Stephen Hayes reviewed Careless Love by Robinson, Peter
None
3 stars
One of the problems of crime novels, especially those of the whodunit variety, is that the writer not only has to solve the mystery, but also has to concoct it in the first place.
Many of [a:Peter Robinson|5922|Peter Robinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1242958592p2/5922.jpg]'s novels featuring detective Alan Banks have intriguing mysteries with interesting solutions, but this one was one of the weakest I have read, with more than the usual number of rambling detours into the obscurer by-ways of 1960s pop music. In some of the Banks books the music is relevant to the plot, but in this one it isn't, and merely serves as padding.
There is also a sub-plot, which the reader is led to expect may link to the main plot, but in the end it doesn't. Perhaps it is a teaser for a future book, but in that case it could have been a lot shorter, and many of the …
One of the problems of crime novels, especially those of the whodunit variety, is that the writer not only has to solve the mystery, but also has to concoct it in the first place.
Many of [a:Peter Robinson|5922|Peter Robinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1242958592p2/5922.jpg]'s novels featuring detective Alan Banks have intriguing mysteries with interesting solutions, but this one was one of the weakest I have read, with more than the usual number of rambling detours into the obscurer by-ways of 1960s pop music. In some of the Banks books the music is relevant to the plot, but in this one it isn't, and merely serves as padding.
There is also a sub-plot, which the reader is led to expect may link to the main plot, but in the end it doesn't. Perhaps it is a teaser for a future book, but in that case it could have been a lot shorter, and many of the details could have been saved for the next book.