Good Morning, Midnight

Dalziel & Pascoe #21

by Reginald Hill

The brilliant new crime thriller featuring Dalziel and Pascoe from the Top Ten Bestseller, Reginald Hill Like father like son! But heredity seems to have gone a gene too far when Pal Maciver's suicide in a locked room exactly mirrors that of his father ten years earlier. In each case accusing fingers point towards Pal's stepmother, the beautiful enigmatic Kay Kafka. But she turns out to have a formidable champion, Mid-Yorkshire's own super-heavyweight, Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel. DCI Peter Pascoe, nominally in charge of the investigation, finds he is constantly body-checked by his superior as he tries to disentangle the complex relationships of the Maciver family. At first these inquiries seem local and domestic. What really happened between Pal and his stepmother? And how has key witness and exotic hooker Dolores, Our Lady of Pain, contrived to disappear from the face of Mid-Yorkshire? Gradually, however, it becomes clear that the fall-out from Pal's suicide spreads far beyond Yorkshire to London, to America. Even to Iraq.But the emotional epicentre is firmly placed in Mid-Yorkshire where Pascoe comes to learn that for some people the heart too is a locked room, and in there it is always midnight.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, British Literature, Detective, Mystery Thriller, Procedural

612 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Reginald Charles Hill was a contemporary English crime writer, and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement.

After National Service (1955-57) and studying English at St Catherine's College, Oxford University (1957-60) he worked as a teacher for many years, rising to Senior Lecturer at Doncaster College of Education. In 1980 he retired from salaried work in order to devote himself full-time to writing.

Hill is best known for his more than 20 novels featuring the Yorkshire detectives Andrew Dalziel, Peter Pascoe and Edgar Wield. He has also written more than 30 other novels, including five featuring Joe Sixsmith, a black machine operator turned private detective in a fictional Luton. Novels originally published under the pseudonyms of Patrick Ruell, Dick Morland, and Charles Underhill have now appeared under his own name. Hill is also a writer of short stories, and ghost tales.

Reviews

[Eric_W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Hill with scintillating use of language, puns, allusions, and a nifty mystery to boot. Not only that, you'll learn who the "funnyboogers" are. Some people dislike Hill's work as being too cerebral. Nonsense. They can be read on a multitude of levels, and Hill remains one of my favorite authors.

An intriguing and complex story. A man is found dead in a locked room, ostensibly having blown his head off. The story becomes even more mysterious when it's learned he killed himself in a way identical to his father some ten years earlier, even to the Emily Dickensen book of poems found open to virtually the same page in each case.

Statements from the participants given to the police are layered throughout the book and each provides a very different view of events. Lots of questions move the story along. What is Andy's relationship to Kay? Why does Andy keep trying to steer Pete away from his questioning what appears to be simply a case of copy-cat suicide? And who is the rather ordinary VAT inspector who seems to know more than he should?

The ending will be disconcerting to those who like everything tied up with a bow. I found it to be very satisfactory. Great title, by the way, the significance of which is revealed in the book.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another masterpiece by the late Reginald Hill! Dalziel & Pascoe are some of my favorite detectives. (I can never visualize them without thinking of the late Warren Clarke and Colin Buchanan.)

This book has an interesting setup, some nice red herrings, and some delightful intrigue (and a cameo of both Gulf Wars!).

Once again, Dalziel and Pascoe play a delightful ballet and the rest of the ensemble cast of Ellie Pascoe and Rosie, Wieldy, Hat, and Novello have some great scenes.

It makes me sad every time I get one of these under my belt, because it means I'm one step closer to the last Dalziel & Pascoe.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Pal McIver commits suicide in a particularly elaborate way, it mirrors exactly the death of his father some ten years earlier. But were both deaths suicide? Or was one or the other – or both – murder? Dalziel had been involved in the earlier investigation but not Pascoe, and now Pascoe finds that Dalziel seems to be obstructing the investigation into the second, possibly because of his friendship (or is it more?) with the enigmatic Kay Kafka, wife of the elder Pal and (wicked?) stepmother of the younger.

One of his more convoluted plots that touches on the big news story of the time – the war in Iraq – and involves some murky spy stuff of both the American and the British kind. Not one of my favourites, although as always with Hill, there’s much to enjoy in the interaction between the regulars, and there are some excellent one-off characters like the aforementioned Kay. I’ve read it twice now and the plot doesn’t seem to stay in my mind – too much going on in it, I think! Enjoyable, though, and moves Hat’s story on from the previous two books.

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[Feeling-bookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

My idea of detective fiction used to be the Marsh, Christie, Sayers variety, where the crime happens in a world insulated from reality. You witness the dead body and get your thrills by following the detective as he pieces the crime together. The murder is the plot, the detective is the star, everyone else is in supporting roles.
More recently, crime fiction authors have been exploring a bigger world, richer characters and all that lies between 'right' and 'wrong'. Motives and motivations are complex, and the truth is not an absolute, independent entity - it lies entangled with unpalatable facts, so much so that sometimes, it's better to not reveal it.
My first Reginald Hill is set in this world, and despite the haunting darkness, I enjoyed every minute. The acerbic writing is what will bring me back to this author. The plotting is impeccable, the interconnecting threads are well laid out and the characters are superb! Kay Kafka stands out, of course, but a few of the minor characters spring some surprises too! Despite a few predictable twists, the story worked very well as a whole. It's even inspired an interest in Emily Dickinson, because the extracts of her poetry used here are beautiful. Looking forward to the next one!

