Peter Robinson

The new novel from Number One bestselling author Peter Robinson.

A decorated police detective inspector is murdered and compromising photographs are discovered in his room. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks is well aware he must handle the highly sensitive--and potentially explosive--investigation with the utmost discretion. As Banks digs deeper in the past of the victim, Bruce Quinn, he comes to believe that the murder may be linked to an unsolved missing persons case. Six years ago, a pretty nineteen-year-old English girl named Rachel Hewitt made national headlines when she disappeared without a trace in Tallinn, Estonia. Convinced that finding the truth about Rachel will lead to Quinn's killer, Banks follows a twisting trail of clues that lead from England to the dark, cobbled alleys of Tallinn's Old Town. But the closer he seems to solving the complicated cold case, the more it becomes clear that someone doesn't want the past stirred up.

The new series of Spellmount Military Memoirs provides rare and sought-after texts for the collector of classic historical works, together with rigorously selected personal narratives never before in print – destined to become classics in their own right. Llewelyn Alberic Emilius Price-Davies was awarded the Victoria Cross when serving with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps during the Second Boer War. He went on to serve as Divisional Corps liasion officer in 1914-15, his correspondence offers a rare insight into the changing face of the British Army at this time. In 1916 he took over the 113th Brigade, in a New Army Division 38th (Welsh). The first major test was on the Somme at Mametz Wood, where the divisional commander was sacked. He describes this famous fight and eventual capture of the wood in dramatic detail. Once again in the thick of the fighting at Pilckem Ridge in 1917 on the first day of Third Ypres, his letters show the importance of this battle’s success. In 1918 he travelled to Italy, where his diaries reveal for the first time how the Allied Command functioned in this theatre. His constant correspondence with his brother-in-law Henry Wilson, the C. I. G. S., is a unique insight into British Army High Command and this legendary Field Marshal. This rare collection of letters offers a broad and detailed insight into the First World War that will fascinate any enthusiast.

For many, being a Toronto Maple Leafs fan has become a curse from cradle to grave. False hope, hollow promises, and a mind-numbing lack of success - these words describe the Toronto Maple Leafs and the hockey club’s inexplicable mediocrity over much of the past decade. Author Peter Robinson has attended some 100 games over the past six seasons and has little to show for it except an unquenched thirst that keeps him coming back. Why does a team that hasn’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967, long before many of its followers were even born, have such a hold on its fans? Robinson tries to answer that question and more while detailing what it’s like to love one of the most unlovable teams in all of professional sports. Being a Leafs fan requires a leap of faith every year, girding against inevitable disappointment. This book tells what that’s like, how it got to be that way, and what the future holds for all who worship the Blue and White.

The Number One bestseller and winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Besy NovelAfter years of Hollywood success composer Chris Lowndes wanted only one thing: to take his beloved wife home to the Yorkshire Dales. But Laura is gone, and Chris is on his own. He welcomes the isolation of Kilnsgate House, and the beauty of the dale. And it doesn't surprise him that a man died there, sixty years ago. That his wife was convicted of murder. That something is pulling him deeper and deeper into the story of Grace Elizabeth Fox, who was hanged by the neck until she was dead . . .

Peter Robinson's new collection, The Returning Sky, carefully sequences the poems written over the four years from the time he left Japan and returned to England, through the global financial crisis, and into our current austerity culture. Opening with a sequence inspired by an unexpected visit to the United States, The Returning Sky then explores experiences of repatriation with the vividness and freshness of a reverse culture shock. The book takes up the inextricably financial, cultural, and emotional themes that Robinson had first scouted in collections from the years before his long economic exile, while his evocatively inventive forms invite new readers to follow his traces with the same warmth and candour he shows to his returning ones.

This volume contains papers addressing issues in task-based research into second language learning which are essential to informed pedagogic decision-making about how best to achieve this aim. These issues include research into the design characteristics of pedagogic tasks that promote the accuracy, fluency and complexity of learner language; the role of individual differences in the motivational and other cognitive variables that demands made by pedagogic tasks draw on; the extent to which tasks, and teacher interventions during task performance, promote the quantity and quality of interaction that facilitate L2 learning; and the generalizability of task-based research in laboratory contexts to classroom settings.

Banks isn't back, and that's the problem. If DCI Alan Banks had been in his office when his old neighbour came calling, perhaps it would have turned out differently. Perhaps an innocent man would still be alive. And perhaps Banks's daughter wouldn't be on the run with a wanted man. But Banks is on holiday, blissfully unaware of the terrible chain of events set in motion by the discovery of a loaded gun in a young woman's bedroom, and his daughter's involvement with the ultimate bad boy . . .

"Brilliant With Bad Boy, author Robinson once again achieves the high bar he's set in all his previous Inspector Banks books... This one will stay with you for a long time."--Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of Roadside CrossesDetective Chief Inspector Alan Banks faces his most challenging, personal, and terrifying case yet when his own daughter crosses paths with a psychopath, in Peter Robinson's superb Bad Boy. Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and Shutter Island, calls the novels of Peter Robinson, "chilling, evocative, deeply nuanced works of art." Stephen King calls them, "the best series now on the market." If you have not yet discovered this New York Times bestselling crime fiction master and his exceptional detective, now is definitely the time.

