Why a Booktrail?
2000s: Banks is back – and this time he’s investigating the murder of one of his own.
Watching the Dark (DCI Banks 20)
What you need to know before your trail
Detective Inspector Bill Quinn is killed by a crossbow in the tranquil grounds of a police rehabilitation centre, and compromising photos are found in his room. DCI Banks, brought in to investigate, is assailed on all sides.
Joanna Passero, the Professional Standards inspector, insists on shadowing the investigation in case of police corruption. Annie Cabbot is back at work after six months’ recuperation, and beset by her own doubts and demons. But the case could be blown open by an English girl who disappeared in Estonia six years ago.
Travel Guide
Estonia
Moving the crime scene and background to Estonia is a fascinating asset to this novel. Estonia have to a small farm and the landscape of Yorkshire?
“When you grow up in a small country like Estonia, you soon realise that nobody from anywhere else is going to understand you unless you speak their language.”
This leads the team down a dark path looking for links to the Baltic Mafia
“Estonia is not a destination you understand, but it is a route”
DCI Skinner’s Guide to Yorkshire
Eastvale is modelled on North Yorkshire towns such as Ripon and Richmond. These have cobbled market squares, whilst others such as Thirsk have high streets. so Eastvale is rather like the first two. It’s considerably bigger than them both however as the rate at which DCI Banks finds dead bodies, there would be no one left in the town. Eastvale on a map is north of Ripon as DCI Banks often drives to and from Leeds
However, Eastvale does grow like anywhere else and many new areas are introduced as the novels progress
The surrounding countryside and villages are an amalgam of several dales, particularly Wensleydale and Swaledale. The author based Helmthorpe and Gratly on Hawes and Gayle and Lyndgarth on Reeth. Names and indeed locations have been changed.
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: Watching the Dark (DCI Banks 20)
Author/ Guide: Peter Robinson Destination: Yorkshire (fictional Eastvale), Leeds, Estonia Departure Time: 2000s
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