for his Inspector Alan Banks British mysteries. However, Before the Poison, is a stand alone book, somewhat mysterious, but not your typical procedural mystery.

Chris Lowndes is obsessed with two women: his wife, Laura, who succumbed to cancer a year ago and Grace Elizabeth Fox. Chris, a transplanted Brit, moved back to Britain from L.A. and purchased Grace’s secluded estate. It had been vacant for some time. His real estate broker failed to mention one key fact, until after the deal was consummated. Grace was convicted in the murder of her husband and was hanged in 1953. Upon hearing this, Chris becomes obsessed with Grace, her trial and whether indeed she was guilty.

Before the Poison bounces back and forth show more between the current day and an account of the 1953 drama in the form of a segment of a book Famous Trials or a segment of Grace’s journal written during World War II. Each chapter starts with a short segment of the book or journal and continues as Chris attempts to uncover the truth.

It’s funny, because my first Peter Robinson novel, In a Dry Season, also alternated between the 1940s and the present.

While, indeed, there is a murder in this book, I would not call it a mystery. I would call it an engrossing tale of a man obsessed. Robinson is a marvelous writer, more literary than most mystery writers. As such, one reads his books for the details and descriptions and use of language. Whether or not Chris solves the ‘crime’ is irrelevant because you get caught up in his life and feelings and actions.

Robinson has written over 20 books, too many for me to catch up on from the beginning. However, I am an avid fan of his and will read all his forthcoming books, as should you. Mystery or mysterious, Robinson is on my reading list for sure. show less

Often, when I'm very fond of an author's series characters, I'm a bit resistant when that author surprises me with a standalone. But Peter Robinson's BEFORE THE POISON hooked me from the first page. As in several of his Alan Banks stories, a long-past case is involved. When a recently widowed Hollywood film score composer decides to return to his native England, he discovers that the house he has bought was the site of a famous murder that took place during his childhood -- one about which he begins to have doubts. The story of his investigation into, not only what happened, but why, kept me fascinated to the end. Highly recommended.

Chris Lowndes is a successful film score composer, well-known in the business and financially very comfortable. Having promised himself he'd return home at the age of sixty, he buys an isolated country house near the Yorkshire town where he grew up. He hadn't expected to be doing it without his wife at his side, but she'd died a few months earlier. He goes anyway, telling himself he needs solitude to work on the piano sonata he's always wanted to compose.

Having completed the purchase well before he returns to England, Lowndes is unsure what to expect when he arrives at the house late one October afternoon. He certainly doesn't expect to learn that the wife of the original owner, a physician named Ernest Fox, had been convicted of show more murdering him.

Out of curiosity, Lowndes begins to research the history of the house and it's early inhabitants. The more he learns about Grace Fox and her family, the more he becomes convinced that she was not guilty of the crime. Although he knows better than to tell anyone, he thinks he catches glimpses of her around the house. People begin to accuse him of being obsessed with Grace and her story, and it certainly appears that way, though Chris believes that all he's trying to do is uncover the truth.

Throughout Lowndes' search, the reader has the uncomfortable feeling that there is some underlying reason for his investigation. It's not expressed outright, but extremely subtle hints that this is the case permeate the narrative, very much in the vein of Rebecca,

In fact, as in Du Maurier's novel, although the narrative is in the first person from the protagonist's point of view, the central character of the story is a ghost whose history somehow becomes intertwined with that of the narrator.

As a devotee of Robinson's Inspector Banks, I was at first disappointed that Before the Poison was not part of that series. But this is such a well-written and well-told tale that the sadness was short-lived. show less

Peter Robinson has long been one of my favourite authors and I pick up anything with his name on it, knowing I'll be in for a good read. His latest book Before the Poison, is not part of his series featuring Inspector Banks, but is instead, a stand alone work.

Chris Lowndes left England when he was younger for the United States. He made quite a name for himself as a movie score composer. When his wife dies, Chris decides it's time to return home to England. He and Laura had planned to retire there. He buys an isolated house, sight unseen. When he arrives at the home, he is curious about the former inhabitants of the house. When he finds that it was the site of the murder of local physician, Dr. Fox and that his wife Grace was hanged for show more that murder, Chris indulges his curiosity and begins looking further into the trial. Curiosity quickly turns into almost obsession as he begins to doubt the official version of what really happened.

" I had a curious sensation that the shy, half-hidden house was waiting for me, that it had been waiting for some time."

This was a very different read from the Banks books. The pacing is much slower, taking time to build the layers of the story slowly and carefully. We follow Chris as he becomes increasingly insistent on discovering more about Grace. The story is told from three sources - Chris's inquiries, excerpts from a book called Famous Trials and finally bits from Grace's own journal, kept during her wartime nursing years. I found the journal entries especially poignant and extremely well written.

Much time is spent on developing the characters, their reasoning and their emotions. And this absolutely works for this story - anything faster would have ruined the atmospheric, period piece tone and feel of the tale. Some of that atmospheric feel comes from Chris's thinking he's seen something in the mirror of an old wardrobe in the house. There is another 'incident' such as this in Chris's childhood and I wondered if this would be explained or used in the story further. It wasn't, but added another layer to Chris's obsession. A revelation I didn't see coming late in the book does much to explain Chris's behaviour.

Robinson has always injected music into the Banks books. The Inspector's music collection and choices always provide a soundtrack for the story. This is continued in Before the Poison as well. Chris's choice of music often sent me online to listen to Robinson's selection of musical background.

Although others may find the pacing and lack of action a bit too slow, I enjoyed the change of pace from an author I have followed for many years, but Banks still remains my favourite. Before the Poison deserves to be slowly savoured under a single lamp, by a crackling fire in a house with creaking floors.... show less

This is a standalone book from the author of the Inspector Banks series. In this book, a composer named Chris returns to Yorkshire after many years in the United States, where he enjoyed a small measure of fame composing film soundtracks. His new home is a rambling, isolated place in the Dales, and apparently it used to be owned by a couple where the husband was poisoned by the wife and the wife was hanged. But as Chris starts learning about the background of the case, he has to wonder: did she really do it? This sets him off on a quest for the truth.

As is usually the case with this sort of past story/modern-day story setup, the past story was more interesting. Firsthand accounts of active service during the Second World War will win show more pretty much every time over a 21st-century man's romantic travails! The past story is told via diary excerpts, letters and a book called Famous Trials, which chronicles the murder case. The modern-day story is told in first person and overall it works well, although I found the voice a bit hard to get used to because I associate Peter Robinson with third-person narration. But that's probably a personal quirk. Chris as a character was all right.

One thing I did really appreciate about the modern-day story was that Chris knew how not to repeat himself too much. He'd go off and do some research, and then he'd come back and tell a friend about it (he kept a LOT of people in the loop on his research), but when he recounted the conversation with the friend he'd just say "I told So-and-So what I'd learned at the library" instead of spelling everything out again for the reader. Very economical. I do, however, think the book could have done with a wee bit of trimming. The sheer heft of the book was somewhat startling, and there were a couple of places where I'd made the deductive leap just before Chris did and had to wait for him to catch up with me.

But all in all I'd recommend this if the description interests you, or if you haven't tried any Peter Robinson and want to get a feel for his style without needing to becoming invested in the Banks series. show less