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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780380820481
ISBN number: 038082048X
Label: Avon
Manufacturer: Avon
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: October 01, 2002
Publishing house: Avon
Release Date: October 01, 2002
Sale Popularity Level: 66652
Studio: Avon
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No one dreamed something so hideous could grow in so beautiful a place ...
Many who visit the valley are overwhelmed by its majesty. Some wish they never had to leave. One didn't: a hiker whose decomposing corpse is discovered by an unsuspecting tourist. But this strange, incomprehensible murder is only the edge of the darkness that hovers over a small rural village and its tight-lipped residents, who guard shattering secrets of sordid pasts and private shames. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks knows that both the grim truth and a cold-blooded killer are hiding here, far from the city, the noise, and safety. And he's determined to walk into the valley of death to expose them both.
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Rated by buyers 
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This is the fourth Inspector Banks mystery, and I'm really getting to like Banks and his modus operandi. In this book a new death in a remote area in the fells around Swainshead is linked to a murder that occurred five years ago. This earlier mystery was never solved and Banks keeps finding links as he investigates the new one. It takes him over the sea to Toronto Canada in order to get more information on his small list of suspects. I really do enjoy this series, and Banks and his Sergeant (Hatcheley) make a nice crime fighting duo. Banks, the chain-smoking, music-loving Inspector, is such an ordinary guy that he seems very real.
Rated by buyers -
Peter Robinson has already captured a spot among my favorite mystery authors with this entertaining series. He has done this by a combination of well-crafted plots, interesting and complex characters, wonderful settings for the stories, and overall, a prose that does not bore, not even for a second. Among the characters, the main protagonist, Chief Inspector Alan Banks, is one to cherish. His unimposing physique and mild temperament are not even remotely and obstacle to bringing the culprits to justice, and the gets the job done efficiently and by applying impeccable logic.
The case in this book has to do with the murder of an out-of-towner in the fells near Swainshead, a small village in the Swainsdale. The body has been viciously battered and its identification is not an easy process, especially since it has remained undiscovered for a couple of weeks. Banks is called in to investigate, and in the process he comes across a suspicious set of characters, a possible relationship to an unresolved murder in the past, and a connection that leads him to travel to a foreign land in search for answers.
This novel may not be Robinson's best, but it is definitely a very good mystery. The ability the author usually displays in depicting the characters and in creating engaging interactions among them is present as usual. The main area in which I found this installment lacking was in the development of the personal story of Inspector Banks. One of the things that I enjoy when reading mystery series is to see how the main character evolves in his / her personality, family relationships, etc. Sadly, this was missing in this case.
The only other criticism I have for this book is that even though the story is resolved, it felt a little bit rushed towards the end. It seemed to me as if we got the bare minimum needed to complete the story, but not much else. This is a little disappointing, especially from an author that takes good care in describing the culture, settings and characters so thoroughly and proficiently. Nevertheless, I still think that this is a book worth reading, especially if you have been following this series.
Rated by buyers 
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Peter Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, and is the author of a number of previous novels featuring Inspector Banks. He is the winner of numerous awards in the United States, Britain and Canada, and in 2002 he won the CWA Dagger in the Library. As I also come from Leeds the background to his stories is something that I have experienced very first hand and because of this I have a special affection for his books. However they would be very first class crime fiction wherever they were based.
Chief Inspector Alan Banks is called to a murder scene that is gruesome even to him. Over the years his mind has become conditioned to the dreadful things that one or more human beings can inflict on their fellow man, but the discovery of a faceless corpse in a quiet, seldom visited valley below the village of Swainshead sickens even him.
On his arrival he finds that no one is willing to talk and his frustration only grows when the identity of the body is finally revealed. It seems that the body may be connected to an unsolved murder that took place in the same area over five years ago. Among the suspects are the wealthiest and most powerful family in Swainsdale, the Collier brothers and when they start to use their influence to hamper the investigation the Inspector finds himself in a race against time.
Rated by buyers 
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...And by that I don't mean that typical is bad. This is a good book, just average for Robinson. It unfolds in typical manner -- a body is found, a bunch of people at the local pub are all suspects, the killer aint who you think it is... etc. Robinson patiently unfolds his stories and gives us well-developed characters. His books are a delight to read. Though not his best, this is a worthy book.
Rated by buyers -
I have read four of Robinson's Inspector Banks novels and I thought the other three were good. This present novel seems to be the worst of the four. I read the Avon 2002 paperback version (ISBN number 0-380-82048-X) with the added very first chapter from Strange Affair tacked on at the end as a coming attraction.
Somewhere in the middle of the 300 pages - and after a very slow start - you get the feeling that there is too much filler here. The book slows down in the middle and it has many irrelevant tourist comments about Toronto including a trip to a Jays versus Yankees baseball game. Where are we? How is that at all interesting and pertinent to a murder in the Yorkshire Dales? It seems like a lot of filler writing and it ruins the novel. Also, the very first 100 pages are slow and it takes a while for the novel to get going.
Without giving away the plot, the story is about a series of murders in the small town of Swainshead village in Yorkshire. It involves inspector Banks, and two fellow detectives, along with a cast of interesting characters - with great potential for a good novel. Unfortunately, Robinson does little with these characters except for Katie Greenock, a young and attractive but slightly mentally handicapped or immature and lost young woman. It is too bad that a few of the other characters could not have been developed a little more such as he does with Katie: Robinson does a good job with her, but the other characters are little more than names and brief descriptions.
The author Robinson no longer lives in Britain. He lives in Toronto and he insists on writing part of the story about a one week trip by Banks to Toronto to interview a missing woman. The woman had lived in Swainshead at the time of an early murder. That trip to Toronto seems to break the flow of the novel.
If Robinson could have had more emphasis on the characters and Yorkshire, this could have been an excellent novel. As it is it is just average and one feels slightly disappointed with the way Robinson has written the novel.
By the way, I recently discovered Henning Mankell who writes similar novels. He writes about a fictional Swedish detective Kurt Wallander. Those are more upbeat and entertaining novels. Of the eight in that series, I recommend One Step Behind or his very first Wallander novel: Faceless Killers.
The Hanging Valley: 3 or 4 stars.
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