| Title | : | A Dedicated Man (Inspector Banks, #2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0330491601 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780330491600 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1988 |
A Dedicated Man (Inspector Banks, #2) Reviews
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”By the side of the north-south wall, loosely covered with earth and stones, lay the body. Enough of its covering had been removed to make it recognizable as a man. The head lay to one side, and, kneeling beside it, Banks could see that the hair at the back was matted with blood. A jolt of nausea shot through his stomach, but he quickly controlled it as he began to make mental notes about the scene. Standing up, he was struck by the contrast between the beautiful, serene day and the corpse at his feet.”
Who killed Harry Steadman?
Chief Inspector Alan Banks moved away from London to get away from murder investigations, but here he is in the small hamlet of Gratly, staring at a murder most foul. As Banks begins to investigate the man more than the murder itself, he starts to realize that the key to this crime must exist around something from Steadman’s past.
One problem that Banks is not used to dealing with in London is the clouds of gossip that billow up around every aspect of the case. The cicadaesque chatter among the natives creates layers of misdirection that are difficult to sort through. Steadman was a rich man who abandoned working when he inherited this windfall of money, but was still a dedicated man to pursuing his interests in Industrial Archaeology and the Roman occupation of Britain.
Don’t you love it when the title of the novel presents itself in the book?
There is a small group of men who seem better suited to London life than living in the country, who gather at a seedy pub to have higher level discussions about common interests. The peeling wallpaper, sticky floors, and butt worn booths are made up for with the excellent pint that comes out of the tap. Some of them have known Steadman for decades, but if they know anything relevant, they are not obliging Banks with any of the pertinent information he needs to catch the murderer. When he presses them about the past, they become evasive.
Banks has a second problem in the person of Sally Lumb, who is an aspiring actress and amateur detective who is being moved by her reading of Wuthering Heights to ascribe motives to the crime. ”’She was reading the wrong book,’ Barker said. ‘And misreading it, at that. She should have been reading Madame Bovary.’”
Banks makes a note to pick up a copy of Madame Bovary to read, and so do I. (There is a newer translation by Lydia Davis I’ve been wanting to read anyway.)
There is also the mysterious and beautiful Penny Cartwright, who has connections to nearly everyone in the circle of suspects. She went away to become a successful songwriter and performer, but burned out and returned to her hometown. She had a special relationship with Steadman that is difficult for Banks to understand. ”She looked a lonely, wild figure, Sally thought, like Catherine in Wuthering Heights: a woman of the moors, spirit of the place.” Certainly, Penny is a woman who can inspire grand passions in men. But did she do so for Steadman? Or one of the other men in his circle of acquaintances?
There is more than one instance where Banks questions the integrity of the police force as a whole which dovetails with my own steadily increasing dissatisfaction with law enforcement.
”Banks wanted to argue, to defend the police, but he was too tired and he knew there would be no point anyway. Besides, he also knew that the police were just like everyone else; a lot were bastards and few weren’t.”
”He had many objections to the way the government seemed to look upon the police as a private army of well paid bully-boys to pit against people with genuine grievances and a constitutional right to air them.”
This book came out during the latter part of the Margaret Thatcher regime, and the general discord of the working classes clashing with the police over her policies, that benefited the wealthy and screwed over everyone else, might have colored the author’s perceptions of the police force in general.
I personally just want the police to focus on the protecting and serving part of their creed.
These early Peter Robinson books are more in the line of Agatha Christie’s whodoneits and are cleverly written, but I prefer his later books, when Alan Banks has become more of a brooding, jazz listening, book reading detective. My first Robinson book was In a Dry Season (1999), which I followed with
Cold is the Grave (2000), which both feature the Banks I prefer. As the author ages and becomes more interesting, so does his character. My goal in going back to the early cases is to discover exactly when Banks becomes the Banks I appreciate the most. Meanwhile, I can enjoy these very British mysteries, knowing that my interest will increase with each new case he solves.
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Harry Steadman was a well-liked man, a dedicated man, a lover of the history of the area, and when his body was discovered, Detective Inspector Alan Banks was stumped. They searched for clues, interviewed everyone near and far, several times, and still the frustration of the police force was high. As the days moved forward and the lack of information continued, Banks had his suspicions. But no evidence. And when a second person was murdered, Banks kept at it – day and night; night and day. But would he find the answers he needed before it was too late for someone else?
