I did not want STANDING IN THE SHADOWS to end. Not because of the intricate plotting or the twisty mystery, but because I knew I was holding in my hands Peter Robinson’s last DCI Banks novel. His recent passing not only left a hole in the world of literature, it led to a premature halt to one of the best mystery/thriller series in the business.

In November 1980, university student Nick Hartley returns home from a lecture and is greeted by the police. They question him about Alice Poole, the young woman who lives upstairs from him. Nick admits that he once dated Alice, and it’s obvious that he still holds a torch to her. He is completely blindsided when he is informed that Alice was found murdered that morning.

"STANDING IN THE SHADOWS is textbook Robinson, expertly conceived and suspenseful from start to finish. I will especially miss Banks’ eclectic taste in music, which once again is on display here."

Not only is Nick now a person of interest, he feels that the police are trying to rope him into the current search for the serial killer known locally as the Yorkshire Ripper. Meanwhile, he is convinced that Alice’s new boyfriend, the now-missing Mark Woodcroft, is responsible for her death.

Fast forward to 2019. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his terrific team are called out to an archaeological dig where a human skeleton has been unearthed. This is no ancient artifact, though; it turns out that the remains are much more recent. Readers will make the logical jump that this grisly discovery is connected somehow to Alice’s homicide.

Hartley turned his college degree into a career in journalism. As an active journalist, he has made it his life’s mission to solve Alice’s murder and clear his own name in connection to the case and the still unsolved Yorkshire Ripper killings. This obsession will take him down some deadly roads, not the least of which will involve a highly concerned Banks, who does not appreciate his investigation being tampered with.

Since this is a Peter Robinson novel, readers should be aware of the prerequisite plot twists that may veer the story in unpredictable directions. STANDING IN THE SHADOWS is textbook Robinson, expertly conceived and suspenseful from start to finish. I will especially miss Banks’ eclectic taste in music, which once again is on display here. For the uninitiated, this is a great place to start. I envy your journey as you go back and read the previous 27 books in this unforgettable series.