Peter Robinson was the creator of the immensely popular Inspector Alan Banks crime series, set in Yorkshire – the books sold almost 9m copies in 19 languages and spawned a successful television series (DCI Banks, 2010-16) starring Stephen Tompkinson as Banks.
Robinson, who has died aged 72 after a brief illness, first introduced Banks and the fictional Yorkshire town of Eastvale to the crime-reading world in 1987 with Gallows View. The gruff Yorkshire cop, complex as the best crime cops are expected to be, but with a belief in fairness and justice, was an immediate success, with Gallows View shortlisted for the best first novel award in Canada and for the UK Crimewriters’ Association’s John Creasey award.
