Finished Not Safe After Dark a collection of mystery/crime stories by Peter Robinson. My first by Robinson, and, if this is any indication, he had (he passed away in October) a deft hand with mysteries. While all are written in a similar brisk style, there's still a variety of subject and narrator in these stories, some 1st person and some 3rd person. Four, including the concluding novella, feature his recurring character, Inspector Alan Banks; the novella, "Going Back," is probably the best of them, giving a glimpse into how Banks thinks and his family relations and how he grew up.
My favorite stories are the two featuring Frank Bascombe, veteran of WWI who survived a mustard gas attack with relatively minor damage, and who during WWII acts as a local amateur cop. (There's an official title I'm forgetting and the book is not at hand.) Both stories, "Missing in Action" and "In Flanders Field," begin with the best Golden Age jauntiness, Frank admitting he's nosy and not liking to leave unanswered questions unanswered, and the conclusions of both stories demonstrate the corrosive results of prejudice. Nearly as good, though a bit lighter, is "Some Land in Florida," featuring a Toronto P.I. on vacation drawn into a murder investigation. And "Memory Lane" features two first person narratives that don't exactly merge, but do echo off each other in an affecting way.
There are no stinkers in the book, just a couple I like less than the others, which made this a good read.
Next up, after reading a graph or two by one of his imitators, I've veered away and intend to reread a handful of M.R. James stories, wanting the real thing before going off to the next novel I'm interested in.
