Piece of My Heart

The 16th book in the Inspector Banks series, Peter Robinson’s crime novel Piece of My Heart (2006) centers on two murders separated by 40 years that might somehow be connected. The investigation exposes the dark truth behind a grizzly murder in the 1960s, showing this wasn’t necessarily the era of peace, love, and freedom that people today think it was. An international bestselling author of multiple crime and mystery novels, Robinson studied at the University of Windsor under the supervision of acclaimed novelist Joyce Carol Oates. He taught at numerous Canadian community colleges before writing books full-time.

Piece of My Heart takes place in Yorkshire, England. The narrative moves between a rock concert back in 1969 and the present day. The main characters are DCI Stanley Chadwick, a prominent detective in the 1960s, and DCI Alan Banks, a distinguished detective overseeing the same Yorkshire town years later. Although it is unclear at first how these officers and their cases are linked, the narrative gradually pulls them together.

The first murder takes place at an open-air music festival in the summer of 1969. Police find the body of a dead woman wrapped in a sleeping bag. The murderer stabbed her in the chest with such force that he cut off a piece of her heart. It is one of the most violent crime scenes DCI Chadwick has ever seen, and he is determined to find the killer before he strikes again.



Although DCI Chadwick feels terrible for the dead woman and her family, he is especially angry that she died at a “hippy” music festival. A WWII veteran, he doesn’t believe in pacifism and irresponsible excess. He blames the violence on the rampant drug culture; there is a real possibility that the murderer doesn’t even remember the crime.

DCI Chadwick spends a few weeks mulling over the evidence and searching for witnesses. He eventually finds out that the murder may be linked to an up-and-coming psychedelic rock band, the Mad Hatters. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, he can’t find any tangible evidence linking a member of the band to the murder, and the case goes cold.

The narrative jumps to present-day Yorkshire. DCI Banks knows all about the music festival murder, but he doesn’t give it much thought; it happened so long ago, and he is always busy investigating new cases. When readers first meet DCI Banks, he is opening a new investigation into the murder of a local journalist. What he digs up will shake the very foundations of Yorkshire.



Someone brutally bludgeoned this young freelance music journalist to death. There’s no obvious motive and evidence is scarce. DCI Banks only has one crucial piece of information to go on, and it concerns the journalist’s latest piece. Before he died, he drafted a feature on the Mad Hatters for MOJO magazine. DCI Banks worries that, somehow, the journalist’s death is linked to the woman’s death back in 1969, and the Mad Hatters are at the center of everything.

Meanwhile, in 1969, DCI Chadwick grows despondent. His teenage daughter, Yvonne, is swept up in the drugs scene. She’s all about changing the world and taking psychedelic drugs, and DCI Chadwick doesn’t know how to get through to her. To make matters worse, she looks very like the murdered woman, and DCI Chadwick fears that she could be next.

In the present day, DCI Banks tracks down more information on the dead journalist’s feature. He had planned to interview a member of the Mad Hatters about his mental illness and seclusion in the Yorkshire countryside, but he also wanted to know what the artist thought about the 1969 festival murder. DCI Banks wonders if the journalist unearthed crucial information about the cold case and if someone murdered him to silence him.



DCI Banks goes over what he already knows about the Mad Hatters. Although they were popular back in the 1960s, things didn’t go well for a few of them after that. Aside from the band member who became a recluse, another member died in a swimming pool. Some people claim it was an accident, while others believe he was murdered. If he was murdered, it is possible that his death is connected to both the 1969 festival murderer and the dead journalist.

The dead journalist’s case goes cold, however, until DCI Banks unearths a staggering new piece of information. The journalist had a personal connection with the 1969 festival victim: He’s her adopted son. He devoted himself to finding out what happened to her, but he died before he could bring the murderer to justice.

DCI Banks finally uncovers the murderer’s identity. A serial killer murdered the woman back in 1969. He deliberately targeted women at music festivals. The journalist found out his identity, and he died for it. DCI Banks can now bring both cases to a close. He reflects on what it means to love someone so much that you never get over their death.