Inspector Banks investigates a murder that has ties to a group advocating native British supremacy. On the surface it appears a group of Pakistani youth committed the crime, but Banks is not convinced. The novel also takes Banks to Amsterdam, and he returns to a suspension. Still he finds a way to keep working "behind the scenes" on the case. Banks' marital troubles also surface a lot in the story although they are not essential to the mystery. I wish the author had just kept Banks' private life out of the series. This side story weakened the plot. James Langton's audio narration was excellent as always. ( )

I read the Banks novels in chronological order but, somehow conspired to miss this early outing. It is, as one would expect, a cracking read. Mr Robinson makes us care for the lives of the DCI and his team. The best thing about this series is that they are not packed with sensational action unyet, they keep the reader glued from page one to the final full stop.

I can't say too much about the storyline (I will want to read it again at some future date). I shall simply say that it concerns racial disharmony - something that has as much, if not more relevance now than it did in 1997. when it was written. ( )

I read this out of order in the series, so many of the the events in Inspector Banks' life are old news, such as the collapse of his marriage. The details of a seemingly racially motivated murder lead to tension in Eastvale on the part of Pakistani citizens. Banks is definitely on the wrong side of his superior in the police department when he doesn't agree with the arrest of the confessed murderer. His intransigence leads to his suspension so he pursues the case as a private citizen. Good police procedural. ( )

A couple of years ago William Morrow reissued the Inspector Banks novels by British writer Peter Robinson in new paperback editions, giving those of us who missed them the first time around a second chance. I took that chance with “Blood at the Root,” first published in 1997, and I am delighted I did.

The inspector prefers music, especially opera, to solving crimes, and there are references to his passion for music every few pages. Even so Banks is an excellent detective, so excellent, in fact, that it nearly costs him his job.

The case seems open and shut. Twice in fact. A young man, who it turns out was a racist and would-be Nazi, is found beaten to death in an alley. He had had words with young men with darker skin at a pub earlier that night, so they seem likely suspects. Evidence is lacking, however, and holding them causes political repercussions. So the investigation continues.

Acting on a tip, Banks goes to Amsterdam for a weekend, right after his wife has left him, and he gets information relating to the case from an undercover cop. Upon his return he learns the murder has been solved after a young man has confessed and, what's more, Banks is suspended for dereliction of duty by leaving the country. Not trusting his boss to keep quiet about the undercover man and still not having all the evidence he needs, Banks stays mum and continues investigating on his own.

There's not a dull paragraph in the book, yet it seems incomplete. Questions remain after the final page, such as, will Banks get his job (and his wife) back? Apparently so, for Robinson continues to write Inspector Banks novels. ( )

When the badly beaten body of a young man is found in an alley late one Saturday night, Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks not surprisingly assumes that it was the result of a drunken pub fight gone too far, but very soon he discovers that it is far more complicated than that. The victim was a known racist who had had a run-in with some Pakistani youngsters earlier that very same night, but even bringing those youths in for questioning is a delicate matter. And then there’s the question of the young man’s racist associates, who are only too pleased to blame the Pakistani kids…."Dead Right " is the ninth Inspector Banks novel, and one that includes far more than just the crime. There is the matter of British racism and nationalism, not an easy topic to tackle, and Banks must also deal with trouble in his own home, as well as the machinations of a superior officer who has it in for him. Quite a rich mix this time around, and definitely worth reading, but be aware that the final scene is particularly gruesome and might not be for everyone. Recommended! ( )