In Poetry & Translation the acclaimed poet and translator Peter Robinson examines the activity of translation practised by poets and others, and the way in which the various practices of translating have continued in parallel with the writing of original poetry. While some attention is paid to classic statements of the translator’s cultural role, readers should not expect to find formalized theoretical debate along the lines already developed in translation studies courses and their teaching handbooks. Instead, Poetry & Translation seeks to raise issues and matters for discussion - not to close them down. The aim of the book is to increase knowledge of, and thought about, the interactive processes of reading and writing poetry composed in mother tongues and in translations. Poetry & Translation will be of value to all devoted readers and students of poetry or translation, to students involved in classical and modern languages, and to those taking part in creative writing courses, whether as students or as teachers.

A fantastic crime collection, including a brand-new Inspector Banks novella, from Number One bestseller Peter RobinsonWhen DCI Alan Banks arrived in Eastvale his life was every bit as much of a mess as it is now. But he is holding an envelope that could change everything he understood about the events that sent him north twenty years ago. Walking again the narrow alleys and backstreets of his mind, he remembers the seedy Soho nights of his last case - dubious businessmen in dodgy clubs, young girls on the game. And a killer on the loose. In addition to the brand new novella that fills in the gaps in Banks's life before Yorkshire, Peter Robinson gives us ten more brilliant and eclectic stories that have never before been published in the UK. The Eastvale Ladies' Poker Circle finds that murder may be just another game of risk. Is a suitcase of cash worth a man's head on a plate? And tragedy leads a young boy to learn the price of love . . .

This work offers practical advice on planning, planting and maintaining rock and water gardens including more than 300 stunning photographs. It includes: everything you need to know to design, plan and plant a unique rock and water garden; detailed garden illustrations highlight the best plant selection to complement your chosen feature; at-a-glance lists of plants and materials required to create all kinds of rock and water gardens; clear practical advice on planting techniques, propagation and dealing with pests and diseases; and, a comprehensive plant directory includes all the major plant groups from free-floating, oxygenating and moisture-loving plants to ornamental grasses, trees, shrubs and alpines. This illustrated book shows how choosing the right plants can turn the simplest pond into a dramatic statement in any garden and is perfect for the beginner as well as for the more experienced gardener. A section on rock and water design contains plans showing different garden ideas. Each garden plan includes a detailed list of suitable plants to complement your chosen feature. There is also clear advice on planting techniques, propagation and dealing with pests. A plant directory looks at all of the main plant groups, with entries arranged alphabetically within each category and clear descriptions of each plant.

When Peter Robinson published "Untitled Deeds" in 2004, a number of his readers expressed surprise that the writer who, as early as 1983, had been described as 'the finest poet of his generation' in "PN Review" and, two decades later in "The Reader", 'the finest poet alive', should suddenly emerge from his exile in Japan as an aphorist. What had happened? While the Western world was declaring war on an abstraction, Robinson had been drawing up peace terms with a host of them. Finding weapons of mass destruction in the speechifying of politicians, and the toxicity of pension plan promises, feeling chilled by global warming, and hot under the collar, the poet found no other respite than to reach for his notebooks. What came from them were wrung-out dishcloths and acupuncturists' needles, sound bites that chew on what they eschew, salves for old saws, and less-is-more morsels which were promptly anthologized in "The Boodaxe Book of Poetry Quotations" (2006) and "Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists" (2007). Now, five years further, in "Spirits of the Stair: Selected Aphorisms", Robinson's enlarged and extended reflections look out on the world and see a wounded head bandaged in clouds. These words that didn't come to mind when occasion demanded, words that were the right thing to say when the moment had passed, now reach us with a timely lateness that appears, for all that, to be just what we were waiting for.

The award-winning author of the New York Times bestselling Inspector Alan Banks novels, Peter Robinson dazzles with his first collection of short fiction, The Price of Love and Other Stories. Marked by the piercing psychological insight, brilliant characterization, and riveting suspense that are the hallmarks of Robinson's fiction, The Price of Love gives us ten remarkable tales--two of which feature Robinson's inimitable Yorkshire police detective Alan Banks--as well as a stunning pair of new Banks novellas. The Price of Love is a bravura demonstration of the exceptional storytelling skill that has made critics, mystery lovers, and famous literary peers the world over--including Dennis Lehane and Stephen King--fervent Peter Robinson fans.

A beautiful June day in the Yorkshire Dales, and a group of children are spending the last of their half-term freedom swimming in the river near Hindswell Woods. But the idyll is shattered by their discovery of a man's body, hanging from a tree. DI Annie Cabott soon discovers he is Mark Hardcastle, the well-liked and successful set designer for the Eastvale Theatre's current production of Othello. Everything points to suicide, and Annie is mystified. Why would such a man want to take his own life? Then Annie's investigation leads to another shattering discovery, and DCI Alan Banks is called back from the idyllic weekend he had planned with his new girlfriend. Banks soon finds himself plunged into a shadow-world where nothing is what it seems, where secrets and deceit are the norm, and where murder is seen as the solution to a problem. The deeper he digs the more he discovers that the monster he has awakened will extend its deadly reach to his friends and family. Nobody is safe.

"The Alan Banks mystery-suspense novels are, simply put, the best series now on the market."--Stephen King Peter Robinson is one of the very best in the crime fiction business--a teller of dark police tales who stands firmly in the bestseller ranks alongside Ian Rankin and Elizabeth George. In All the Colors of Darkness, the maestro whose masterworks Janet Maslin of the New York Times compares to "the masculine, brooding work of Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, George Pelecanos, and Jonathan Kellerman," brings back his unforgettable series characters Yorkshire Chief Inspector Alan Banks and Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot. A gripping story with echoes of Shakespeare's Othello set in our contemporary age of terrorist fears, All the Colors of Darkness supports the Miami Herald's contention that "it's a crime if you miss this] author."