A Dedicated Man is the 2nd in the Inspector Banks series by Peter Robinson and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Fast paced, the indepth information on the case was interesting. I couldn’t help them as I had no idea! It’s a while since I read #1 but I remember how much I enjoyed it then. I’ll have to look up #3 now. Recommended. -
I had hoped that I might have discovered a long series of police procedurals that I could work my way through, but I don't think I will be doing that. This is set in Yorkshire and features Chief Inspector Alan Banks, who is trying to solve murder case. He spends a lot of time questioning people quite gently in a Midsomer Murders kind of way, while knocking back pints (and more pints) of beer at lunch time and smoking a pipe.
There were things about this novel which I enjoyed: Banks seemed to be a well-adjusted family man with no hidden past tragedy and his relationships with his colleagues were realistically portrayed. However, the standard of the writing was not great (favourite line: "I think I was responding to her sexual power unconsciously, and I was put off by her appearance") and the female characters were a bit off somehow. Penny Cartwright seemed to spend the novel having massive mood swings and behaving completely incoherently. Her back story was odd - I don't think people do make up incest-style gossip at all readily personally.
While I'm glad the villain was who it turned out to be, I don't think we were given enough clues to work things out for ourselves and Banks kind of stumbled across the answer by discovering the baddies red-handed. Finally, the whole Poirot-style "this is how it went down" explanation at the end was very unprofessional, since it is addressed to his wife and two civilians (and he found out most of it from a confession).
Disappointed. -
Banks is a man with refined, but eclectic, taste in music!
Chief Inspector Alan Banks, CID, recently transferred from London to Eastvale, a town in the Yorkshire Dales, is no Harry Bosch or Harry Rebus. But then Eastvale isn’t New York City, London or Edinburgh either. Alan Banks is a real man with real characteristics – he loves opera (but in A Dedicated Man he allowed himself to be “sidetracked … into the world of English vocal and choral music”); he enjoys a jar or two of his favourite beer; he’ll even indulge in a scotch if the problem he’s considering is a little deeper or a little more pressing; he’d much rather deal with the nuts and bolts of policing and crime solving than the management issues of reprimanding one of the officers reporting to him; and he’s happy to be in a small town. In fact, at least one of the local teen ladies thinks him distinctly uncool for that decision. But this small town has a couple of big city surprises in store that Banks would not have expected including a murder for which nobody seems to have had either a motive or the opportunity!
A DEDICATED MAN is not a big-city police procedural or a gritty suspense thriller loaded with graphic sex and violence. But you can be assured that it certainly isn’t a turn-of-the-century cozy mystery with a drawing room “sleuth reveals all” climax either. It’s 20th century all the way and enjoyable from first page to last. The author ties up all the loose ends and weaves the disparate story lines into a single satisfying climax with a maturity that belies the fact that A Dedicated Man is only the second novel in a very young series.
There isn’t a mystery lover out there who won’t close the last page of A DEDICATED MAN with a note-to-self to head out to the bookstore to pick up A NECESSARY END, #3 in the now wildly successful Inspector Banks series.
Paul Weiss -
Who would kill Harry Steadman, a man without a single enemy by every account? When he inherited £250,000 from his father, Steadman ditches his job as a lecturer in industrial archeology at Leeds University, buys a former bed-and-breakfast in Helmthorpe in Swainsdale, and throws himself into excavating nails and things from the nearby Roman fort ruins and writing books about his work. But no matter how many times Chief Inspector Alan Banks hears that Steadman was universally beloved, he knows that can’t be true: After all, someone hit Steadman from behind and then hid his body. And the realization that Steadman was murdered not by a stranger but someone he knew and trusted has all Helmthorpe on edge.
I liked A Dedicated Man even more than the first book in the series,
Gallows View. Banks emerges as tenacious as the proverbial terrier, and he realizes that Steadman’s death has to do not with the present, but something from his past. He relentlessly questions Steadman’s frumpy wife, associates, and friends until, at last, he pieces together the murderer and the motive. Recommended. -
4.5 stars. This is the second in a series that takes place in Yorkshire. I love the sheep and the rolling hills, Banks and his colleagues, and the quirky villagers. This isn't a cozy but there's no gore and little violence, considering they're murder mysteries.
I loved the resolution to this one, and the author leaves us enough breadcrumbs to piece together the solution for ourselves. The audio performances are equally well done, and I'm very happy to have discovered this series. It's very long and still being written, and apparently all or most of them are available on Hoopla. Bonus!
A recommended series I definitely plan to continue. -
Banks has a tough case this time, investigating the murder of a man who everyone seemed to like and admire. The suspect list is small but the motives are elusive. Complicating matters is a young girl who fashions herself as an amateur sleuth.
