Rating: 
Summary: A Fanastic Story - You'll Enjoy This One!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. This is the fourth of the Banks series that I have read, and it is my favorite so far.A skeleton is found under the floor in a house at the bottom of a flooded reservoir that has dried out in a drought. Two stories then begin. One, modern day, in which Banks tries to piece together what happend to this woman more than 50 years ago. The second story take place in the past and tells the story of the dead woman as it really happened. All the while, the reader gets to watch Banks try and reconstruct the killing, while also reading the actual story as it happens leading up to the killing. The other nice thing about the Banks series is that it gives us "Yanks" a slight flavor of what it's like to live in the UK. This is also very refreshing. Buying this book is money well spent. Give it to a friend when you're done. They'll thank you for it.
Rating:
Summary: Robinson was robbed........
Review: I refer to his Edgar nomination, of course. Hopefully, the Bouchercon nomination will pan out for him. Despite an addiction to British police procedurals that I've happily indulged for years, I had somehow missed the work of Peter Robinson. After reading IN A DRY SEASON I plan to remedy the situation. The novel is an intricately plotted exploration of a long ago crime whose full effects are yet to be seen. During a very hot, dry summer drought in Yorkshire the village of Hobb's End, long submerged in the Thornfield Reservoir is exposed. A child playing in the village discovers a corpse buried under a rotting floor. Chief Inspector Alan Banks of Eastvale is given the unenviable task of discovering the identity of the corpse and solving the crime. His one assistant is a sergeant, Anne Cabot, and since the village was flooded shortly after the end of World War II, there is hardly anyone left alive who might help them establish the victim's identity. Some neat forensic work leads them to the family of Matthew Shackleford and his sister Gwen. Matthew had married alluring land girl Gloria Stringer shortly before shipping out to the Far East in 1941. When mystery novelist Vivian Elmsley hears of the discovery of the body she begins to read her own unpublished memoir of her youth in wartime England, and to wait for Banks' inevitable discovery of her connection to the crime. Told in alternating chapters between Vivian's memoir and Banks' investigation, the novel is a real page-turner. It is also a fascinating look at the changes that occurred in Britain during the war; not least of which were those wrought by an invasion of "Yanks". Only the passions that bring about such a crime and the pain of those left behind never seem to change. I found Chief Inspector Banks to be a most engaging and compassionate character. The sub-plot of his developing relationship with Sergeant Abbott as well as his disintegrating relationship with his ex-wife is a welcome addition to this involving novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Entry In This Series!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, one of a series about a police detective in Yorkshire, England. The author cuts back and forth between two story lines. One is the investigation of a murder committed years ago, and the personal life of our hero as he goes thru a bad patch with his boss but finds a possible new love in store. The other story takes place during WWII among the people living in a rural area, and the descriptions of their difficult lives and times, interactions with American airmen stationed nearby, and a murder are very interesting. The two stories intertwine until a somewhat surprising resolution. This is a very good "read" and there isn't a whole lot of obscure British slang which might put some readers off. The story is a bit leisurely and not terribly suspenseful, but if you have read the previous novels in the series you will really enjoy this one!
Rating:
Summary: This is a winner!
Review: I'm always delighted to find a great writer who is new to me. I couldn't put this book down from the first page. Fair warning, however: there isn't a great deal of mystery here. You figure out what's going on pretty soon. And I must admit that I did expect a few more twists and surprises that didn't occur. In other words, the mystery is pretty straightforward and predictable. However, like the best novels of Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell), this book is not so much about what happened as it is about the characters. (In one of the best Barbara Vine mysteries, The Dark Adapted Eye, you know exactly what happened and who did it in the first few pages of the book, but discovering WHY they did it--Ah, that's the mystery!) Peter Robinson absolutely shines at creating characters that you really care about. It is the unfolding of these characters and the vivid representation of Yorkshire in the 1940s that make this book one of the most interesting I have read in recent years. I highly recommend this book, and can't wait to read his others.
