Gallows View by Peter Robinson

Inspector Banks Mystery

Introduces Inspector Alan Banks, a police detective who left London to work in Eastvale, a town in Yorkshire, where he lives with his wife and two children. Women are being terrorized in the small English town of Eastvale by a peeping tom who likes to stare at women while they undress. There has also been a series of robberies affecting this small town but the police start taking notice when they find the body of Alice Matlock. The police cannot help themselves to wander if this was the work of outsiders or if the peeping tom passion has gotten to be deadly. Inspector Banks is in charge of the case and is working together with Dr. Jennifer Fuller to try to help him understand the mind of the voyeur and to see if there is possibility that he could be dangerous.

In case you wonder how all these various cases are tied together, it really is all down to Banks as he puzzles about these random cases. He has found a new passion of Opera and listens to his tapes in the car or on his Walkman. He admits that he finds new passions every 6 months and wonders if this new one will stick. He smokes too much and while tempted by a beautiful woman he remains faithful to his wife and family. But most of all he is a dedicated policeman who strives to do the right thing.

While this was a bit more graphic than I liked, it was still an intriguing police procedural. I'll definitely try more of these down the road.