This was an interesting case as it was just dogged police work, assembling lots of clues and combinations. I had suspicions but nothing to really back it up and the ending was a bit of a surprise. However, I had focused correctly on the identity of the killer.
I'm enjoying this series, especially the audiobook format. The narrator effectively distinguishes the characters in a way that seems consistent with their personalities. -
The second in Peter Robinson's series featuring DCI Banks starts off promisingly enough, but it lost my attention half way through. Some of the characters appeared a little lacklustre and it was only really the character of Banks that kept my interest. Having seen the TV series (& thoroughly enjoyed it) it is interesting to see how the main character differs in many ways from his screen counterpart. I like the differences between both versions & will continue reading more of the novels, not having been put off by this weak entry.
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3.5 Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks - also the first book I've read by Peter Robinson. The story line can across as somewhat formula driven. High flying London detective moves to the country. A brutal murder takes place. Almost all the characters are interviewed. Something nags at the detectives' brain.
But I did finish reading it. Perfect read for my mood that particular day. -
3 1/2 stars for this second Detective Alan Banks mystery from Peter Robinson.
The body of a local historian is found buried under stones in a local farmer's field.
This book lacked some of the pace of his first in the series
Gallows View, but it made for lovely easy listening.
There is a serous lack of suspects in this murder - everyone seemed to have admired the man - which kept it interesting.
On to # 3 in the series
A Necessary End as soon as it is returned.
An interesting series. I enjoy Peter Robinson's writing. It is not dramatic, but not quite a 'cosy' either. I am enjoying getting to know Inspector Banks and his family (although they featured much less in this book than the first) and his colleagues. -
Detective Chief Inspector Richard Banks has enjoyed several months with only relatively minor crimes to solve since his first homicide case since moving to rural England. Now though, the body of a former university professor is found hidden beneath rocks near a wall and everyone who knew the man swears he didn't have an enemy in the world. Banks knows better -- the man had at least one person who wanted him dead. Finding that person with almost no clues to go on will be live finding a needle in the proverbial haystack.
This character-driven police procedural is a joy to read, a few notches above cozy mysteries but with little emphasis on gory details. I've found that the books in this series can be read as stand-alones, but as with any character-driven series, it is preferable to read them in order to be able to thoroughly enjoy the subtleties of growth and change in those characters. -
The second in the Inspector Banks series by Peter Robinson. (I've yet to read No. 1, had to go on a wait list in my Cape Cod library system for it - can you imagine? :D )
Inspector Alan Banks is investigating the murder of a 'dedicated man' in this one, an ordinary sort of fellow with an interest in industrial archaeology, who, after inheriting a good sum of money, heads to rural England to do what he loves - digging up Roman ruins. Sadly, the poor guy is found dead and partly buried and Banks has to figure out when, why, and most importantly: who killed him.
This is not a book with a heavy tilt to evidence, clues, forensics, etc. (It was written in 1988, but there was a whole lot going on at that time, forensically speaking.) It is Banks' continual interrogation of the locals - and they can get mighty testy at times - that help him sort this one out. (In other words, it's personalities and Banks' understanding of human behavior which lead to the killer.)
Interesting, very 'talky,' lots of description, though it doesn't take away from the story. What I would call a 'serviceable' addition to a series, which I will continue reading.
Three stars. -
Inspector Banks and his colleagues investigate murders in the rolling hills of Yorkshire. It is not a cozy mystery, yet there is little gore in the book.
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Good gracious - "murder in Yorkshire" appears to be an entire mystery subgenre. I never knew what I was missing.
The back cover of one of the Reginald Hill novels that I checked out of the library suggested that I would like it if I liked Peter Robinson. I liked the Reginald Hill novel, so I decided to try Peter Robinson.
I did enjoy this book. It's a good solid detective story - I particularly liked the fact that while I didn't guess the identity of the murderer, once it was revealed I was able to think back and notice all the little clues that pointed in that direction. There were some fun characters, too, although I'm not quite sure what to make of Robinson's depiction of Sally Lumb, a 16-year old girl. I'm pretty sure that I wasn't much like Sally when I was 16, but then again, I can't make any claims to having been a typical 16 year-old girl. (Is there such a thing as a typical 16 year-old girl? I'm not sure.)
I'm also not 100% sold on Robinson's Inspector Banks. His being a police officer from London in a small Northern town gives him an interesting outsider status, but it sometimes feels like Robinson is trying a little bit too hard to give him quirks, dwelling on his fondness for opera and folk music and playing with toy trains a little too much. Banks even spends most of this book trying to learn how to smoke a pipe, partly because he's trying to give up cigarettes, but partly because he seems to think that he needs a shtick. Still, I'm willing to see how the character settles out over another book or two.
