Brenda Scupham has good reason to be worried about her daughter. Two people posing as social workers insisted they had to take the child away to check her for abuse. Beleaguered single mom though she is, Brenda can’t imagine the child is an abuse victim, but she allows the couple to take seven-year-old Gemma in any event. The problem is, they aren’t social workers at all, and now Gemma is missing. It’s up to Peter Robinson to find her. He fears she is already dead by the time he gets the case.

Things grow increasingly tense when someone finds the body of a young man with exceedingly small hands. An unknown killer murdered him. It turns out his murder is connected to the missing girl.

The publisher’s hype on this insists that it’s filled with suspense. I guess there’s some suspense here, but it’s mostly old-style British police procedural stuff. There’s no fast action, but the plot is solid, and you’ll likely finish this if you start it.

Seven year old Gemma's incredibly stupid and slatternly mother gives her child to two people who say they are from child protective services and are investigating "abuse" allegations. They promise to return her the next morning. However, she is "busy" and doesn't get around to calling the police until late in the day. Then a body of a young man turns up in an abandoned lead mine. The two don't seem to be related. Peter Robinson is one of the authors who is at the top of my crime-reading list. One article I read said that he is underrated. He truly is. He writes so incredibly well - clearly and with warmth and intelligence. This book is often said to be his finest. It certainly is a fascinating look into what people will do to satisfy their emotional needs. Don't miss this one!

Meh. Banks' schtick is starting to wear a bit thin. Spends more time smoking and in the pub instead of doing actual police work. While the central mystery plays out nicely, everything else seems to be a rehash of Northern clichés and trite characterisations.
Hopefully the next book is an improvement.

Very good book recommend it

Excellent, best one so far

Wednesday’s Child by Peter Robinson is the 6th in the Inspector Banks series. In this installment a child has been taken, supposedly by two social workers, who turn out to be fakes. The idea of a male and female working together turns DS Gristhorpe’s mind to Moor Murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley and the search for the child turns desperate. Banks works on the missing child case but also has other bodies turning up along the way and has to determine if they are all connected. There is a substantial subplot here concerning Banks relationship with his own children. Very good installment in this series.

There are two types of crime novel where the stakes are high and so the reader becomes invested in them. Murder and the disappearance of a child.
In this Robinson combines two separate crimes in this slow paced police procedural. A young girl goes missing and a body in a derelict mine chimney. At first there isn't a connection but as the book gets going they become linked.
Robinson doesn't try to disguise the fact there are similarities to the Moors Murders in the UK in the sixties, and some scenes in this novel some readers could find distressing.
Although slow paced, as the book draws to its conclusion there is a certain urgency that Robinson injects into the final chapter, there is a sense of relief at the end but with plenty of unanswered questions which will make you think.

A child is abducted from her mother's home by a couple posing as social workers, and while the police are looking for her the body of a murdered man is discovered. A good read.

I'm ripping through this series on audio. They are straight up police procedurals but I really enjoy them. Partly, I just love the narrator. Partly, I love the slow sure way that Banks and his fellow officers hone in on the criminal. I do find it amusing how Robinson doesn't waste any time getting into the mysteries, or out of them either. They always end a little abruptly. He's definitely a no-frills kind of writer.