[Neal Asher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finding less and less in the SF world that floats my boat, I'm reading more of this sort of stuff. Very enjoyable, enough twists, turns and kinks to satisfy even me. Dalziel in this is very much like he's portrayed by Warren Clark, but Pascoe is nothing like the moody and taciturn version played by Colin Buchanan. Also noticeable that Pascoe is not divorced from Ellie in this, book twenty-one of the series. Now why did they have to do that in the TV version? Are we not sufficiently engaged unless one of the lead cops has a miserable home life?

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reginald Hill is the cream of the crop among British mystery writers as far as I'm concerned. This is one of his more recent efforts featuring the Mid Yorkshire police time of Fat Andy Dalziel and Peter Pascoe. The surrounding individuals are neither perfect nor uninteresting. They grab my attention because they are people I would be glad to know. There is little in the tea cozy vein in Hill's books. They are gritty and witty. A combination that keeps me coming back for more.

[Colin Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was, for me, one of the better Dalziel and Pascoe novels. The pace was fast and the intrigue deep. It moved through the lives of the Maciver family, their machine tool business, take over by Americans and devious plots to sell equipment to those on the international proscribed list. A copy-cat suicide of Palinurus Maciver leads to the similar death of his father and the dealings of Dalziel with the widow Kay. The intervention of "Spooks" adds to the intrigue. A very deep ending.

[Ruth Buckwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

As good as any D & P. hard to review without giving spoilers, but glad to see all the characters including Wieldy, Hat and Novello adding their characters to the mix. There is nothing like watching the interplay amongst these characters. Priceless lines from Dalziel as usual. ,

[Michele bookloverforever · Rating 2 out of 5]

complex but the characters did not appeal to me.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m so glad to have happened upon Reginald Hill’s Dalziell and Pascoe books, having never seen any of the BBC versions. The good luck struck while looking for a Tony Hillerman in our town library. I’ve read three D & Ps now. The plots are convoluted, and a little harder to follow if you haven’t read the ones leading up to what’s in hand. The literary allusions make these books special, like a game. Some are spoken, but many as I recall are in the narrative. Can’t remember where this one was, not as a quotation, not calling attention to itself “the achieve of, the mastery of.” Good Morning, Midnight uses Emily Dickinson verses as epigraph and then as clues in the puzzle. The title comes from a Dickinson poem that must be famous (other people have used it for a title), but it was new to me. Thank you, Reginald Hill, for the introduction.
Elaborately plot-driven as these three books are, they appeal to me more for their literary quality and for the recurrent characters as one gets to know them better in each successive book. Let me leave you with a minor unsolved mystery: I haven’t read the earliest D&P novels; so, don’t know the life history of CI Andy Dalziell. Our Andy prides himself on being working-class, disrespectful of university education, given to ribbing Pascoe for his. From whence comes, then, the Chief Inspector’s clarion reference on p. 295 to the Keats poem “Isabella?” Here he is capping someone else’s allusion to "Lamia," another Keats poem not much better known. Did his guard slip? Is he not an authentic philistine? Or is Hill just having fun with English majors, leaving us breadcrumbs?

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another in the Dalziel/Pascoe series. A man commits suicide and ten years later his son does the same.....or does he? The guys are on the case and it is soon discovered that Dalziel has a relationship with the widow of the dead father who is the step-mother of the son. And there are many other family secrets that are about to come to light which may change the complexion of the investigation. This is a complex story and sometimes stretches credibility.......but still a pretty good read from a darn good author.

[Cat. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Good book: I caught myself thinking through some of the themes yesterday at work. The end brings readers to the realization that a lot of our lives go on below the surface, and things aren't always spelled out clearly. The narrator was outstanding.

And I think I'll take a page from Dalziel and start calling political maneuverers "funny buggers."

[Moira Sr. Fogarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe books - they are such a wonderfully balanced pair and, as I come from next door to Yorkshire, Dalziel's pithy comments always make me laugh out loud. Would recommend this book as it is well written and the plot is well devised.

[Brian Engelhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent Dalziel and Pascoe mystery.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful addition to the Dalziel and Pascoe series. If P.D. James is the Queen of mysteries, then Reginald Hill is the king.

[Viktoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always fun to read a Dalziel and Pascoe Novel!

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars. Good mystery good reader. It makes me want to go back and find the back story for these detectives.