If I had to pick only one writer of mysteries set in Yorkshire, Hill would be the clear winner based on what I've read so far. However, since there's room on my reading list for more than one, I'll be reading at least a few more of Robinson's books as well. -
As I often do, I have read Inspector Banks out of sequence, which is only a problem in that I know about some of his personal life problems before they happen. (I am reading this in 2013, the book having been published in 1998) But in an attempt to rationalize my Banks reading, I have gone back to the beginning of the series. This book is the second in the series, and I found it to be significantly different in tone and feel from the later ones. It is certainly not the DCI Banks of the TV series. (He smokes, is married and is described as small). This book hewed much more to the tone of the original book of the series, where Banks had just arrived in Yorkshire and was seen as an outsider, and where he is in love with the country idyll. I liked the map drawn at the front too, a feature that seems to have disappeared from the later books. What was strange to me was that we immediately met one character who had featured in the last Banks book I read, which was about the 12th in the series! That happened to me with the first Donna Leon book too.
As for the story itself, it was good. An ex-professor, a man “dedicated” to his research, whence the title, is found dead on the hills. He was apparently loved by all (with obviously one notable exception!). This makes Banks’ job difficult; he decides that the motive must be in the past, and accordingly spends much of his time digging said past up. The book is relatively slow for most of the story, with lots of leads turning out to be dead ends, until a second murder takes place, upon which the book climaxes very quickly. The motive is logical – if you had a better imagination than mine, you might even have spotted it, and so satisfying from that point of view. -
What can I say? Crime fiction as it should be, when you reach the denouement and think "That was so obvious, why didn't I get it sooner?" Chief Inspector Alan Banks is a policeman that I would love to meet in real life, not just in fiction. Peter Robinson never fails to please. His desriptions of the Yorkshire countryside and towns make me want to visit. I'm just about to start reading the latest in the series.
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The second instalment in the DCI Banks series is a far slower plot and far less complex development of relationships than the first. The story builds slowly, in an oh so very British vein. The characters are interesting but you don’t learn much about Banks in this one. A couple of clever little twists but nothing earth-shattering.
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http://bettie.booklikes.com/blog -
A little slower moving than I remember others in the series being, but it was nice to finally find it and fill in some background.
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#2 in Robinson's Inspector Alan Banks series, which is now up to 26 books. In a small, tight knit English community, a scholar on the local area is found murdered and everyone in town is a suspect. Not a ton of action as Banks interviews everyone and then does it again trying to slot everything together to make the pieces fit. Reminds me a lot of Inspector Erlendur of Arnaldur Indridason's books. Slow but enjoyable..........will continue to catch up with this British series.
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Very run of the mill murder. A few suspectals but really predictable and plods gently to a nothing ending.
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A Dedicated Man is the 2nd Chief Inspector Banks mystery by
Peter Robinson. Once again I found it to be quite different to the TV series that was based on the books. But that matters not as both are enjoyable in their own way.
Banks is called to a small town in his district in Yorkshire to investigate the murder of a local professor / historian. It's a very small hamlet with basically one police officer. He brings along Sgt Hatchley to assist. It's a typical case, the professor is well-loved, seems to have no enemies and even though he has friends, they all seem to have little motive and reasonable alibis.
The pacing is excellent; we aren't caught up with countless murders to cope with. It's Banks and Hatchley investigating, talking to possible suspects as they try to gather information and we also get the perspective of a variety of the locals; young Sally, the budding actress with her own ideas of the murder, the local singer who may have had a relationship with the victim, etc.
It was a pleasure to read and just enjoy the thought processes, the locality, the people and the case. I had ideas of how the murder might have happened but for some reason, never considered the final solution which was presented and I must say I found it very satisfying. Banks is not really like the TV version; he has a much smaller staff to work with and his personal circumstances are different, at least for the first two books, but I like him very much and was very satisfied with this most enjoyable mystery. Now to find the 3rd book. (5 stars) -
The second novel in the DCI Banks mysteries is about the murder of Harold Steadman, a historian who appeared to have lead an impeccable life. The writer apparently has done a lot of research as the methods he uses to solve the murder look very professional. He is very thorough and meticulously describes all his actions and steps. The reader forgets that he is reading a work of fiction.... The characters are ordinary people which makes the story more credible. The descriptions of the landscape and the environment of the murder scene are also quite realistic albeit a bit lengthy to my taste. Throughout a large part of the story, DCI Banks and his team have no clue about the murderer and the victim's wife and friends a well as some colleagues all become suspects. The resolution of the case is only being revealed in the last 80 pages and ultimately came as a surprise to me.
