ABSTRACT
This chapter reads Peter Robinson’s Alan Banks novel series (1987–2023) as a representative example of the police procedural, which uses the bureaucracy and politics of a police department to comment on contemporary sociocultural issues. Focusing on Gallows View (1987) and Not Dark Yet (2021), I examine how the series traces changing ways of thinking and talking about difficult topics surrounding gender and sexuality, including sexual harassment, rape, and sexual slavery. Putting the two novels next to one another highlights both how much progress has been made in moving sex crimes into the open and the importance of men and women working together to create a more gender-equitable society.
