Peter Robinson's Blog, page 5

News for Summer, 2017

The paperback edition of When the Music’s Over is #1 this week on the Sunday Times Bestseller list! My thanks to everyone who bought a copy. (Amazon UK)

The 24th DCI Banks novel, Sleeping in the Ground, will be published in the UK on 13 July (US: August; Canada: October). (Amazon UK)

The story begins with a mass murder at a Yorkshire wedding, and the investigation needs to move in some unexpected directions in order to find answers. In this one, Banks is mourning the death of an old lover, Annie is dealing with her father’s move from Cornwall up to Yorkshire to be “closer to her,” and DC Gerry Masterson is bearing the brunt of the action, as usual. The music moves from Bowie’s “Starman” to “Blackstar” with a lot of varied and interesting stuff in between.

As this is the 30th anniversary of Banks in print (yes, Gallows View came out in 1987!) I will be doing an extensive UK tour through July and August, with a couple of events at the beginning of September. I cover a fair bit of the country, from Southampton and Brighton to Cardiff, Edinburgh, and St Andrews, with many stops in between, especially in the North and North East. I don’t have the final details yet, but when I do I’ll post them. I look forward to seeing many of you at these events.

Hear Peter Discuss Music in the DCI Banks Novels

Peter Robinson is the guest on this week’s episode of The Next Track podcast, where he discusses his use of music in the DCI Banks novels. Give it a listen to learn more about Peter’s musical favorites, and how he integrates music in the novels.

Canadian Book Tour for When the Music’s Over

Apologies to all for being late with this. Sometimes events just get ahead of my ability to list them!

Saturday, October 15 – Lunchtime event with the Whistler Wrters Festival, 1pm. Whistler, British Columbia.

Tuesday, October 18 – Grand Opening, with Andre Alexis, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Anne Y.K. Choi, Emma Donghue and Francesca Melandri. 8pm Performance Works, Granville Island, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Thursday, October 20 – “A Good Way to Get Yourself Killed,” with Michael Koryta and Sam Wiebe. 6pm Revue Sage, Granville Island, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Friday, October 21 – Onstage interview with Wayne Arthurson. 7pm. St Albert, Alberta.

Sunday, October 23 – Reading/Round Table – “Vice: The Art of Crime Writing,” with Lotte Hammer Jakobson, Alexander Maksik and Ben Sanders. 1.30pm. International Festival of Authors, Harbourfront, Toronto, Ontario.

Saturday, October 29 – Reading/Round Table – “Lived-in Stories.” with Deborah Campbell and Kevin Patterson. 5pm. IFOA, Harbourfront, Toronto, Ontario.

Sunday, October 30 – Onstage Interview – with Linwood Barclay and host Andrew Pyper, interviewed by Deborah Dundas. 4.30pm. IFOA, Harbourfront, Toronto, Ontario.

DCI Banks, the Books, and the TV Series

There have been a number of questions recently regarding differences between the characters of the DCI Banks novels and the TV adaptations.

I have come to think of the Banks books and the TV series as parallel universes, rather like those in the TV series Fringe. (If you haven’t seen it, check it out. It’s well worth watching.) The characters are clearly meant to be different versions of the same person; they look different, have different personalities and meet different fates in different worlds.

I have no power in the TV universe, where I am a mere observer, but I like to think of myself as the custodian of the universe of the books. In that universe, I can assure you, all the characters you have come to know and (I hope) love continue to be hale and hearty and as human and flawed as ever – in When the Music’s Over, its 2017 successor Sleeping in the Ground and, I hope, in many more books to come.

Peter Robinson in Conversation with Camilla Läckberg

Peter recently recorded a podcast with Swedish author Camilla Läckberg, where they discuss when they first met, having Joyce Carol Oates as your tutor, and being disqualified in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Listen to the Speaking of Stories podcast. Note that while the introduction is in Swedish, the rest of the interview is in English.

New Book, Swedish Festival, and Other News

As I write, When the Music’s Over has been on the UK bestseller list for six weeks now, having spent one week at #1 and a week at #2. It has also made #83 on the USA Today chart, which isn’t as bad as it sounds because that list includes everything—all formats and all genres—from cookbooks to ebooks.

I have just got back from the Crimetime Festival in Visby, which is a beautiful medieval town on the island of Gotland, off the coast of Sweden. I was International Guest of Honour among a host of primarily Scandinavian authors. Sharon Bolton and Elizabeth Hand were the only other English language authors present, though everyone I met spoke perfect English. The festival was excellent, and we were very well treated, though I must say they worked me hard, often with three or four events and interviews a day. I had events with Håkan Nesser, Arne Dahl, Camilla Läckberg, Sharon Bolton, Denise Rydberg and Viveca Sten, and had the honour of congratulating Maj Sjöwall on stage after she received her award (see photo). I also met many other writers, some I have read and others I will read. The wonderful Kerstin Wixe interviewed me on stage, and champagne flowed at the book launch with Ninni Schulman. My thanks to everyone involved in the organisation, especially Carina Nunstedt, the chief! The evenings were always spent in entertaining company with good food and good wine. I was also thrilled to discover from my publishers, Forum, that When the Music’s Over (or När Musiken Tystnar) received a first hardcover printing of 20,00 copies, and my translated books in all formats have sold over three million copies in Sweden.

