Friend of the Devil (2008)

Music-mad Yorkshire detective Alan Banks is back, trying to find the killer of a teenage party girl, in Peter Robinson's talky, engaging new mystery, Friend of the Devil. Meanwhile, Banks' onetime paramour Annie Cabbott is investigating the throat-slitting murder of a young quadriplegic woman whose blood-soaked corpse was left on a seaside cliff to be picked over by gulls. The plotting in these overlapping crime stories is overcomplicated, involving more possible suspects and motives than a reader can keep track of. But making that effort — and getting a few dozen new ideas of songs for your iPod — is one of the reliable pleasures of Robinson's work. B+