A review by escapeebee
Before the Poison by Peter Robinson

4.0

I've only read Peter Robinson's DCI Banks novels before, so this was the first standalone book of his I'd read. The story sees Chris return to Yorkshire from LA after the death of his wife, only to find the house he has bought in remote North Yorkshire has a few mysteries just waiting to be discovered. I really enjoyed it! It had the same gentle style as his other books, reflecting the countryside setting which made it good comfort reading, but the drama built up steadily keeping your attention. The story draws on a lot of influences from film, literature and music and provides a lot of clearly well researched historical backstory which all adds to it. It slightly lacks something I've grown used to in the author's detective writing but I still thoroughly enjoyed the mystery in this story.