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Piece of My Heart
On sale
8th March 2007
Price: £7.99
**The sixteenth instalment in the Number One bestselling DCI Banks series.**
As volunteers clean up after a huge outdoor rock concert in Yorkshire in 1969, they discover the body of a young woman wrapped in a sleeping bag.
As volunteers clean up after a huge outdoor rock concert in Yorkshire in 1969, they discover the body of a young woman wrapped in a sleeping bag. She has been brutally murdered. The detective assigned to the case, Stanley Chadwick, is a hard-headed, strait-laced veteran of the Second World War. He could not have less in common with – or less regard for – young, disrespectful, long-haired hippies, smoking marijuana and listening to the pulsing sounds of rock and roll. But he has a murder to solve, and it looks as if the victim was somehow associated with the up-and-coming psychedelic pastoral band the Mad Hatters.
In the present, Inspector Alan Banks is investigating the murder of a freelance music journalist who was working on a feature about the Mad Hatters for MOJO magazine. This is not the first time that the Mad Hatters, now aging rock superstars, have been brushed by tragedy. Banks finds he has to delve into the past to find out exactly what hornets’ nest the journalist inadvertently stirred up.
As volunteers clean up after a huge outdoor rock concert in Yorkshire in 1969, they discover the body of a young woman wrapped in a sleeping bag.
As volunteers clean up after a huge outdoor rock concert in Yorkshire in 1969, they discover the body of a young woman wrapped in a sleeping bag. She has been brutally murdered. The detective assigned to the case, Stanley Chadwick, is a hard-headed, strait-laced veteran of the Second World War. He could not have less in common with – or less regard for – young, disrespectful, long-haired hippies, smoking marijuana and listening to the pulsing sounds of rock and roll. But he has a murder to solve, and it looks as if the victim was somehow associated with the up-and-coming psychedelic pastoral band the Mad Hatters.
In the present, Inspector Alan Banks is investigating the murder of a freelance music journalist who was working on a feature about the Mad Hatters for MOJO magazine. This is not the first time that the Mad Hatters, now aging rock superstars, have been brushed by tragedy. Banks finds he has to delve into the past to find out exactly what hornets’ nest the journalist inadvertently stirred up.
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Reviews
'Peter Robinson has for too long, and unfairly, been in the shadow of Ian Rankin; perhaps Piece of My Heart, the latest in the Chief Inspector Banks series, will give him the status he deserves, near, perhaps even at the top of, the British crime writers' league . . . Piece of My Heart brilliantly interweaves past and present, providing two strands of tension for the price of one, and further enhancing Alan Banks's reputation as one of crime fiction's most appealing cops.'
'Peter Robinson has for too long, and unfairly, been in the shadow of Ian Rankin; perhaps Piece of My Heart, the latest in the Chief Inspector Banks series, will give him the status he deserves, near, perhaps even at the top of, the British crime writers' league... Piece of My Heart brilliantly interweaves past and present, providing two strands of tension for the price of one, and further enhancing Alan Banks's reputation as one of crime fiction's most appealing cops.'
'Robinson delicately reveals a web of passion and pain whose pattern still isn't complete'
'PIECE OF MY HEART brilliantly evokes the time of British psychedelia (which I remember as standing in a muddy field sucking on a weak joint), as well as being a terrific contemporary crime novel.'
'This is Banks' 16th outing and the best yet'
'A fascinating and atmospheric exploration of the way the past intrudes on the present'
'PIECE OF MY HEART brilliantly evokes the time of British psychedelia (which I remember as standing in a muddy field sucking on a weak joint), as well as being a terrific contemporary crime novel.'
'This book must be the bargain of the year, for it is two riveting, equally interesting crime novels in one. What takes it into the premier league, however, is Robinson's utterly convincing and moving portrayal of Chadwick and Banks'
'Robinson has to use all his ingenuity to find the solution to both killings. This book benefits hugely from Robinson's sympathetic leading man and the richly recorded Dales settings.'
'A fascinating and atmospheric exploration of the way the past intrudes on the present'
'Banks is one of the most fully drawn figures in this genre of fiction. . . . Piece of My Heart with a title that refers to grisly forensic evidence as well as to Janis Joplin - makes ingenious use of the overlap between crime and rock stardom.'
'Robinson has to use all his ingenuity to find the solution to both killings. This book benefits hugely from Robinson's sympathetic leading man and the richly recorded Dales settings.'
'Remarkable series. . . Keeps you turning the pages into the night...Robinson expertly brings his little postage stamp of native soil to life . . . [Chief Inspector Banks is] good company.'
'PIECE OF MY HEART is a wonderful, atmospheric addition to a series that's always been pure quality.'
'Superb . . . This book must be the bargain of the year, for it is two riveting crime novels in one. What takes it into the premier league, however, is Robinson's utterly convincing and moving portrayal of Chadwick and Banks - middle-aged men who both feel alienated by, and out of step with, the times they live in'
'This is Banks' 16th outing and the best yet'
'The contrast between Banks and the tortured cop who the murder is intriguing'
The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are, simply put, the best series on the market
A terrific contemporary crime novel
Further enhances Alan Banks' reputation as one of crime fiction's most appealing cops
Classic Robinson: labyrinthine plot merged with deft characterisation
Banks is one of the most fully drawn figures in this genre of fiction
