Cold Is The Grave

The deep-rooted animosity between Yorkshire detective Alan Banks and his boss, Chief Constable Jeremiah Riddle, provides a psychologically complex subtext that runs throughout Peter Robinson's prize-winning police procedural series. The tormented professional relationship comes to a head in Cold Is the Grave when Riddle asks Banks for a personal favour: to bring home discreetly and unofficially his runaway daughter.

Banks accepts the assignment reluctantly. He will have no official status or support while conducting the investigation in London. Nevertheless, his concern for the teenage girl, whose nude image is showing up on Internet porn sites, sends Banks south to ask questions on his own time. He quickly finds her--and learns that the Riddles have some serious skeletons in their family closet. As the investigation deepens, Banks is partnered with Annie Cabbot, who has her own problems with interdepartmental politics--she fears that reporting her attempted rape by a colleague will kill her career. As these internal dramas play out, Robinson's complex network of plot twists unwinds to a satisfying but deeply disturbing conclusion. --Deirdre Hanna