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly crafted, beautifully written
Review: I've been a Peter Robinson fan for a while, but had somehow missed this one. This was my all-time favorite. It was the book's structure that really got me -- it weaves together the current story with a story told in flashbacks to the WWII era, and both stories are utterly heart-wrenching. You feel like you're reading two beautifully crafted mysteries at once, and they come together at the end in a very satisfying conclusion. Robinson's characters are so well-drawn, every one a real individual. And Inspector Banks is at his all-time best here, trying as usual to cut back on the booze & ciggies, and at the same time trying to get over his twenty-year failed marriage, and start up a new romance. The setting is also great -- a town that has been buried for years under a reservoir resurfaces when a hot spell hits. This may be my favorite all-time mystery book. What a phenomenal writer!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly crafted, beautifully written
Review: I've been a Peter Robinson fan for a while, but had somehow missed this one. This was my all-time favorite. It was the book's structure that really got me -- it weaves together the current story with a story told in flashbacks to the WWII era, and both stories are utterly heart-wrenching. You feel like you're reading two beautifully crafted mysteries at once, and they come together at the end in a very satisfying conclusion. Robinson's characters are so well-drawn, every one a real individual. And Inspector Banks is at his all-time best here, trying as usual to cut back on the booze & ciggies, and at the same time trying to get over his twenty-year failed marriage, and start up a new romance. The setting is also great -- a town that has been buried for years under a reservoir resurfaces when a hot spell hits. This may be my favorite all-time mystery book. What a phenomenal writer!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Robinson just gets better...
Review: I've enjoyed reading the entire Banks series and, for sheer storytelling, this is his best. Robinson does not write nail-biting mysteries. What he does write are thoughtful stories full of interesting characters. It is becoming more difficult to find good, character-based mysteries to hold your interest. If, like me, you like good characters and excellent writing and storytelling, also try Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe stories. In fact, his On Beulah Height is very similar to In A Dry Season (although he wrote his first).
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson Viking 1999 I have been a fan of Peter Robinson and his protagonist Alan Banks from the beginning and this book is one of the best I have read so far. When a dry season empties a reservoir and exposes the remains of a 50 year-old village, a young boy discovers a skeleton, an apparent a murder victim from the wartime. Banks and local detective Sargent, Annie Cabbot, begin to untangle the relationships of old and in a beautiful recreation of that time of blackout lights and Glenn Miller in the diary of a contemporary of the murder victim, the secret lives and lusts of the old village and its inhabitants. The two stories, the diary and the present investigation, flow contiguously and powerfully, drawing the reader along at a furious pace. The clues a subtle and the ending somewhat of a surprise. Bank's marriage has fallen apart and as he struggles with the changes in his life and those of his children, Robinson presents a very credible sub plot. The falling into bed with Annie and the resulting shift in their perceptions of each other is brilliantly written and quite believable. The last book I read nearly this good was also by Peter Robinson. Highly recommended to all mystery fans.
Rating: 
Summary: 3 1/2 Stars -- Well-Written But Not Very Exciting!
Review: In A Dry Season is a very written written book with well-developed, multi-dimensional characters, and a descriptive style that makes you feel that you are right there in the small English town in which the story takes place. What it is not, however, is a mystery that has a lot of excitement, suspense and surprises; which is what I was looking for when I decided to read this book. My 3 1/2 star rating is based on the fact that the book did not deliver well enough on my in-going expectations. Nonetheless, Peter Robinson is a very good writer and I will know better about what to expect from him the next time I decide to read one of his books. And there will be a next time. If you are in the mood for a mystery that is built more on character development versus one built more on plot development than In A Dry Season is a book I think you might enjoy very much.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: One of the best in a wonderful series; the WWII background is finely crafted and the story, as always, is intricate and moves smoothly. Only nice people like Inspector Banks' muddle up their personal lives trying to be decent human beings.
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