As far as police procedurals go, this is sort-of ok. For my taste though, the characters are a little flat and too one dimensional. I could not get through this bland piece of soft-boiled prose and had to put it down half read. I found Banks and his companions very wooden and not believable. Regarding the victims there was not enough to go on to really feel any true sympathy. The child of course, but it seemed to full of cliche. The plot line IS interesting but gets to a point of being turgid. Perhaps I'll give it another try someday.

For those who enjoy a police procedural, not to be confused with a thriller/suspense novel/mystery, this will not disappoint. Inspector Banks makes another appearance when a well-dressed couple pose as social workers and take away Gemma Scupham on the pretense of abuse allegations. The mother, Brenda, accepts them at their word and lets them take her away. A far from exemplary parent, the child is described as "woeful" if not abused physically, then abused by maternal neglect. Banks is on the case leading him down to various possibilities. Is it a pornographic/prostitution ring? Is it connected to a recent electronics warehouse heist? Is this related at all to another murder of a two-bit small time crook? What makes this one an exceptionally interesting read to fans of the Inspector Banks series, is Superintendant Gristhorpe, usually a behind the scenes player, takes the forefront in the investigation. We learn a bit more of his character and what his detective abilities are. He is taking this case personally after being haunted for over thirty years by a similar case. The story is far from contrived and the ending is truly surprising. Robinson does it again.

Peter Robinson's "Wednesday's Child" is about the abduction of a young girl named Gemma by a man and woman posing as child care workers. They take Gemma from her negligent and abusive mother who is too ignorant to realize that this couple are a pair of impostors . In addition, a low-class hoodlum is found viciously murdered near an abandoned smelting mill. Are these two events related? Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks and his colleagues, Superintendent Gristhorpe, Susan Gay and Phil Richmond, combine forces to uncover a cunning plan by a pair of malevolent criminals, one of whom is extremely dangerous and unpredictable. Robinson, as usual, captures the Yorkshire ambiance perfectly. His ear for dialogue is uncanny and he has a remarkable talent for setting a scene perfectly and creating memorable characters. The mystery and its solution are thoroughly satisfying. "Wednesday's Child" is a wonderful and engrossing thriller by a master of the genre.

I loved Peter Robinson's "Gallow's View." "A Dedicated Man" slipped a bit. Now there's this one, which I didn't even finish. Too much procedure, not enough Banks. Not enough Jenny. The poor wife is nonexistant. That's where the story lies, not with Maggie's Farm. I will try some more Banks, but I don't know if I can keep going if they fail to engage.

The quiet town of Eastvale in Yorkshire is rocked by an anti-nuclear demonstration that turns violent. A police constable named Edwin Gill is stabbed to death during the demonstration and Inspector Alan Banks is on the case. Unfortunately, his superior is not the supportive and sensible Superintendent Gristhorpe but "Dirty Dick" Burgess, a sadistic, chauvanistic, hard-drinking CID Superintendent who has a hatred for "commies" and hippie-types. Burgess roars into town and immediately starts threatening the locals, using his bullying style of interrogation to get results.

With Sandra and the kids out of town for a few weeks, Banks has plenty of time to follow a few leads of his own. Most of his suspicions are centered around a commune known as "Maggie's Farm," where some sixties-type people live together. One of the residents, Paul Boyd, is a particularly suspicious character, since he has a lengthy police record. Banks wants to find out if Officer Gill was murdered deliberately or if his killing was merely a random act of violence.

"A Necessary End" is not notable for being a scintillating mystery. The resolution of the story is a bit anti-climactic. What Robinson does well is develop character. From the brutal Dick Burgess to the gentle and loving Mara (who lives in the commune), each character comes alive as a result of Robinson's vivid descriptive writing and realistic dialogue. I recommend "A Necessary End". It is a well-paced novel that is also filled with colorful and authentic Yorkshire atmosphere.

Banks is one of the more enjoyable fictional detectives because he's a whole person who can't be categorized. The same can be said of the other characters in this readable and satisfying book that, among other things, suggests that you can't tell a person by his politics.

Example: Inspector Burgess, the mean and sometimes mean-spirited visitor from London suspects reds under every bed, left-wing conspiracies behind everything and yet ... likes Billie Holiday. Osmond, who seems a knee-jerk left-winger, talks about the way all anti-nuclear people are presumed to be on the same page on every subject. They're not, he notes, pointing to the anti-abortion position of some left-wing Catholics.

All of this humanizes an interesting detective story. Robinson, who seems to have come to notice in "In A Dry Season'' is up there with the best of the mystery writers and this book is up there with his best.

