English detective pot-boiler - beach read not a keeper.

Really enjoyed it. Will read the next.

This is the best so far of the series - Robinson is finally showing some promise. Annie Cabbot is introduced and Jenny Fuller makes a come-back, which should set up some interesting dynamics in future novels. However, it's really easy to guess who the skeleton is, and who the murderer is, so it's not that great a read. And Robinson does have rather an annoying habit of explaining the obvious or offering up cliches for his views on life. Although I started reading the Insp. Banks series from the beginning, I'd recommend to anyone interested in this series to start with this particular book; you won't miss anything by not reading the previous 9 books. Not sure I'll continue with the rest of this series - Phillip Kerr is a much better writer, and offers a far more complex character in his Bernie Gunther than Banks will ever be.

Plot ok. Writing a little dated and sexist

This book is why I should stop reading older works by male crime writers. The sexism is just ordinary and everywhere. Women are killed for their sexuality, our heroic detective is complex because he listens to jazz and “sensitive” for sleeping with a much younger female colleague. A violent gang rape is brushed off as a right of passage but don’t worry, the survivor is fine now because she’s a hippie and meditates. Sure, the writing is better than average, but we don’t have to keep this in any canon of great crime writing.

I've enjoyed all the books I've read in this series, but this one really stands out for the compelling characters in the historical storyline. Loved it.

My blog post about this book is at this link.

I really liked that Robinson used a crime that happened during World War two. It was interesting how he went back and forth between Gwyneth Shackleton's story of what happened and life during world war 2 and Banks story of the investigation. Love Banks!

What a sorry excuse for a mystery novel. This is a sad soap opera with bits of a mystery floating in the background. I couldn’t care less about the main character’s relationships with bosses, ex-wives, girlfriends, children, you name it. Sad!