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Gallows View: The First Inspector Banks Mystery by Peter Robinson
Reader Reviews 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful: An English Police Mystery, January 9, 2003 Reviewer: Fred Camfield from Vicksburg, MS USA Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks has been assigned to the village of Eastvale in Yorkshire for several months. He finds himself confronted with a tangle of cases that may or may not be related. There is a Peeping Tom who seems to specialize in blonds, young male hoodlums that rob and sometimes injure elderly women, house burglaries, an older woman who is murdered, and a younger woman raped. The rapist, as it turns out, gets more than he intended. As the investigations progress to solve the cases, the reader gets a picture of English society. There is a somewhat rigid class structure related to the educational system. Tradesmen such as plumbers don't go to the same schools as upper level professionals, and classes don't mix socially even when you were best friends as children. The main school in Eastvale caters to the masses and has problems similar to those in U.S. schools, e.g., lack of discipline and problems in the school, truant students who are often boored, students mixing with the wrong crowd, etc. As in most English mysteries, guns are rare. England has severe penalties for unregistered firearms. Only one gun shows up in this novel. The story has some sexual content, violence, and language. It seems well researched and true-to-life.
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