All the Colours of Darkness: DCI Banks 18

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Had he ever realized that children might find him, and what effect seeing his body might have on them? This 11th book about Yorkshire police officer Alan Banks is disappointing after 1999's Edgar-nominee, In a Dry Season, but contains enough elements of the familiar formula to satisfy dedicated fans. Finally, I found the conclusion of the book to be implausible on the surface and to be more than a little disappointing. But when Mark's older and wealthier lover is discovered bludgeoned to death in his home, Annie begins to think differently.

Although Chris finds Kilnsgate charming, something about the house disturbs him, a vague sensation that the long-empty rooms have been waiting for him - feelings made ever stronger when he learns that the house was the scene of a murder. The river ran swift, broad and shallow here, the color of freshly pumped beer, frothing around the mossy stones. Banks and Annie keep pursuing a non-existent case even though they both agree no crime has been committed and they have no goals for the investigation other than finding out some information they don't know but that they have no reason to believe is of any importance beyond satisfying curiosity.

Agatha Christie wrote a murder based on Othello and suggestions by a manipulator; I always thought it an awful and unreal mystery. It’s not an easy read in so much as there’s some graphic descriptions of events and the narrative is very sad. Into Keldale's pastoral web of old houses and older secrets comes Scotland Yard Inspector Thomas Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton. While I enjoy an Ian Fleming as much as the next fellow, I didn't expect this book to be so dependent on the spy aspects for the plot. The detective, in a nick of time, does save the day, not only preserving his own skin and that of his five extra-terrestrial buddies, but even convincing the galactic civilization to permit humanity to retain its newly developed teleporter technology.

She looks like the definitive giallo heroine here, with her gorgeous mane of long black hair, porcelain skin and big eyes. Jan Reyna is a murder squad detective, British by adoption and choice, Faroese by birth and history. I go to great pains to describe condition accurately, listing all flaws, sometimes with the result that the book description may not look all that attractive.

It occurred to me, as I read on, that the plot line of the high level detective coming under threat because he won't abandon an investigation is wearing a bit thin. Cat Power, Shostakovich, Keren Ann, Laura Marling and of course Richard Hawley for anything that involves a wine. But the members of the circle come from all walks of life and practice many forms of writing, from fantasy to household hints.