Customer Reviews
Second Book in What Turns Out to be a Wonderful Series - By: J. Chippindale, 17 May 2007 
Peter Robinson grew upin Yorkshire, & is the author of a number of previous novels featuring Inspector Banks. He is the winner of numerous awardsin the United States, Britain & Canada, &in 2002 he won the CWA Daggerin the Library. As I also come from Leeds the background to his stories is something that I have experienced first hand & because of this I have a special affection for his books. However they would be first class crime fiction wherever they were based.
The body of a well-liked & equally well respected local historian is found partially buried under of all things a drystone wall, close to the small village of Helmthorpe, Swaindale. Why would anyone want to murder a quiet unassuming man?
Funnily enough several people seem to bein the frame for the killing. Penney Cartwright, a folk singer with a somewhat murky past, a shady land developer & Harry's own editor, plus a local thriller writer. All of these characters play some partin Harry's past life. A life full of wonderful summersin the dale.
A young girl, Sally Lumb seems to know more than she is letting on & her knowledge could put her & othersin danger. Inspector Banks is certainly going to have his work cut out with this case.
Utterly Average - By: A. Ross, 21 Aug 2005 
I was scouting around for a new British crime series to start & heard good things about Peter Robinson. So, when I came across this secondin the Inspector Banks series, it seemed like fate was telling me to dive in. However, I & my wife both found it a severely disappointing, utterly unimpressive procedural. I can only surmise the series gets better over subsequent volumes, because this is utterly average stuff.
Inspector Banks has recently relocated form London to sleepy rural Yorkshire & is still getting a feel for the lay of the land (following his first casein Gallows View). One day a retired historian turns up deadin a field near the village of Helmthorpe, leaving Banks with an old-fashioned whodunit. Pretty quickly, the stable of suspects is established: his widow (who inherits a nice legacy), his old friend & publisher, his mystery-writing drinking pal, his local GP & drinking pal, a local entrepreneur developer drinking pal, or the local folk singer he may have had a fling with a decade ago?
Like a latter-day Miss Marple, Banks & his plod underlings go back & forth from house to house, interviewing suspects & trying to tease a semblance of motive & opportunity from their statements. Of course, like the old-fashioned constructions of Christie, we are left with lots of semi-plausible motives & seemingly few opportunities. Banks is convinced the answer liesin a fateful summer ten years ago. Meanwhile, a local teenage girl brags about seeing something the night of the murder, placing herselfin danger. Will Banks be able to get to the bottom of things before the killer strikes again?!?!?
It's all pretty bland stuff, & gimmick by which the murderer masks themselves is a bit of a groaner. The clues dovetail nicely, & Robinson's done a capable job of constructing a puzzler, but the story & characters are instantly forgettable. The writing is utterly without style or distinction & the Yorkshire setting never really came alive for me. It seemed a kind of generic green & pastoral land with insular people & cure stone cottages. Allin all, very little to recommend here.
A perfect little thriller - By: R. Shear, 11 Mar 2004 "A dedicated man" is the second of the Inspector Banks novels by Peter Robinson.
The book follows the investigation into the murder of Harry Steadman, an historian, who apparently had no enemies.
I am not usually a fan of thrillers of less than 300 pages as they are often either rushed or lackingin detail. The same cannot be said for this excellent book. The pacing is perfect, & the plot twists back & forth as the investigation of the crime centres on five people who had known Harry for some time. The author skillfully leads you round the houses & from one suspect to the next until pulling the answers out at the end like a rabbit from a magician's hat.
In my opinion, what sets Peter Robinson above the bulk of thriller writers is the believability of his characters. Robinson does not populate his books with larger-than-life characters, but rather with ordinary people, with ordinary jobs & ordinary lives, who commit crimes for motives which can be understood & even empathised with. In this respect, Peter Robinson is rivaled only by Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus series.
Another excellent aspect of Robinson's writing is his description of the areain which his books are set. He vividly conjures mental images of the Yorkshire dales which even those who haven't seen "All creatures great & small" or visited the area would be able to envisage. Once again, comparison's to Rankin's descriptions of Edinburgh & Glasgow are inevitable.
This book carries on where the excellent "Gallows view" left off, & left me itching to read the third bookin the series. I am at a total loss to find any areas which could have been improved.
For fans of great detective fiction, this book & it's predecessor are a must-read.
Lots of Twists and Very Good Ending - By: Julian S. Smith, 27 Sep 2003 I really enjoyed this book. It is a liitle better than his first book, Gallows End, & I would mention four aspectsin support of this view:
First, I found the characters more intruiging, especially the attractive ex hippie Penny Cartright & her father. Secondly the plotting was more skillful with plenty of twists & turns which left me suspecting everyone at some point during the book. Thirdly, the Yorkshire Dales backdrop is more evocatively woven into the story & fourthly the ending is very clever & not one I had imagined.
Robinson's books are excellent & some of his more recent efforts, such as In A Dry Season & Aftermath are also worth looking out for. Only John Harvey comes close to conjouring up such an evocative & tense atmosphere. Highly Recommended.
Dedicated to good story telling - By: , 11 Dec 2002 
A Dedicated Man is the secondin Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series which are now being reissued due to his growing popularity. If you haven't tried him yet I think you'll be amazed by how much Chief Inspector Alan Banks becomes a real characterin your life. The mystery here is why "A Dedicated Man" would be murdered & Robinson skillfully weaves the tale by lining up his suspects.
