When Juliet Doyle, an old friend and neighbour of Alan Banks, finds a gun in her daughter Erin's bedroom she naturally seeks his help and advice. Unfortunately Banks is on a much-needed holiday in the USA, and after Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot interviews Juliet, the correct procedures are followed with disastrous consequences.

Alan's daughter Tracy is smitten with Erin Doyle's boyfriend Jaffar, who is a handsome smooth operator with a Rolex, flash clothes and plenty of money. She warns him about the police at Erin's house, and is persuaded to accompany him on the run. When Banks returns from the USA he has to deal with the dangerous situation that has developed.

Reading Peter Robinson again, this is the nineteenth Inspector Banks novel, after missing a couple of books is like coming home to an old friend. Robinson writes solid, tense, police procedurals that depend on good plots, accuracy, and the genuine likeability of the central character, Alan Banks; Banks is a slightly battered middle aged maverick detective with a long string of failed romances, a difficult family, and a varied taste in music.

BAD BOY also features a strong cast of female characters: DI Annie Cabbot, the black DS Winsome Jackman, a six-footer with a sharp sense of humour, Superintendent Gervaise, and PC Nerys Powell, who all play key parts in the plot.

The result of enjoying this book so much is that I am encouraged not only to read the next Banks book, but when I have the time to go back and read the earlier books that I have missed. There is a brief, unpleasant, description of the result of extreme violence on one page, but as the other pages are so good I would highly recommend BAD BOY.