Title Profile & Character Information

Watching the Dark
Annotation

One of the premier masters of modern British crime, New York Times bestselling author Peter Robinson brings back Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks and his colleague DI Annie Cabbot in a complex case involving corruption, a dead cop, and a missing girl

Watching the Dark

A decorated detective inspector is murdered on the tranquil grounds of the St. Peter's Police Treatment Centre, shot through the heart with a crossbow arrow, and compromising photographs are discovered in his room. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks is well aware that he must handle the highly sensitive and dangerously explosive investigation with the utmost discretion.

Because the case may involve police corruption, an officer from Professional Standards, Inspector Joanna Passero, has arrived to work with Banks and his team. Though he tries to keep an open mind and offer his full cooperation, the dedicated Banks and his practical investigative style clash with Passero's cool demeanor and by-the- book professionalism. All too soon, the seasoned detective finds himself under uncomfortable scrutiny, his methods second-guessed.

As Banks digs deeper into the life and career of the victim, a decorated cop and recent widower named Bill Quinn, he comes to believe that Quinn's murder may be linked to an unsolved missing persons case. Six years earlier, a pretty nineteen-year-old English girl named Rachel Hewitt made national headlines when she disappeared without a trace in Tallinn, Estonia. Convinced that finding the truth about Rachel will lead to Quinn's killer, Banks follows a twisting trail of clues that lead from England to the dark, cobbled alleys of Tallinn's Old Town. But the closer he seems to solving the complicated cold case, the more it becomes clear that someone doesn't want the past stirred up.

While Banks prowls the streets of Tallinn, DI Annie Cabbot, recovered from her near-fatal shooting and back at the station in Eastvale, is investigating a migrant labor scam involving corrupt bureaucrats and a loan shark who feeds on the poor. As evidence in each investigation mounts, Banks realizes the two are linked and that solving them may put even more lives, including his own, in jeopardy.

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Characters
NameBanks, Alan
GenderMale
OccupationDetective chief inspector
TraitsDivorced
Father

NameCabbot, Annie
GenderFemale
OccupationDetective inspector

NameBanks, Tracy
GenderFemale
OccupationStudent

NameDoyle, Erin
GenderFemale
OccupationStudent

NameMcCreedy, Jeff
GenderMale

GenreFiction
Mystery
    --Police procedural
    --British
Thriller
Suspense
TopicsFathers and daughters
Divorced men
Missing persons
Murder
Kidnapping
Hostages
Boyfriends and girlfriends
SettingEngland



Series
  Inspector Alan Banks mystery
1Gallows view
2A Dedicated man
3A Necessary end
4The Hanging valley
5Past reason hated
6Wednesday's child
7Final account
8Innocent graves
9Blood at the root
10In a dry season
11Cold is the grave
12Aftermath
13Close to home
14Playing with fire
15Strange affair
16Piece of my heart
17Friend of the devil
18All the colors of darkness
The Price of love (collection)
19Bad boy
20Watching the dark
21Children of the revolution
22In the dark places
23When the music's over
24Sleeping in the ground
25Careless love
26Many rivers to cross
27Not dark yet