[Jan Yarnot · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I’d read all the D&P books months ago, and I was surprised to find this one on a shelf. I might have liked it better if I was still in a Dalziel and Pascoe mood, but my universes have changed since. And apart from the detectives, I didn’t like most of the characters. And then again, it takes place shortly after 9/11 and that was an unhappy time. Oh, well.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe three and a half stars, but I'll round up because it's so good to see this series return to its old excellence after the previous two novels, both of which almost put me off enough to quit. In fact I DID just quit on the second of the two. But this one has much of the old humor and much of the old psychological complexity. My only complaint is that it opens with a meticulously described suicide, and much of the detective work is spent trying to figure out if in fact it was only staged to look like suicide. The reader already knows the answer to that question, so the investigation was only academic for a good part of the book.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

The average quality of the blurbs for Reginald Hill’s splendid Dalziel and Pascoe series is very good, saving this reviewer at least from the need to lay too much groundwork.

It’s sharp and smart, both in its compressed main action and in the threads of twisty plot and readerly reevaluation (because of inserts from unreliable narrators) that stretch back over the decades leading up to the days of drama in March 2002.

It’s also a bit sordid and depressing, slightly more than my taste normally runs to.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have over the years gotten a little impatient with Reginal Hill. From writing really good crackin' mystery stories, he got delusions of granduer to high "literature" and started to include parts of novels written by characters in the book, long ramblings by psychopaths, etc etc. Not fun. Fortunately, this is more in the old mode, being a starts-out-as-locked-room-mystery-to-straight-up-detective novel, but unfortunately, he drags in the "funny buggers" again, Dalziel's term for any kind of spy or "intelligence" operative. I feel that throwing spies into a detective novel is a bit "deus ex machina" way to end a story. Makes me feel like the author doesn't know how to finish his story, and spies cover all gaps. Ah well. This is an entertaining story and characters, if a bit tired.

[Sandy D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insanely complicated British murder mystery with some old characters from Hill's other books (mainly Pascoe, Dalziel, and Hat Bowler from the last one). Hill's books don't seem to lose their punch no matter how many he writes, but I wouldn't start with this one if you don't know the detective.

This is one plot I would *never* have figured out. On the other hand, it didn't grip me as intensely as some of his books have - I didn't stay up all night reading. So thumbs up if you like British police detective mysteries with complicated plots and lots of literary references. Good Morning, Midnight, comes from an Emily Dickinson poem - a suicide reference (or was it suicide?).

[Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was contrived and overworked and essentially dull. While I realize that Mr. Hill can be satirical and funny, this book had no real substance or "center". There were no developed characters although there were seeds of interest in the relationship between the "Bird Lady" and Hat Bowler. (They would have been good subjects for a book by themselves.) People came onto the scene and just disappeared, for example, Cressida McIver, Jason, Pal McIver's wife. There was no whodunit suspense. Even the magnificent Dalziel was kind of flat.

[Valerie Honey. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only on page 85 out of 399.As ever I like Reginald Hills literary style with these mysteries. The T.V series of the two main characters Dalziel and Pascoe are well cast and capture the characters from the written page.

Now on page 300. As usual a no put downer for me. I love Weild, he's one of my favorite characters. Reginald Hill has a miraculous way with his characters through dialogue and their inner thoughts.Of course it is rare to get inside the head of the Fat Man. (in my humble opinion) Soon be finished.
Finished on the 8th March.

[Deane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always liked the BBC mystery series on TV starring detective inspectors Dalziel and Pascoe so looked forward to reading this book....wow..talk about a convoluted story...all kinds of twists and turns and for me, a rather unsatisfactory ending. Lots of humour, amusing and puzzling characters and lengthy scenic descriptions. Hill must have an extensive dictionary/Thesaurus at his fingertips because he used vocabulary most folks would never hear or understand (I am in that lot :-)

I will certainly read another of Hill's books involving Dalziel and Pascoe.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pascoe investigates and Dalziel obfuscates in this installment of their nominal works from Reginald Hill. The Magiver family is writ large as this concerns the duel suicide of father and son. The unravelling of what happened is, as always with Hill, well done and keeps the attention until the end.

All in all, a highly satisfying read.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always a pleasure to find yet another R. Hill I haven't read. Mr Hill devises great characters that act in convoluted yet possible plots. The best part of his mysteries is that there is often no surprising denouement but rather a subtle and often paradoxical number of solutions to the crime. Certainly not Agatha Christie in his detectives nor his plottings.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting and a bit complicated - Arms deals and bodies in Afghanistan bookend (to what end?) the central story of a murder/suicide in an eccentric family. Two detectives - British and the dialect is at times challenging - are the main characters in the series. They much involved with the family - wonder how that works in other volumes in the series? I may not try to find out.

[Jan Aldergate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed. I love Reginald Hill's work and especially Dalziel and Pascoe, but this wasn't up to his usual standard. Really found it hard to follow and work out what was going on. as always, loved the interplay between the Fat Man and his minions, but wasn't really enough of that and not really a lot of Dalziel in this. just disappointed, but I suppose every author has his off day.

[Margaret Fast · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Initially really like the book: great characters, interesting plot; very well written. Distracted by the recurrent "interviews" which may be acceptable device but dn appeal to me. When used to excess. Did not understand either prologue or epilogue. Did they refer to Tony? Cressida seemed to be superfluous.