Best-selling crime writer of the DCI Banks series, Peter Robinson, is returning to his second home in the North-East to celebrate 30 years of of his much-loved DCI Banks novels

As much as he loves a whodunit and a pint in a Yorkshire pub, best selling crime writer Peter Robinson could never be a real life DCI Banks. “I don’t like the sight of blood,” he says.

It is Peter’s imagination and skill at keeping readers on the edge of their seats that has made him the master of the crime thriller that he is today. Born in Armley, Leeds, he doesn’t remember meeting anyone like Banks when he was growing up – “maybe because I spent most of my time trying to avoid the police” – but his imagination and skill at keeping readers on the edge of their seats have made him a master of the crime thriller genre.

After graduating in English Literature at the University of Leeds, he moved to Canada to study creative writing in Toronto. It was while he was doing his dissertation that he came up with the character of Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks and wrote his first novel, Gallow’s View. It was published in 1987 and was shortlisted for the John Creasey Award in the UK and the Crime Writers of Canada best first novel award. Since then, his books have been translated into more than 20 languages and he has won a string of awards. In 2010, the DCI Banks novels were adapted for TV with Stockton-born Stephen Tompkinson in the title role, drawing millions of viewers.

As well as an escape from academia, Peter found that writing was a way to stave off homesickness. Although he was sitting in a dark room thousands of miles away, he suddenly found himself transported back to the Dales. He divides his time between Canada and Yorkshire and has a house in Richmond, where he spends two or three months a year. “I write while I’m there and go out for an occasional walk and have dinner with friends,” he says. “I like Rustique Bistro, the Black Lion and Alessandro’s. I enjoy visiting the Dales villages and usually have at least a day in York.”

His books are based in the fictional town of Eastvale in the Yorkshire Dales, which is modelled on towns such as Ripon and Richmond. The surrounding villages are based on places such as Reeth, Hawes and Swaledale. Peter often goes on walks off the beaten track in search of inspiration. “I usually manage to come across a good place to find a body,” he says. “I can immerse myself in the landscape, language and culture.”

Did you have any idea in l987 that Alan Banks would be such a stayer?

Good Lord, no! I thought there might be enough for two or three books, but not more than that. As it turned out, those two or three were only the beginning. I had thought I might follow in Ruth Rendell’s footsteps and mix a detective series with standalone thrillers, but it didn’t work out that way. I’m not as prolific as she is, for a start. The times I have broken free from the restraints of the series, though, I have enjoyed the result—especially Before the Poison and Caedmon’s Song. I also very much enjoyed doing my L.A. book, No Cure for Love, but unfortunately not enough people shared my enthusiasm!

The last book was inspired by current events – which seems to be often the case with your books. Is Sleeping in the Ground also current?

No, not in the same way. When the Music’s Over came straight out of the headlines—Jimmy Savile and the Rotherham and Rochdale grooming cases—which is something I had never done before. The origin of Sleeping in the Ground was the opening scene, the wedding massacre. And I hadn’t seen that Game of Thrones Red Wedding episode at the time! Not that seeing it would have changed what I did. There’s really very little in common between the two. I just wanted to have an opening on a larger scale than usual, something other than a dog walker finding a body in a ditch.

Banks is a music fan – does his taste coincide with yours?

Our tastes coincide to a large extent because it would be hard to write about him enjoying something I hate. That said, I may be a bit more adventurous than him. For example, he hasn’t ventured far into the contemporary classical field yet—Ligeti, John Adams, Takemitsu, Abrahamsen, Dutilleux and so on—while I quite like a lot of that stuff. I quite enjoy having no idea what the next note or chord will be. That doesn’t mean Banks won’t dip his toe in the water and catch up, though he’s more fascinated by poetry at the moment. As far as rock music goes, neither of us ventures too far from the Sixties and early Seventies, and we both also have a soft spot for folk, blues and contemporary female singer-songwriters. In jazz we’re pretty much the same, too—Miles, Mingus. Monk, Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Ella, Bill Evans.

Is it true that you started to write about Banks and Yorkshire because you were homesick and living abroad?

Partly. I hadn’t been in Toronto for very long before I started working on A Dedicated Man, my second book and the first DCI Banks novel I wrote. I found it something of a comfort to sit in my room on a cold wintry Toronto day and be roaming the Yorkshire Dales in my imagination. It was a good way of keeping in touch with my roots.

You have made country crime your beat. Was this intentional?

Actually, I wanted the best of both worlds. I just couldn’t make up my mind. I was enjoying both PD James and Raymond Chandler, June Thomson and Ed McBain. I certainly didn’t want to be limited to village murder mysteries, though I wanted the option to write one if the mood carried me in that direction. A Dedicated Man is probably closest to a true country mystery than any of my other books. Though many of his cases begin in Eastvale, a Dales market town, they more often than not take Banks as far afield as Leeds, York and London, so I can indulge in my love of the darker side of crime fiction. Certainly books like Aftermath and Watching the Dark are more urban than rural. Even Abattoir Blues, When the Music’s Over and Sleeping in the Ground, despite being rurally-based, are darker and edgier than most country village mysteries.

The Anniversary Tour takes you across Great Britain – are you looking forward to it?

I love travel. I don’t always like getting there and back, especially if airports are involved, but generally I like to visit new places and revisit places I’ve been. Writing is a very isolated occupation, and it can be very lonely, so touring provides a balance and stops me from getting too stir crazy.

  • An Afternoon with Peter Robinson: Darlington Library, Crown Street, July 18, 3pm-4.30pm. Tickets: 2.darlington.gov.uk
  • An Evening with Peter Robinson: White Rose Books & Coffee Bar, 79-81 Market Place,Thirsk, July 19, 7pm-8pm. T: 01845-524353
  • An Evening with Peter Robinson and Mari Hannah, July 18, 7pm, Newcastle Waterstones.
  • Peter will be signing copies of his book at Waterstones, Northallerton, July 21, 12.30am