Description
Book Synopsis'A writer at the very height of his powers' – Ian Rankin
Playing With Fire is the fourteenth novel in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series, following on from The Summer That Never Was.
In the early hours of a cold January morning, two narrowboats catch fire on a dead-end stretch of the Eastvale canal. When signs of accelerant are found at the scene, DCI Banks and DI Annie Cabbot are summoned. But by the time they arrive, only the smouldering wreckage is left, and human remains have been found on both boats.
The evidence points towards a deliberate attack. But who was the intended victim? Was it Tina, the sixteen-year-old who had been living a drug-fuelled existence with her boyfriend? Or was it Tom, the mysterious, lonely artist?
As Banks makes his enquiries, it appears that a number of people are acting suspiciously: the interfering 'lock-keeper', Tina's cold-hearted stepfather, the wily local art dealer, even Tina's boyfriend . . .
Then the arsonist strikes again, and Banks's powers of investigation are tested to the limit . . .
The Inspector Banks books became the major British ITV crime drama DCI Banks. Continue the series with Strange Affair.
Trade ReviewThe Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are the best series on the market. Try one and tell me I'm wrong. -- The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are the best series on the market. Try one and tell me I'm wrong. -- Stephen King
Near, perhaps even at the top of, the British crime writers' league * The Times *
An award-winning writer with ideas that are imaginative and plots that are refreshingly cliché-free * Time Out *
Robinson also has a way of undercutting the genre's familiarity. With a deceptively unspectacular language, he sets about the process of unsettling the reader. * Independent *
A writer at the very height of his powers -- Ian Rankin
