All The Colors of Darkness Peter Robinson Morrow March 09

Banter between officers, run ins with superiors, support teams of crime scene or medical personell, red herrings, these things and more are the framework of and go into making up a good police procedural. Peter Robinson has, in following the formula, never been formulaic. He's always exceeded the familiar expectations of the police procedural reader. He does it again in All The Colors of Darkness. The aura of menace he creates in his newest novel is more than enough to keep the reader quickly turning pages.

DI Annie Cabbot is first on the scene of what appears to be a suicide. When things get a bit more complicated, Detective Superintendent Gervaise, has Annie call in her immediate superior, Alan Banks. Banks has been on vactation with his new girl friend Sophia. He returns from London and pokes around a bit, basically guiding Annie's moves. When word comes down from even higher up than Gervaise that case is 'solved' Banks's interest is picqued. Warned off he, officially, goes back on vacation but begins to delve much deeper into a case that taken at face value should be open and shut.

It's what Mr. Robinson does stylistically to the police procedural that provides a great read, that's good in itself but with All The Colors of Darkness and his other novels he raises the bar for police procedurals and has all authors trying to write up to his standards and that's great.

David Biemann