BEFORE THE POISON

By Peter Robinson

Synopsis

Successful Hollywood composer, Chris Lowndes, rents isolated Kilnsgate House on the Yorkshire Dales, after his wife's death, so he can come to terms with his grief. But he finds that the house was the scene of a murder in the 1950s, and is pulled deeper and deeper into the story of Grace Elizabeth Fox, who was hanged by the neck until she was dead....

Sample Player

Narrator	Sandra Duncan
Length	14hrs
Catalogue No.	12134
Publisher	Isis Audio Books; 2012

Other audiobooks by Peter Robinson

ABATTOIR BLUES

When two boys vanish under mysterious circumstances, the local community is filled with unease. Assigned to the case, DCI Banks and his team are baffled by the mystery laid out before them. As they struggle desperately to find the missing boy who holds the key to the puzzle, they find themselves in a race against time where it's their turn to become the prey . . .

AFTERMATH

Inspector Alan Banks has been leading the hunt for the Chameleon, a serial killer who has so far abducted five young women. When Banks is called to an incident where, it seems, the Chameleon's identity has finally and gruesomely been revealed, it is only the beginning of an investigation that will test everyone to the absolute limit…

ALL THE COLOURS OF DARKNESS

A man is found hanging in the woods. Everything points to suicide but DCI Banks delves into the superficially straightforward death to discover a murder that has its roots in post-war Berlin.

BAD BOY

DCI Alan Banks's daughter Tracy has fallen for the wrong boy. Her flatmate's boyfriend is good-looking and very dangerous. When Tracy warns him that the police might be on his tail, he persuades her to go on the run with him. Before she knows it, a deadly chase across the country is set in motion. Completely unsuspecting of Tracy's perilous situation, Banks is plunged into his most personal case yet.

CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION

A disgraced college lecturer is found murdered with £5,000 in his pocket on a disused railway line near his home. When DCI Banks receives a warning to step away from the case, he realises there is much more to the mystery than meets the eye - for there are plenty of skeletons to come out of the closet....

COLD IS THE GRAVE

D I Banks has always had a strained relationship with Chief Constable Riddle, so he is surprised when the Chief Constable sends for him and begs for his help. Riddle wants Banks to trace his 16-year-old daughter who has run away to London, but Banks soon finds himself investigating a murder.

DEAD RIGHT

Who wanted Jason Fox dead? Chief Inspector Banks is puzzled about the death of an ordinary teenager. The discovery that Jason belonged to the Albion League, a white power organization, opens up new lines of enquiry.

DRY BONES THAT DREAM

Keith Rothwell, murder victim, is a quiet family man and accountant. Not the sort of man to have enemies who would hire a professional hit man, or is he? Chief Inspector Alan Banks soon finds himself with a complex murder to investigate!

FRIEND OF THE DEVIL

In Eastvale a 19-year-old girl has been found raped and murdered in the dark cobbled alleys known as The Maze. There are plenty of suspects, but DCI Banks finds that he misses the sharp instincs of DI Annie Cabbot, who is on another case. Unexpectedly the cases are interlinked and Banks is again working with Cabbot.

GALLOWS VIEW

In the Yorkshire Dales, Chief Inspector Alan Banks, helped by psychologist Jenny Fuller, uncovers startling secrets in the town of Eastvale. A peeping Tom is frightening the women, glue-sniffing thugs are breaking into homes and an old woman may or may not have been murdered. As the tension mounts, both Jenny and Banks are drawn deeper into events.

HANGING VALLEY

A faceless corpse is discovered in a tranquil, hidden valley below the village of Swainshead. And when Chief Inspector Alan Banks arrives, he finds that no-one is willing to talk. When the identity of the body is revealed, it seems that his latest case may be connected with an unsolved murder in the same area five years ago.

INNOCENT GRAVES

Although Inspector Banks had seen equally savage crimes in London, the murder of a teenage girl seemed more shocking in a quiet Yorkshire village. Deborah Harrison, daughter of a wealthy financier, was a girl who liked keeping secrets of her own.

A NECESSARY END

Inspector Banks tries to salvage his professional standing by beating DS ‘Dirty’ Dick Burgess to the killer of a policeman, stabbed to death during an anti-nuclear demonstration in the usually peaceful Dales town of Eastvale..

NO CURE FOR LOVE

As a detective in the LAPD Threat Management Unit in 1990s Hollywood, Arvo Hughes is tasked with finding out who has been sending unsettling anonymous letters to beautiful TV star Sarah Broughton. Arvo expects this case to be nothing out of the ordinary, but he soon discovers that the squeaky-clean star seems to be keeping all memories of a shady history locked away . . .

NOT SAFE AFTER DARK

A collection of short crime tales, one about a private-eye in Florida, another a romantic Parisian Mystery. The collection also contains several short pieces featuring Inspector Banks, the main character from Robinson's many full length crime novels.

PIECE OF MY HEART

A woman is found murdered at a Yorkshire rock concert in 1969 and a new band, the Mad Hatters, could be involved. In the present, Inspector Alan Banks is investigating the death of a journalist writing a feature on the Mad Hatters. Could the two murders be linked?

SLEEPING IN THE GROUND

A shocking mass murder occurs at a wedding in a small Dales church and a huge manhunt follows. Eventually, the shooter is run to ground, but DCI Banks is plagued with doubts as to exactly what happened, and why. As he digs deeper, he uncovers psychological puzzles that lead him to secrets that might just provide the answers he is looking for. When the surprising truth becomes clear, it is almost too late.

STRANGE AFFAIR

When Alan Banks receives a disturbing message from his brother, Roy, he heads to London to seek him out. But Roy seems to have vanished into thin air. Meanwhile, DI Annie Cabbot is called to Eastvale, where a young woman has been found dead in her car. As Banks begins to uncover a few troubling surprises, the two cases become sinisterly entwined.

WATCHING THE DARK

Detective Inspector Bill Reid is killed by a crossbow in the tranquil grounds of a police rehabilitation centre, and compromising photos are found in his room. DCI Banks, brought in to investigate, is assailed on all sides.

WEDNESDAY'S CHILD

Brenda Scupham's fear of authority leads her to comply meekly with the request that two social workers, unknown to her, should take away her daughter for tests. Investigating this cruel abduction leads DCI Banks to the most terrifying villain he has ever met!

WHEN THE MUSIC'S OVER

It's the coldest case possible - the 1967 rape of a young girl by a now elderly celebrity. But when he meets the victim, now a well-known poet, and hears her story, Banks is determined to see justice done. Meanwhile, Annie and Winsome are investigating the grisly murder of a teenage girl, who was thrown out of a moving van into a ditch in the middle of the night.