I picked up this book partly because the blurb in the back said that he's comparable to Ruth Rendall. Unfortunately, I found him far from being comparable in a good light beyond the generics of background. I could predict how the murder would be resolved almost from the beginning, which was disappointing. The secondary characters were too one-dimensional as well. Even though the plot was predictable, the book moved at a good pace which is why I wasn't bored. I could only imagine that he has other books that are better if he's been compared to Rendall.

I can only suspect that the nay-sayers haven't read the previous books in this series. Banks is a bit like scotch whiskey - an acquired taste. Much of the pleasure in reading this book lies in knowing Banks and his supporting characters. What kind of music will Banks be "into" in this book (it changes in each book)? Will Susan Gay develop a life outside of her work? What nasty tricks will Burgess be up to in this episode? What's up with Banks' marriage and can he resist temptation one more time?

So, my advice to other readers is to invest the time in reading this series from the start. The first few books are only so-so but they lay the foundations to make later books a much enjoyed reading experience.

"Final Account" is the story of Keith Rothwell, a mild-mannered accountant who has been brutally murdered, execution-style. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, with the help of his colleagues, investigates Rothwell's shady business dealings as well as his family and social contacts. Banks discovers that Rothwell's life was a great deal more complicated than the police could ever have imagined. Once again, Peter Robinson has created a fascinating character study of a man whose outward appearance is deceptive. The book has many wonderful qualities. It is full of colorful Yorkshire characters who are brought to life in exquisite and entertaining detail. Robinson's descriptions of the beautiful English countryside are lovely. The mystery is satisfying although the ending is a bit far-fetched. I especially like the character of Inspector Banks, who has always been a man of contradictions. He is compassionate towards victims, but he can be ruthless and cruel when necessary. Although he loves his wife, he all but ignores her when he is on a case. He has little formal eduation, but he has a deep interest in music and literature. Banks is one of the most interesting of all the British detective heroes and "Final Account" is a fine mystery in the Inspector Banks series.

Peter Robinson has turned into a first-rate mystery writer. But he certainly wasn't when he wrote this in 1989. No amount of gorgeous Yorkshire scenery can make up for an uninteresting cast of one-dimensional characters and an abrupt. out-of-left-field ending. Skip this atypical entry and read his later Inspector Banks books --they're first rate and well deserving of all the acclaim and slew of awards he's won. This isn't.

The fourth book in Robinson's Inspector Banks series finds DCI Banks investigating the discovery of a decomposing, maggot-ridden corpse near a little village in the Yorkshire countryside. A possible connection with past events comes to light - an unsolved murder and the simultaneous disappearance of a local woman 5 years ago.

On the trail of the killer, Banks finds himself frustrated by the reticence of the local villagers, and it is clear that they know much more than they are letting on. When all the evidence points towards a Canadian connection, Banks heads to Toronto, where he makes a number of startling discoveries. Banks returns to Yorkshire with the mystery mostly pieced together. Unfortunately, the novel ends rather unexpectedly and almost anti-climatically, with little sense of closure.

The novel features an unnecessarily large cast of mostly one-dimensional characters, at the expense of already established characters. We do see more of Banks' superior, Superintendent Gristhorpe, and the interaction between them is fascinating. Unfortunately, Banks' family is relegated to the background, and their rare appearances serve only as a reminder that Banks has a family, rather than showing any meaningful interaction.

What frustrated me more were the 80-odd pages that Robinson devotes to Banks' trip to Toronto. A Torontonian myself (as is Robinson), I typically enjoy books that are set in Toronto - in this case, unfortunately, it turned out to be a major turn off. Robinson goes into almost excruciating detail describing the highlights of the city - it almost seems that the only reason Banks goes to Toronto is to give Robinson a chance to wax poetical about the city!

Finally, after tolerating a slew of in-jokes and stereotypical "Canadian-isms", I was practically eyeing the book with distaste. I was greatly relieved when Banks returns to his native England ("the old country" as Robinson puts it countless times).

All in all, The Hanging Valley falls short of expectations. As part of the series, it is an interesting book to read. I'd recommend it only to those who are willing to read anything starring DCI Banks (or those who want a detailed description of Toronto!).

One morning, a solitary walker finds a body in a quiet valley below the village of Swainsdale. The corpse clearly displays signs of a gruesome [demise]- it's as good as faceless - and has apparently lain undiscovered for quite a while. Enter Chief Inspector Alan Banks, straight into an investigation that is already appearing to be dead in the water. No one has any idea who the victim is, or how he got there. Not Sam or Katie Greenock, the couple who run the local guesthouse. Not Freddie Metcalfe, landlord of the local pub. And not either of the Collier brothers, Stephen or Nicholas, the most wealthy family in the area.

