Peter Robinson (1950)

Peter Robinson was born in Castleford, Yorkshire, in 1950. After getting his B.A. Honours Degree in English Literature at the University of Leeds, he came to Canada and first took his M.A. in English and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor, with Joyce Carol Oates as his tutor, then a Ph.D. in English at York University.

His first novel, Gallows View (1987), introduced Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. It was short-listed for a best first novel award in Canada and for the John Creasey Award in the U.K. A Dedicated Man followed in 1988, then A Necessary End and The Hanging Valley in 1989. The last two both received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly. Caedmon's Song, in 1990, was his first departure from the series. All were nominated for awards.

The fifth Inspector Banks novel, Past Reason Hated, won the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel in 1992. The sixth in the series, Wednesday's Child, was nominated for both the CWC Award and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.

Final Account (U.K. title, Dry Bones that Dream) appeared in 1994 and won an Author's Award from the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters. No Cure for Love (1995), his second departure from the series, was nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award. The eighth Inspector Banks novel, Innocent Graves, came out in both Canada and the U.S.A. in the summer of 1996. It received a starred review in Publishers Weekly.

His ninth Inspector Banks novel, Dead Right (U.S. Blood at the Root) was nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award. In October, 1998, Crippen & Landru published a collection of his short stories called Not Safe After Dark and Other Stories. His tenth Inspector Banks novel, In a Dry Season (1999), has been nominated for many awards, including the Edgar. The latest Inspector Banks novel, Cold is the Grave, came out in September, 2000.

Peter has also published many short stories in anthologies and in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, including "Innocence", which won the CWC Best Short Story Award, and "The Two Ladies of Rose Cottage", which won a Macavity Award. He has taught at a number of Toronto colleges and served as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Windsor, Ontario, 1992-93.

Peter lives in Toronto with his wife, Sheila Halladay, and enjoys music, walking, reading, travel, good food and good wine. He has also been known to down a pint of beer now and then.

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