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Inspector Alan Banks is sitting in his cottage, enjoying a single malt and contemplating his upcoming weekend in Paris with his daughter, when he gets a phone call from Chief Constable "Jimmy" Riddle, his nemesis. Riddle's young son had been trolling the internet when he came across a nude photo of 16 year old Emily Riddle who had run away from her posh boarding school 6 months before. Although Riddle has often made things difficult for the unorthodox Banks, he understands that Banks is his best detective, and asks him to find Emily and make sure she is all right. Banks goes to London the next day and finds Emily, who is living with an older man who is apparently very wealthy and who loves to have a very young woman as his companion. Late that night, a very disheveled girl in evening dress, claiming to be Banks' daughter, arrives at his hotel. He takes her in, and the next morning, takes Emily back to her family. A few weeks later, Emily is found dead in a toilet stall of a club. Riddle and his wife have political ambitions and have driven their daughter away. Jimmy loves her, but doesn't know how to show it. He is jealous of Banks because Banks is a much better detective. Banks sees the parallels between his own broken family and Jimmy's and vows to make sure his children know that even though he might not have been there for them, he cares for them. He still hopes that his wife will come back to him and even contemplates asking for transfer to the CID in London. This is almost as much a study of ambition and it's effect on families as it is a mystery. Banks, living alone in his tiny cottage with the gorgeous Yorkshire landscape around him, drinking scotch and enjoying his music and peat fire, and Riddle, with his wife and son in his mansion, apparently the more successful of the two. But Banks at least has his children and the knowledge that he is good at what he does and Riddle is full of self doubt.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, July 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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