Then, a curious lead emerges that could help the identify the body, as well as link this crime to another unsolved murder in the area five years before...

My, what a good series this is. If you want a contemporary British police mystery with its grounding in the traditional aspects of detective novels, then these early Inspector Banks books really are the place to look. And The Hanging Valley is the best one so far. The plot is excellent. I couldn't really have asked for more from this sort of book. The pacing is great, and there is even a wonderfully interesting trip to Toronto for Banks (investigating a possible lead) which really gives the story a fresh kick. The ending, also, is absolutely excellent, and the final page or so is shocking, taking the book far above more run-of-the-mill traditional British mysteries. I may be in wrong, but I suspect that the finale of this book was really when the series "grew up".

The writing is of an exemplary standard (at times, I think Peter Robinson could easily turn himself to more literary fiction and be held in very high regard), and Banks is a strong lead character and is well developed, even if he'd perhaps a little too distant and cool to achieve the popularity of such peers as Rankin's John Rebus. However, this book does have a slight law in that some of the subsidiary characters (other officers, one or two of the suspects, and evens Banks' own family) could still do with quite a bit more development. Though, I'm almost positive that even those flaws will dissolve as this series progresses.

There are no insights to Greenspan or the Fed. No interviews with Fed officials. Its like reading newspaper clippings. He has absolutely zero access to Greenspan and some of his facts are false. I work on Wall Street and for us this book was a joke.

We became familiar with Steven Beckner as reporter on the U.S. economy for National Public Radio. However, reading his most recent book: Back for the Brink: The Greenspan Years the reading public may not be reminded of a voice emanating from the radio as much as reminded of William Greider's wonderful book, Secrets of the Temple.

Published in 1987, Greider's book gave us a brief history of the Federal Reserve System in the United States and carried the survey of its history up to the October 1987 crash of the stock market spending a great deal of the book discussing the administration of Paul Volcker as the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. That book left the present author wanting more. Steve Beckner's book is the answer to that prayer.

Picking up almost exactly at the time of the October 1987 crash, Beckner brings the story of the Federal Reserve up to September of 1995. The book has already become one of those books which is referred back to even after it has been completely read, spending as little time on the shelf as the dictionary and other reference materials in this house.

Heavily into the subject, Beckner spends little time explaining his terminology. Even for readers with some background in economics this can be distracting as readers break off in the middle of a good read to look up Germany's Bundesbank Lombard rate to understand what Beckner is trying to say.

Still in all, some reviewers may have been unfair to Beckner to state that he fawns over the actions of Alan Greenspan. What may appear as fawning on the surface may actually be the writing style a reporter who has learned to take care in the statements he makes to avoid sending misinterpreted ripples to the markets which have in the past been characterized as "the Beckner effect" by the New York Times as noted in the dust cover of the book. Reading the book in light of this reserve means playing tennis with the net up rather than down. Nonetheless, a careful reading of the book reveals clear criticism of Greenspan for his lack of independence from the policies of the Clinton Administration and for his over reation to the so-called "credit crunch of 1992" a phenomenon whose very existence is still being debated. The book is, therefore, an important addition to every current affairs collection.

Brian Wayne Wells
Attorney at Law
Charleston, West Virginia

We always watch the yield curve and try to unsuccesfully predict how changes in its slope might affect market expectations. Knowing about the person who indirectly draws it makes a lot of sense. Undoubtly, Alan Greenspan will be remembered for many years to come as one of the greatest economic minds of this century. Highly recommended. Not very technical which makes it an easy read...

I found Mr. Gart's book to be very helpful for me in my quest to become more financially literate. I have read several financial books recently and found this one to be very helpful.

Some of the information is outdated but the basic questions of are answered. It is informative reading and I reccommend it to those trying to learn more about financial institutions.

If one were to have a serious complaint to put forth about this good anthology by Petewr Robinson it would be that the marvelous Inspector Alan Banks is present in only three of the stories herein. Nothing futher need be said to the growing number of Banks devotees in the U.S. but the uninitiated may wish to know more. The stories which feature Robinson's compassionate'music-loving and ultimately very tough British policeman are just interesting enough to whet the appetites of those who love P.D> James's Dalgleish and Ruth Rendell's Wexford. They are well worth the reading of them but Robinson reveals himself to be far more than a one-trick pony as he ranges beyond his stellar creation to construct short gems that are often as lyrical as they are true to the protocols of his genre.

Buy this book if you have deep pockets and will indeed open your own bank. But again, if you have that kind of money, chances are that you are already familiar with the nuts-n-bolts of the banking industry, in which case the book will not be of much use. In my opinion this book would be most useful for the banking industry analysts...