MY SIX BEST BOOKS

PETER ROBINSON

LEEDS-born author Peter, 70, is best known for his Yorkshire-set crime novels featuring Inspector Alan Banks. His latest, Many Rivers To Cross (Hodder, £8.99) is out now.

THE LITTLE SISTER

Raymond Chandler

(Penguin, £8.99)

The book that got me hooked on crime fiction. It wasn’t so much the plotting but the energy and wit. His sleuth Philip Marlowe gets all the best lines.

TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES

Thomas Hardy

(Penguin, £6.99)

A book I had to “do” for O-level English when I was more interested in James Bond.Then, I hated it; now it’s one of my favourites. It’s full of life, the landscape’s so real and the writing is vivid.

LIVE FLESH

Ruth Rendell

(Arrow, £12.99)

Victor, a released psychopath, tries to insinuate himself into the life of the policeman he shot and put in a wheelchair. He becomes obsessed with his girlfriend and each bad decision closes another door.

THE GOOD SOLDIER

Ford Madox Ford

(Alma Classics, £5.99)

Ford uses flashbacks to tell the story of a failing marriage, confounding the reader at every step until the truth at last becomes clear.

THE COMPLETE POEMS

Philip Larkin

(Out of print)

I started out as a poet and I’ve chosen Larkin because he’s both accessible and profound. He is spot on about late 20th century England.

SHROUD FOR A NIGHTINGALE

PD James

(Faber & Faber, £8.99)

Her plotting, characterisation and sense of place are outstanding. This is set in a nurses’ training school and the murder is gruesome. Before long, Adam Dalgliesh is on the scene.