Strange Affair by Peter Robinson

Rather than The Glass Key, this is the book that my book club decided as our crime novel. Strange Affair is a contemporary crime novel in Robinson's Inspector Alan Banks series. I don't know how many previous books there were in the series. On the one hand, I thought that I was able to enjoy the book without really understanding the backstory that helped to govern the relationships between the characters. But on the other, it was clear that, by starting in the middle, I was missing out on a little bit.

In a recent novel, Banks' house burned down, almost killing him. So, at the start of the book, Banks has physically recovered, but is still trying to emotionally recover from the fire. With this backstory, an attractive young woman is murdered in her car. She's discovered to have Bank's address (to his burned-down house) in her pocket.

The same day, Banks receives a phone message from his brother Roy, with whom he rarely has any contact, desperately asking for his help. When Banks can't reach Roy by telephone, he decides to travel to London to investigate what is going on. Due to his brother's past shady business dealings, Banks doesn't want to immediately involve the police, as he doesn't want to be the one to expose any illegal activities Roy may have been involved in. (Plus, as a police officer himself, he doesn't expect the police to be interested in an adult who has been missing for such a short time.) So, Banks, on his own, starts off his own investigation of what happened to Roy.

What, if anything, does the highway murder have to do with Roy's disappearance? Of course, we, as the readers, get to find out. Unfortunately, I can't say a lot more about the plot without giving too much away. Suffice it to say, Banks, his colleagues, and the readers attempt to discover whodunit, what they did, and why.

It's a fast-moving read. A lot of believable-sounding details of police work are included, but not too much to make it boring. Also, there is a bit of exploration of the relationships between the characters, but not too much to turn the book into a relationship study. If you're looking for a contemporary crime page-turner, I'm sure you can do worse. None other than Stephen King, on the back cover, claims, "The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are, simply put, the best series now on the market." While this may be true, it also might not say much about the genre. I give it three stars out of five. If you like this kind of thing, you'll think it's a winner. If not, then you might not see a lot that is special.

The astute reader will notice the dilemma caused by legal abortions.