A dedicated man is dead in the Yorkshire dales -- a former university professor, wealthy historian and archaeologist who loved his adopted village. It is a particularly heinous slaying, considering the esteem in which the victim, Harry Steadman, was held by his neighbors and colleagues -- by everyone, it seems, except the one person who bludgeoned the life out of the respected scholar and left him half-buried in a farmer's field.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks left the violence of London behind for what he hoped would be the peaceful life of a country policeman. But the brutality of Steadman's murder only reinforces one ugly, indisputable truth: that evil can flourish in even the most bucolic of settings. There are dangerous secrets hidden in the history of this remote Yorkshire community that have already led to one death. And Banks will have to plumb a dark and shocking local past to find his way to a killer...before yesterday's sins cause more blood to be shed.

Reviews

After an old Yorkshire farmer discovers a half-buried body in his pasture, excitement interrupts routine in the small community of Swainsdale. Series detective Alan Banks ( Gallows View , 1990) begins investigating the habits and background of the victim, a dedicated professor who left his job upon receiving a sizeable inheritance. Suspicion falls on his charmless wife, his long-time publisher, his local drinking buddies, a younger woman, and others. Before Banks can narrow the list, the murderer strikes again. Readers of English village mysteries should enjoy Robinson's promising second step.

After the body of a well-to-do archeologist is found buried near a stone wall outside the English village of Helmthorpe, detective chief inspector Alan Banks, last encountered in Gallows View , has trouble finding anyone with motive and opportunity for murder. The main beneficiary of Harry Steadman's substantial fortune, his frowsy widow, Emma, has a solid alibi and seems to grieve genuinely for her husband. Further probing takes Banks back many years, when the Steadmans summered in the village and the archeologist formed a friendship with teenager Penny Cartwright--later a famous folksinger and object of scandal--whose boyfriend of the time, Michael Ramsden, became Steadman's publisher and good friend. When a local girl who may have learned too much about the murder disappears and is found dead, Banks must move swiftly to untangle the skein of old emotions and avert further tragedy. Robinson vividly evokes English village life and the passions animating both its residents and the police who protect them. (Aug.)

"Stunningly complex and intricately plotted....Peter Robinson fools and entertains me with every twist."--Nevada Barr