On the outs with their superiors, Detective Inspector Banks and Detective Sergeant Annie Cabbot are lumbered with a case that is supposed to frustrate and annoy them--and find the challenge fascinating. When a reservoir dries out, a flooded village emerges and a boy finds a skeleton buried in an outhouse--by solid police work, and the use of experts, Banks and Cabbot find out who she was and when she died, and then have to find out why. The reader knows more than they do of course--elderly crime writer Vivien has written her own account of what happened during World War Two when she was an intense unhappy teenager, and this is presented in alternate chapters--but there are surprises still in store... An intense sense of period and a celebration of the virtues of solid investigation, this admirable combination of the police procedural and the psychological period thriller was nominated for the Edgar, the US crime writers' best of the year award. Peter Robinson's acute portrayal of his flawed, humane detectives and the charismatic doomed victim the truth of whose death they are trying to uncover has a desperate sadness which comes together in a climax of unexpected power. --Roz Kaveney

On the outs with their superiors, Detective Inspector Banks and Detective Sergeant Annie Cabbot are lumbered with a case that is supposed to frustrate and annoy them--and find the challenge fascinating. When a reservoir dries out, a flooded village emerges and a boy finds a skeleton buried in an outhouse By solid police work, and the use of experts, Banks and Cabbot find out who she was and when she died, and then have to find out why. The reader knows more than they do of course--elderly crime writer Vivien has written her own account of what happened during World War II when she was an intense unhappy teenager, which we get in alternate chapters--but there are surprises still in store... An intense sense of period and a celebration of the virtues of solid investigation, this admirable combination of the police procedural and the psychological period thriller has been nominated for the Edgar, the US crime writers' best-of-the-year award. Peter Robinson's acute portrayal of his flawed, humane detectives and the charismatic doomed victim the truth of whose death they are trying to uncover has a desperate sadness which comes together in a climax of unexpected power. --Roz Kaveney

2008-08-28 Unusual and interesting

I like the crime genre anyway but had never read anything by Peter Robinson - it was on someone's list with other books I've enjoyed.

The main angle which attracted me was the flooded village as I grew up knowing about the Lady Bower Reservoir near Sheffield which was the same. However, within 3 pages - I was hooked! The dual timeline is so lovely to read as you really come to love the characters. The war aspect was interesting and I enjoyed the setting as I love that area of Yorkshire. It's very well written and I've now bought loads of his books.

My only extremely tiny gripe is the music. Sorry Peter, but I have to agree with other reviewers, I could do without the constant references to music, especially as it's not to everyone's taste anyway - certainly not mine! It's not too bad in this book and easily skipped over, but I can see it could become a bit wearing the more books you read. However, don't let this small thing put you off as it's an excellent read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Definately highly recommended.