Peter Robinson Books in Order: Complete DCI Banks List & More

Looking for Peter Robinson books in order? Peter Robinson was a British-Canadian crime writer best known for his Inspector Banks novels, which follow DCI Alan Banks through murder investigations in the fictional Yorkshire town of Eastvale.

Robinson also wrote standalone crime novels, novellas, and two major short story collections. Several Inspector Banks novels inspired the ITV television series DCI Banks, starring Stephen Tompkinson.

Jump to:

DCI Banks Series
DCI Banks Short Stories and Novellas
Peter Robinson Standalone Books
Peter Robinson Short Story Collections
DCI Banks TV Adaptation
Who is Peter Robinson?

DCI Banks Series

The Inspector Banks series contains 28 novels. It begins with Gallows View and ends with Standing in the Shadows, which was published after Robinson’s death and completed the series.

Gallows View (1990)
A Dedicated Man (1991)
A Necessary End (1992)
The Hanging Valley (1992)
Past Reason Hated (1993)
Wednesday’s Child (1995)
Final Account (1995) (Published in the UK as Dry Bones That Dream)
Innocent Graves (1996)
Blood at the Root (1997) (Published in the UK as Dead Right)
In a Dry Season (1999)
Cold Is the Grave (2000)
Aftermath (2001)
Close to Home (2003) (Published in the UK as The Summer That Never Was)
Playing with Fire (2004)
Strange Affair (2005)
Piece of My Heart (2006)
Friend of the Devil (2008)
All the Colors of Darkness (2009) (Published in the UK as All the Colours of Darkness)
Bad Boy (2010)
Watching the Dark (2013)
Children of the Revolution (2014)
In the Dark Places (2015) (Published in the UK as Abattoir Blues)
When the Music’s Over (2016)
Sleeping in the Ground (2017)
Careless Love (2019)
Many Rivers to Cross (2020)
Not Dark Yet (2021)
Standing in the Shadows (2023)

The mysteries are usually self-contained, but Banks’s family life, career, friendships, and relationships develop from book to book. I recommend starting with Gallows View and following the publication order above rather than jumping around.

Careless Love, Many Rivers to Cross, and Not Dark Yet form a connected late-series trilogy, so I’d read those three in sequence. The novels also follow the main chronology. The one notable prequel is the shorter work Like a Virgin, but I still wouldn’t use it as an entry point to the series.

DCI Banks Short Stories and Novellas

Robinson also wrote eight shorter Inspector Banks works. They’re optional rather than essential to the 28-novel sequence, but I think they’re worthwhile for readers who want every Banks case. This list is in publication order.

“Anna Said” (1992) (Short Story)
The Good Partner (1994) (Short Story)
Summer Rain (1994) (Short Story)
Going Back (2004) (Novella)
Blue Christmas (2005) (Short Story)
“The Eastvale Ladies’ Poker Circle” (2007) (Short Story)
Like a Virgin (2009) (Novella)
The Village That Lost Its Head (2016) (Novella)

Like a Virgin takes place before Gallows View and looks back at Banks’s final London case before he moved to Yorkshire. Even so, my advice is to read it in publication context, after All the Colors of Darkness, because it was written for readers who already knew Banks.

Going Back is included in the expanded edition of Not Safe After Dark and Other Stories. Like a Virgin, “The Eastvale Ladies’ Poker Circle,” and “Blue Christmas” are collected in The Price of Love and Other Stories. “Walking the Dog” also appears in that collection, but it isn’t an Inspector Banks story.

Peter Robinson Standalone Books

Peter Robinson’s standalone fiction can be read in any order. I’d choose based on the setting or premise that interests you most.

The First Cut (2004)
Before the Poison (2012)
No Cure for Love (2016)
Seven Years (2018) (Novella)

The First Cut was originally published outside the United States as Caedmon’s Song. It stands on its own, but its story is connected to events revisited in Friend of the Devil. I prefer reading The First Cut before that Banks novel.

Seven Years is part of the Bibliomysteries line, a series of book-related mysteries by different authors. You don’t need to read the other Bibliomysteries first.

Peter Robinson Short Story Collections

Not Safe After Dark and Other Stories (1998)
The Price of Love and Other Stories (2009)

There are two versions of Not Safe After Dark and Other Stories. I recommend the expanded edition because it contains 20 stories, including the Inspector Banks novella Going Back. The original 1998 U.S. collection was shorter.

The Price of Love and Other Stories mixes Inspector Banks fiction with unrelated crime stories. Its main Banks work is the prequel novella Like a Virgin.

DCI Banks TV Adaptation

The television adaptation DCI Banks aired on ITV from 2010 to 2016. Stephen Tompkinson played Alan Banks, with Andrea Lowe as Annie Cabbot and Caroline Catz as Helen Morton. The show began with a two-part adaptation of Aftermath and continued for five seasons, adapting several novels before moving into original television stories.

The adaptation changes characters, plots, and continuity, so I’d treat it as a separate version of the Banks world rather than a substitute for reading the books in order.

Who is Peter Robinson?

Peter Robinson was born in Yorkshire on March 17, 1950. He studied English literature at the University of Leeds before moving to Canada, where he earned an MA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Windsor and a PhD in English from York University.

Robinson taught at colleges and universities in Toronto and served as writer-in-residence at the University of Windsor from 1992 to 1993. He published Gallows View, the first Inspector Banks novel, in 1987 and went on to write novels, novellas, and short fiction across a career that earned major crime-writing honors in several countries.

Peter Robinson died on October 4, 2022. Standing in the Shadows was published posthumously in 2023 as the 28th and final Inspector Banks novel.

Looking for similar books in order?

If you want more mystery authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Mystery Books in Order index.