Rape cases, old and new

Two cases over a 50-year period, both involving the rape of teenage girls, occupy Inspector Alan Banks’s team in When the Music’s Over, the 2016 entry in Peter Robinson’s outstanding series of mysteries. Interestingly, both cases justify the book’s title.

In the older case, Banks, newly promoted, investigates an accusation by a prominent British poet that Danny Caxton, a popular entertainer back in the Sixties, raped her when she was 14. A complaint had been filed at the time, but nothing came of it. Caxton had been a friend to top police officials in those days, as well as a generous contributor to police charities. Could that be why most of the records from the case have disappeared? Now Caxton is an obnoxious 85-year-old more confident than ever that the law cannot touch him.

The newer, more interesting case involves another 14-year-old girl found dead on a country road. Evidence suggests she has been raped by multiple men, dumped naked along the road, then beaten to death by someone else. Although Banks is technically in charge of this case, the actual investigation is headed by Annie Cabbot, a member of his team and a woman who herself was a rape victim.

Robinson doesn’t rely on chases, shootouts or even obscure clues and brilliant deductions. Rather this novel, like others in the series, focuses on solid, usually routine police work. Yet it is riveting from first page to last.