An extra clue

Readers may be a step ahead of Alan Banks and his team of investigators in the 2019 Peter Robinson novel Careless Love, but that could be because readers have an extra clue, namely the book's title. Even then Banks and company seem a bit slow in figuring out that two mysterious deaths may be connected and that they may have something to do with, well, careless love.

First the body of a lovely college student, dressed in party clothes, is found in an abandoned car, not her own, along a highway. She seems to have choked on her own vomit after an overdose of sleeping pills. But how did she get in that car? Soon after that the body of a wealthy man, also in dress clothes, is found at the bottom of a ravine, apparently from a fall. But what was he doing in that remote area and how did he get there?

Banks and the three women on his team work the cases separately, two investigators each, until a third body, another attractive college girl, is found, this one clearly a murder victim. And there is evidence tying her to the first girl. Finding a mysterious third girl may be the key to cracking the case.

Robinson's British mysteries are not noted for their suspense or surprises but rather for their steady, thorough and seemingly realistic police work. They never fail to please, however, and this one is no exception. Usually mystery readers are disappointed when they can outsmart the detectives, but somehow that isn't the case with Robinson.