Books Monthly Review of Books

Anyone who's fighting to keep Britain's libraries open - it's unthinkable that anyone could even contemplate this - there is a Facebook page, just search for "save our libraries" and the UK page will show up...

Editor's note: I was hoping to have been able to compare the Peter Robinson DCI Banks with the ITV series, but although the books are supposed to be published by Pan Macmillan, the publishers claim they are no longer the official publishers of the series and are unable to supply review copies for my research purposes. I am continuing to investigate this and will update this page as and when I receive further information.

WATCHING THE DETECTIVES - DCI BANKS

With the series well under way (we just watched episode 3) I have to say that I am enjoying Tompkinson's playing of Banks very much indeed. He rarely smiles (can't compare that with the books, unfortunately) and seems to live alone (again, not sure if this is the case in the books yet), but also seems to be a very capable 'tec who has flashes of inspiration like Barnaby and Frost. This is an excellent series, and I'd very much like to read the books - maybe I'll call in at the local library, but as it's not much bigger than my front room, and as the series will surely mean all their copies are out on loan, I don't hold out much hope!

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks is the fictional protagonist in Peter Robinson's series of novels. After once living in London and working with the CID there, he now lives in the fictional English town of Eastvale. He has two children, Tracy and Brian. In the early books he was happily married to a woman named Sandra. However, during the mid-life of the novel series, Sandra and Alan found they had grown apart as the children achieved adulthood. They divorced and Sandra later remarried. In the later novels there is an on-again, off-again romance between Banks and a colleague, Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot.He works at the Tudor-styled Eastvale Police Station and has his own small office with a metal desk and two chairs, the office window looking out onto the town's busy Market Square. Coming from working-class stock, Banks abhors anything to do with money and wealth, which was one of the driving forces behind his decision to move from London to Eastvale. He, and Sandra at the time, didn't want to get caught up in the materialism of the big city and wanted to raise a family in a bucolic setting. Banks' unique but good taste in music and his often charming demeanor help him to relate to his suspects, as well as victims of crime. He can come down hard, though, when he needs to get answers quickly. But he also uses some creativity in his interrogations and investigations. So far there are 20 novels in the Alan Banks series. They have been shortlisted for and won a number of the most prestigious award in crime fiction, including the Edgar Award. The next three DCI Banks TV adaptations are going to air starting Friday 16 September on ITV1. The series lasts for six weeks and comprises three Banks novels: Playing With Fire, Friend of the Devil and Cold is the Grave. Stephen Tompkinson stars as Alan Banks, and Andrea Lowe is Annie Cabbot. In Playing with Fire, two bodies are found after a fire on some narrow boats and Banks and DS Annie Cabbot find themselves on the trail of an arsonist who has killed two people. In Friend of the Devil, a young student is attacked in the middle of the city and in another part of Yorkshire a woman has her throat cut, but the two different murders have disturbing similarities. Cold is the Grave is a case terrifyingly close to home as Banks is asked by his boss, Superintendent Gerry Rydell, to find his missing teenage daughter…

Books Monthly is published by Paul Edmund Norman on the first day of each month. Web design is by Gateway. Submitting to Books Monthly: Basically, all you need do is e-mail it along and I'll consider it - it can be any length, if it's very long I'll serialise it, if it's medium-length I'll put it in as a novella, if it's a short story or a feature article it will go in as it comes. Payment is zero, I'm afraid, as I don't make any money from Books Monthly, I do it all for fun! For Advertising rates in Books Monthly please contact me at paulenorman@yahoo.co.uk. Should you be kind enough to want to send me books to review, please contact me by e-mail and I will gladly forward you my home address. Meanwhile, here's how to contact me: paulenorman@yahoo.co.uk