Harder to get into than other Banks titles. Enjoy Banks’s music. Our past is never past. ( )

One ideally should read Peter Robinson's series of Inspector Banks novels in order from the beginning (“Gallows View,” 1987) because the lives and loves of the continuing characters are as important and as interesting as the mysteries solved. Yet even finding (and affording) all the earlier books can be a challenge, and so we can read “Sleeping in the Ground,” his excellent 2017 entry in the series, and have to play catchup from the last novel you read, in my case “Wednesday's Child” (1992).

This time the personal life of Banks seems to distract him from solving a mass murder. A sniper hits nine members of a wedding party, killing most of them, including the bride. Yet Banks is preoccupied by the death of his first love and then by the reentry into his life of Jenny Fuller, a criminal profiler whom he had a crush on years before when he was married. Turns out, she had a crush on him, too, but now that they're both free, she's not so sure.

Even with the distractions the case wraps up quickly when the suspect is found dead from suicide in his basement. Readers will be suspicious long before Banks and his crew are because it's not yet page 100 in a 319-page book. Sure enough, there's much more to come, and the conclusion turns out to be even more exciting than usual in this series.

The novel's title would seem to refer not so much to the deceased as to the long-buried emotions of both Banks and the killer he pursues. The story is about what happens when those feelings come to the surface. ( )

Featuring a ripped from the headlines style mass killing, Sleeping in the Ground is an engrossing police procedural which takes place in the British countryside. This latest release from Peter Robinson stars venerable Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and although it is the 24th installment in the Inspector Banks series, it can easily be read as a standalone.

The novel opens with a mass shooting by an unknown assailant at a wedding that leaves bride Laura Tindall and two people dead and groom Benjamin Kemp and five others wounded.  With little evidence to go on, the investigation does not take long to uncover the probable identity of the shooter. With the murderer dead by his own hand, the case is quickly wrapped up, but a few details bother Detective Superintendent Banks.  After pathologist Dr. Glendenning mentions a few anomalies in the killer's post-mortem that don't add up, Banks, DI Annie Cabbot and DC Geraldine "Gerry" Masterson dig deeper into the victims' pasts.

Banks is rather introspective throughout the investigation as he mourns the recent loss of his first serious girlfriend. Despite his preoccupation with his memories and an unexpected reunion with psychologist Dr. Jenny Fuller, his years of experience and keen instincts are sharper than ever and he quickly zeros in on a possible reason for the shooting spree but the ensuing investigation does not have an overabundance of clues for the investigators to follow.  Instead, subtle pieces of information combined with a few facts and logical conclusions prove Banks and his team are on the right track.  Gerry is instrumental in finding the evidence that provides them with a viable suspect. Days of torrential rain have resulted in area flooding, but with another person's life hanging in the balance, Gerry disregards her personal safety once she is certain she knows what the killer is planning next.

Sleeping in the Ground is a fantastic mystery that old and new fans of the Inspector Banks series will enjoy.  The characters are brilliantly developed with true to life foibles and frailties that are incredibly relatable. The investigation relies on old fashioned detective work to solve a very modern crime and the storyline unfolds at steady pace. Peter Robinson brings the search for the shooter to an exciting conclusion that completely wraps up the investigation. ( )

Banks is like a fine wine: each outing is an improvement!

This story grips from page one to the last line. Not only does Mr Robinson set up a crime that seems to breach all sanity, and then resolve it, he also manages to flesh his characters until they become people whilst, always stopping the right side of a soap opera. I do not want long protracted stories of my detective's angst but equally, it helps for them to be human. All the main characters in a Banks tale are guaranteed to have a back story, and each one is different and interesting. I think this is in large part due to the way, rather as one does with real life friends, the history comes out in pieces. So many novelists give a paragraph, or even a chapter, of "interesting" background and then proceed to treat their character as complete. Robinson's characters evolve.

I am distraught, I only have one more Banks to read. I hope that you are working on the next instalment Mr. Robinson... ( )

I have never read a bad or mediocre book in this series. I like the way Peter Robinson ages his character of Alan Banks and how he gives him a private life that we are privy to outside of his life as a detective. Alan is a very through police officer. He sees things that are often overlooked and helps to solve the crime. Banks family and professional history always adds context to the story. In this one, compassion was also a big factor. The books don't necessarily need to be be read in order but each one just serves to make Alan Banks come alive for the reader. ( )