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by: Peter Robinson  List Price: $29.95 Amazon.com's Price: $22.76 You Save: $7.19 (24%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Binding: Audio CDDewey Decimal Number: 823.914 EAN: 9780060763336 Edition: Abridged Format: Abridged, Audiobook ISBN: 0060763337 Label: HarperAudio Manufacturer: HarperAudio Number Of Items: 1 Publication Date: February 15, 2005 Publisher: HarperAudio Release Date: February 15, 2005 Studio: HarperAudio Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: Without a doubt, the family and friends of fictional sleuths are two of the most endangered species on the planet. Crime novelists seem to have no qualms about sacrificing the people nearest and dearest to their protagonists, if doing so will advance plot development or bestow emotional depth upon their series stars. Peter Robinson continues this ruthless tradition in Strange Affair, his tension-packed 15th novel featuring headstrong British Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. Still on the mend after the blazing finale of 2004's Playing with Fire, temporarily sworn off whiskey but back to smoking, Banks is interrupted in the midst of brooding over his life and failed relationships by a message from his estranged younger brother, Roy, who says he needs the DCI's help in "a matter of life and death." Concerned, especially since Roy boasts a history of dubious business dealings, Banks leaves Yorkshire for his sibling's home in London, only to find that residence unlocked, Roy's computer missing, and his cell phone left behind. After learning that Roy was last seen stepping into a car with an unidentified man, and receiving on Roy's mobile what appears to be a photo of his only brother slumped over in a chair, the cop fears that a kidnapping has occurred. Meanwhile, back in Eastvale, Banks's colleague and ex-lover, Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot, probes the shooting death of Jennifer Clewes, a 27-year-old family planning center administrator from London who's been found in her car, with the address of Banks's once-ruined (and recently broken into) cottage tucked into her jeans pocket. As Annie seeks to identify Clewes's attacker and determine whether this crime fits a pattern of roadway assaults, she's anxious also to discover what connection Banks may have to the case. But the DCI is frustratingly nowhere to be found. Like 2003's Close to Home, Strange Affair adds some welcome bricks to Banks's back story, this time forcing him to reappraise a brother whom he had long resented and distrusted. Simultaneously, Robinson's latest police procedural delivers artfully contrived, intersecting story lines charged with rumors of international arms dealing, hints of misdeeds at a women's clinic, secondary players so shady they might be invisible after sundown, and insights into just how far Banks's career has distanced him from folks less steeped in the ugly side of mankind. An immensely satisfying mystery, filled with professional risks and personal regrets, this is truly an Affair to remember. --J. Kingston Pierce Product Description: On a summer night, an attractive woman hurtles north in a blue Peugeot with an address in her pocket, while, back in London, a desperate man leaves a late-night phone message on his brother's answering machine. By sunrise, the woman is found in her car, shot, execution-style, through the head. Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot arrives on the scene and discovers a slip of paper in the dead woman's pocket that bears the name of her colleague and erstwhile lover, Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. Banks, meanwhile -- withdrawn after nearly dying in the fire that destroyed his home -- has gone missing just when he's needed most, and has left plenty of questions behind. As Annie struggles to determine if Banks is safe -- and what role he may have played in the woman's murder -- Banks himself investigates the mysterious disappearance of his estranged brother, Roy. Working from Roy's swank apartment, Banks makes the rounds to Roy's old haunts and slowly inhabits the life of his younger brother, the black sheep of the family. As the trail of clues about Roy's life and associations draws Banks into a dark circle of conspiracy and corruption, mobsters and murder, Banks suddenly realizes he's running out of time to save Roy, and by digging too deep, he may be exposing himself and his family to the same -- possibly deadly -- danger. Performed by Simon Prebble Average Rating:
 Rating:  - A great MysteryOnce I started this mystery in the morning I could not put it down until I finished in the afternoon. A great way to spend a day: listening to light classical music in the background and reading one of Peter Robinson's great books. A nice way to stay indoors out of the cold. Rating:  - Turned up missingAs if life hasn't thrown him enough curveballs lately, Banks' holiday is interrupted by a mysterious phone message from his estranged brother Roy, who, as they say "turns up missing." Banks being Banks, he places his depression firmly on the back burner and sets out to discover what's going on in the life of his wheeler-dealer sibling. Chapter by chapter, this investigations becomes more and more complex, as several seemingly unrelated events and crimes prove to be very much related indeed. Along ... Read More Rating: - Another Expert OutingRobinson again proves himself a modern ace. Banks takes some hard hits in this book. It's bleak, without ever being depressing. Rating: - Excellent read, really quite hard to put down.This was the first of Robinson's many books that I've read, I just finished it yesterday. I have to say he's a master at what he does, if his other books are on a par with this one. Without giving anything away, it's a murder mystery (of course) set in two different time periods. On of them is the late 1960's British rock scene. Those were the salad days of my adolescence, and Robinson took me on quite a stroll down memory lane. He draws that period with such a fine touch that ... Read More Rating: - Crime Writing at its Very BestPeter Robinson grew up in Yorkshire, and is the author of thirteen 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 first hand and because of this I have a special affection for his books. However they would be first class crime fiction wherever they were based. Inspector ... Read More 
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