Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks lives in the English town of Eastvale. He is the protagonist of Peter Robinson (novelist)'s series of books.

Alan Banks has two children, Tracey and Brian. His wife Sandra divorced him and remarried.

He works at the Tudor-styled Eastvale Police Station and has his own small office with a metal desk and two chairs, its window looking onto the town's busy Market Square.

His good taste in music and charms help him to relate to his suspects (and victims) and he can come down hard and get his answers out of the suspects eventually.