Shelf life: Peter Robinson
Crime writer Peter Robinson shares his five favourite reads with Judith Spelman
Peter Robinson is a crime writer currently best known for his series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. These books are set in the fictional Yorkshire town of Eastvale in the Yorkshire Dales. This is no coincidence because Peter himself is a Yorkshire man, born in Armley, Leeds, who emigrated to Toronto, Canada in 1974 after receiving a BA Honours Degree at Leeds University. He took an MA in English and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor, Ontario with Joyce Carol Oates as his tutor and followed this with a PhD in English at York University, Toronto.
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He has written 23 crime novels, with his latest book, When the Music’s Over, published in 2016. He has published several novels that do not feature Alan Banks as well as some short stories and some poetry. Several of his Inspector Banks novels have been successfully adapted as television series with Stephen Tompkinson in the role of Banks.
As seems the case with many authors, Peter had difficulty choosing five books. ‘I wondered if I should save my most valuable books, signed first editions. Or paperbacks that are easily replaceable? Maybe I could just run off with my Kindle? I decided to treat my choices as though I was on a desert island with just a little bit of whimsy.’