Sleeping In The Ground by Peter Robinson

 

This is a crime that Yorkshire doesn't have.  A large group is celebrating a local couple's wedding.  The bride is a former successful model; the groom a war hero.  But as they are leaving the church, shots ring out.  The bride is shot first, then the groom, then the maid of honor.  By the time the carnage is done, five are dead and several more wounded.  Who would do such a thing and why?

Banks and his team rush to the site and the investigation is made top priority.  Soon suspicion falls on one man and when they go to his home, he is found dead apparently by suicide.  Things are resolved or are they?  Banks and the medical examiner are not sure.  Although the crime is almost perfect to prove the man's guilt, there are a few things that don't fit.  Soon Banks and his team start to wonder if this crime is tied to another murder fifty years ago.

This is the twenty-fourth of twenty-eight books in the Inspector Banks series.  Robinson has chosen to age his characters along with the series so Banks is now in his fifties and thinking about retirement.  A woman he was formerly attracted to has moved back to town and perhaps things will start up again with her.  Annie Cabbott's father is moving to the area to be closer to his daughter as he ages while much of the investigation now is done by younger members of the team such as Gerry a young detective who can be headstrong in her pursuit of justice.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.