When the Music’s Over is the 23rd book in the Inspector Banks series, a crime/mystery novel by Peter Robinson.   Inspector Alan Banks and his team investigate two cases – a murder of a 14 year old girl and a cold case of the rape of a teenager by a famous celebrity.     As the background to each case unfolds, the detectives find strong evidence of the sexual exploitation of young women.   Both cases have volatile elements, with racial tensions, corruption, related crimes, and cover-ups.    The series follow a police procedural storyline.    Interviews, fact-checking, review of evidence, and conjecture fill the chapters of the book.    There are frequent trips to the pub (in all of his books) and off-the-record discussions which serve to focus the team’s efforts.

All of Peter Robinson’s crime stories are well-told.    Over a career of 36 years of writing, he published 33 novels.   Although he was born in England, he lived most of career in Canada, teaching English at colleges and universities.    He has won many awards – The Arthur Ellis Award (Canadian crime writing) 27 times, the Edgar Award (Mystery Writers of America) twice, and several other awards for crime fiction.   I have read about 13 of his novels.

This was a solid story, but not one his best.    4.2 stars/5