Always on the lookout for another wonderful mystery series, I found Robinson’s book reviewed in the New York Times which indicated that this, the 28th in the DCI Banks series was going to conclude the series, and glad I did.

Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his crew are called into action in Yorkshire when a skeleton is unearthed by a team of archaeologists during a dig before a new highway and mall are built.  The skull shows clear evidence of blunt trauma and is buried only 3 feet deep, both indications of a murder.  We follow Banks’ team as they slowly work towards identifying the skeleton and then the murderer while a parallel story set nearly 40 years earlier also unfolds in alternating chapters.  The Banks’ chapters are in the third person while the parallel story is told in the first person in flashbacks by Nick Hartley, a Guardian reporter.

It’s a fine story whose first and last lines are the same: “Let me start at the beginning”.  Pleased that I made Banks’ acquaintance but doubt if I’ll dive back into the first 27 of the series.