Part of Inspector Banks, book 7
First published 2001
Chief Inspector Alan Banks arrives at a barn at 2:47 AM to find Keith Rothwell's body. Hours before, two masked men had marched the quiet accountant from his farmhouse and killed him with a shotgun. The execution appears professional, but Rothwell seemed an unlikely target for deadly enemies. Banks begins digging into the victim's background and discovers the investigation produces more questions than solutions. The name Robert Calvert surfaces repeatedly, but his identity remains unclear. Banks peels back layers of the Rothwell family's seemingly content life and finds troubling secrets beneath their respectable facade. When Detective Superintendent Richard Burgess arrives from Scotland Yard, Banks must work with his old rival. The case shifts direction as new evidence emerges, forcing Banks to question everything he thought he understood about the murdered accountant and his hidden connections.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Barn, Farmhouse, Scotland Yard
Period: 2:47 AM
384 pages · Paperback · Pan Books (UK)