Book Review: All The Colors of Darkness by Peter Robinson

The deaths about which much of the plot of Peter Robinson's newest Inspector Banks novel revolves occur just before the opening pages, when a particularly brutal murder is soon followed by the apparent suicide of the prime suspect. All the evidence points to that sequence of events, with none indicating the presence of any third person. The two men had been lovers, and the subsequent investigation turns up photos of the murder victim with another man, the conclusion being obvious: A 'simple case' of extreme jealousy, rage, and remorse. Banks remains unconvinced of that scenario, however, based solely on a nagging suspicion that there is more here than meets the eye; the discovery of a business card which had been in the possession of one of the dead men on which is printed a phone number which does not exist; the fact that so much effort is taken and pressure exerted to ensure that the case is closed and that no further investigation is undertaken; and the feeling that there is some kind of Othello analogy at play.

Othello is the current production of the amateur theater group performing at the Eastvale Theater, where the suicide victim worked. When Banks attends the play with his girlfriend, he describes it to her as being about 'jealousy, betrayal, envy, ambition, greed, lust, revenge . . . All the colors of darkness." Of the murder victim, he is told others only saw "a small part of him. The rest was shades of darkness, shadows, smoke and mirrors." And, as the end of the book nears, Banks perceives "all of it nothing but a distortion of the darkness he was beginning to believe lay at the center of everything."
On a lighter note, part of his investigation brings the DCI to the office of a pretty private investigator who, upon meeting Banks, exclaims with delight: "Are you Brian Banks' father?' This is a first for Banks, whose son is a guitar player in a rock band and apparently somewhat of a rock hero.
When DI Annie Cabbot says to her superior "We have to pursue the truth," she is told "Since when? That's a luxury we can ill afford." The novel deals with the unexpected and perhaps unintended consequences of lies told, or matters otherwise misconstrued. The author, celebrating the 22nd anniversary of the first Inspector Banks novel, never fails to deliver a book filled with gorgeous prose, and this one is, like the others, highly recommended.