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Another quick read. This time the body of a local man is found buried in a dry stone wall. Banks spent most of the book frustrated - as he knew pretty much everyone had something to hide, but its tricky when you have a victim that seems to have no enemies.
Harry Steadman was a lecturer - local historian enthusiast/author with lots of friends - so who would want to kill him? A man of leisure after coming into an inheritance he is the most unlikely man to be murdered.
The solution came a bit out of nowhere and final chapter is just Banks relaying to other people what actually happened and then it just ended.
It did show it's age a bit, as a possible witness used a phone box. Banks asked another person if they had a phone (to which the response was that they'd had one for a couple of years) - but this did come out in the late 80's.
It was fine. -
I liked this less than
Gallows View not because of the mystery or the writing, but because I really hate it when fictional detectives (or characters) get all "meta" and talk about what it would be like if this were the movies/tv/a book, but because this isn't... Grrrr.
It's also odd how far away the time seems, even though the books are written in the late 80s: no cells, no computers, not everyone has a phone. That time is still too recent to be historical fiction, but it's certainly not current. -
DCI Alan Banks second case involves the murder of wealthy academic. There are a lot of possible suspects, many that have known the victim for several years, but nobody out there seems to have a motive, which leaves Banks fishing around trying to get a real lead... meanwhile a sixteen year old amateur sleuth is working the case for her own reasons. Another Yorkshire Dales set case set amidst the idyllic villages and towns of the area. 5 out of 12.
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Continuing my recent discovery and exploration of Peter Robinson’s fiction, I have just completed his second Inspector Banks novel, A Dedicated Man. As I mentioned earlier however, this is actually my third Banks novel since I only discovered Robinson with last year’s Careless Love.
It seems that the good inspector has been enjoying something of a major-crime lull since the personal trauma he and wife Sandra suffered in Banks’s debut in Gallows View. All of that though abruptly ends via the brutal murder of a “dedicated man,” a retired college professor who has permanently relocated to Banks’s rather isolated Yorkshire location. Mainly because everyone seems to have loved and respected the victim to such a high degree, the case proves to be a particularly difficult one for Banks to get a handle on, but the inspector counts on his usual persistence, along with a well aimed hard push or two in the right direction, to get the job done.
And it’s precisely that attitude that attracts me to Robinson’s Inspector Banks novels. I have always enjoyed a good police procedural and found them to be more satisfying than detective novels by writers who rely on one thrilling scene after another to carry their books to some kind of (usually preposterous) conclusion. For me the best crime fiction writers are those who combine elements of both styles with an emphasis on process over thrill. Thankfully, too, Inspector Banks is a “talker” and several times in A Dedicated Man he explains his crime solving philosophy to one or another of the locals in great detail.
Robinson first tells the reader something that Banks learned the hard way:
“Banks knew from experience that once a murder investigation begins there is no stopping and little slowing down even for family life. The crime invades mealtimes, ablutions, and sleep; it dominates conversation and puts up an invisible barrier between the investigator and his family.”
There’s also this from Robinson explaining the inspector’s mindset:
“Banks also liked the feeling of being an outsider. Not a stranger, as he had been among the anonymous, international crowds of London, but an outsider. He knew he always would be no matter how deep he put his roots.” (In Yorkshire)
In a revealing conversation with a crime novelist who also is a suspect in the murder investigation, Banks says this:
“In writing, yes. In fiction. But in real life, I’m not so sure. It’d be a damn sight easier if I knew who the criminal was without having to write the whole book and make all the mistakes along the way.”
Later on when another suspect asks if he is close to solving the murder, he says:
“I can’t see it if I am, but detection doesn’t work like that anyway. It’s not a matter of getting closer like a zoom lens, but of getting enough bits and pieces to transform chaos into a recognizable pattern…But you can’t predict when that moment will come. It could be in the next ten seconds or the next ten years. You don’t know what the pattern will look like when it’s there, so you might not even recognize it at first. But soon enough you’ll know you’ve got a design and not just a filing cabinet full of odds and sods.”
I really like Chief Inspector Alan Banks. He may be a bit of a plodder, but he’s not going to quit before he gets the job done. So if police procedurals are for you, I think that author Peter Robinson just may be your guy. And knowing that I have something like 22 more Inspector Banks novels to enjoy makes me happy (hopefully there are many more to come yet).
(As posted on my book blog: bookchase.blogspot.com )