Peter with Maj Sjöwall.

After a couple of days relaxing and sightseeing in Stockholm, it was back to work again, but what pleasant work it was—an evening event on 25 August at White Rose Books in Thirsk. It was a miserable night weather-wise, but plenty of people turned out, and I think a good time was had by all. Many thanks to Caroline and Sue and all who work there. I met up with an old school friend, and Derek Shelmerdine kindly gave me a copy of his magisterial, encyclopaedic book Rock n’Roll Unravelled. I can see already that it will lead to a huge expansion of my CD collection.

I have a few more events before I head over the pond for the Canadian national tour. There’s an event at Topping & Co in St Andrews at 8pm on 9 September, then an event with Mark Billingham at Bloody Scotland, in Stirling. That’s 12:15pm on the 10th at the Alberts Hall. Finally, I have a reading/signing at Castle Hill Books in Richmond, North Yorkshire, on 17 September at 5pm.

And don’t forget to tune in to ITV at 9pm on Wednesday, 31 August for the first episode of series five of DCI Banks.

August News from Peter Robinson

The book tour is over for now, and I would like to thank everyone who came out to the events, especially in the unusually hot weather. And a special thank you to the bookshop staff who organised and hosted the events.

Something must have worked, because this week When the Music’s Over is #1 on the official BookScan bestseller list, as published in the Sunday Times and other newspapers. Thanks to everyone who bought it, the booksellers who sold it and the team at Hodder & Stoughton who put untold hours into the preparation and promotion of the book.

Now it’s time to look forward to the U.S. edition, to be published by William Morrow on 9th August. And this time it has the same title as the U.K. edition! (Buy from Amazon UK, Amazon.com)

See Peter Robinson on BBC Breakfast, Wednesday 20 July

Peter will be on BBC Breakfast on Wednesday 20 July, sometime after 8 am, discussing his new Inspector Banks novel When the Music’s Over. If you’re in the UK, tune your TV to BBC1 to hear him present the exciting new Banks story. Unfortunately, Breakfast isn’t available on the iPlayer, so you’ll have to catch the show live.

Peter Has Been Busy Lately…

Peter stopped in at his publisher’s office in London yesterday, and spent a lot of time signing copies of When the Music’s Over.

Have you ordered your copy yet?

Peter Robinson’s 2016 Book Tour

It’s getting close to the 14 July UK release date for When the Music’s Over, and the tour is just about settled. There may be a few additions, and the finalised Canadian dates are still to come, but here’s what I’ve got so far.

*Saturday 9th July 2016



St ALBANS FESTIVAL, St Peter’s Church, St Peter’s Street, St Albans: Event with David Mark. 5:00pm,

*Officially, this is pre-publication, but the book should be available.

*Monday 11th July



Jarrolds, Norwich: Talk, 6.60pm.

01603 697278

*Officially, this is pre-publication, but the book should be available.

*Wednesday, 13th July



Carlisle Crime Club at Bookcase, Carlisle: Talk, 7.30pm.

01228 544560

*Officially, this is pre-publication, but the book should be available.

Thursday 14th July



Prima Vera Bistro, The Avenue Shopping Centre, Newton Mearns, Glasgow: Talk, 7:00pm.

Friday 15th July



Waterstones, Emerson Chambers, Newcastle: Talk, 7:00pm.

0191 261 7757

Saturday 16th July



Waterstones, Cornmill Centre, Darlington: Signing, 11:00am.

DRAKE – The Bookshop, Stockton-on-Tees: Signing, 3:00pm.

Monday 18th July



Waterstones, Northallerton: Signing, 12:30pm.

01609 761987

Little Ripon Bookshop, The Courthouse Museum, Ripon: Talk, 7:00pm.

01765 606689

Tuesday 19th July



WH Smith, Victoria Shopping Centre, Harrogate: Signing, 12:30pm.

01423 566351

Oldham Library, Oldham: Talk, 7:00pm.

0161 770 8010

Wednesday 20th July



Waterstones, Leeds: Signing, 12:30pm.

0113 244 4588

WH Smith, Leeds: Signing, 2:00pm.

0113 242 2505

Waterstones, Deansgate, Manchester: Talk, 7:00pm.

0161 837 3000

Thursday 21 July



Waterstones, Chester: Signing, 12:30pm.

01244 345066

Waterstones, Liverpool One: Talk, 6:30pm.

0151 709 9820

Friday 22 July



Pengwern Books, Shrewsbury: Signing, 12:30pm.

01743 232236

Saturday 23 July



Palla’s Print, Caernarfon: Talk, 3:00pm.

01286 674631

Wednesday 17th August – Saturday 20th August



CRIME TIME GOTLAND, Gotland, Sweden

Thursday 25th August



White Rose Books, Thirsk: Talk, TBA

Friday 9th September



Topping & Co, St Andrews: Talk, 8:00pm.

01334 585111

Saturday 10th September



BLOODY SCOTLAND, Stirling: Event with Mark Billingham & Bob McDevitt, 12:15pm.