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Dalziel & Pascoe #23
A Cure For All Diseases
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535 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
233 people are currently reading
745 people want to read
About the author
Reginald Hill
154 books503 followersReginald 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 221 reviews
July 25, 2016
To begin with, I have one confession and one warning. Reginald Hill is my absolute favourite author. I could read his shopping list and rave about it, so I have no pretence here of objectivity.
Now the warning. If you have yet to read Reginald Hill’s DEATH OF DALZIEL (published in the U.S.A. under the title Death Comes for the Fat Man) then stop right now. Don’t read any further, because it is impossible to write a review of A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES without creating a spoiler for Hill’s previous Dalziel and Pascoe novel.
Book Review:
In the dedication of the book Reginald Hill wrote in part: To Janeites everywhere. If you’ve read Jane Austen you’ll quickly discover why. If you haven’t (like me) then it will sail over your head and it doesn’t really matter anyway. I won’t give away the reason for the dedication. It will be an extra layer for Austen fans.
The story is told from the point of view of a number of characters. First and foremost is Dalziel’s conversations with “Mildred”. Charlotte’s perspective is told in the form of long, chatty (and poorly spelled) emails to her sister in Africa. Various members of the investigation team; Pascoe, Wield, Novello and Bowler also get a look-in from their perspectives.
A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES also sees a shift in the dynamics of the relationship between Dalziel and Pascoe. Pascoe feels he is ready to spread his wings without Dalziel looking over his shoulder. With Pascoe in charge, Sergeant Wield is seeing a change in him. He thinks Pascoe is starting to exhibit traits that are decidedly Dalzielesque!
There are some who found the emails a distraction with the poor spelling and grammar. I didn’t. I enjoyed the quirkiness of them. A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES is Reginald Hill’s twenty-third Dalziel and Pascoe novel and it is a testimony to his skill as a writer that number twenty-three is as fresh and compelling as all his others.
Now the warning. If you have yet to read Reginald Hill’s DEATH OF DALZIEL (published in the U.S.A. under the title Death Comes for the Fat Man) then stop right now. Don’t read any further, because it is impossible to write a review of A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES without creating a spoiler for Hill’s previous Dalziel and Pascoe novel.
Book Review:
In the dedication of the book Reginald Hill wrote in part: To Janeites everywhere. If you’ve read Jane Austen you’ll quickly discover why. If you haven’t (like me) then it will sail over your head and it doesn’t really matter anyway. I won’t give away the reason for the dedication. It will be an extra layer for Austen fans.
The story is told from the point of view of a number of characters. First and foremost is Dalziel’s conversations with “Mildred”. Charlotte’s perspective is told in the form of long, chatty (and poorly spelled) emails to her sister in Africa. Various members of the investigation team; Pascoe, Wield, Novello and Bowler also get a look-in from their perspectives.
A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES also sees a shift in the dynamics of the relationship between Dalziel and Pascoe. Pascoe feels he is ready to spread his wings without Dalziel looking over his shoulder. With Pascoe in charge, Sergeant Wield is seeing a change in him. He thinks Pascoe is starting to exhibit traits that are decidedly Dalzielesque!
There are some who found the emails a distraction with the poor spelling and grammar. I didn’t. I enjoyed the quirkiness of them. A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES is Reginald Hill’s twenty-third Dalziel and Pascoe novel and it is a testimony to his skill as a writer that number twenty-three is as fresh and compelling as all his others.
September 1, 2018
Reginald Hill is one of favourite mystery writers, superb characterisation, great plots and prose that is a joy to read. But I could not finish this book and it was because of the epistolary style of the first 200 pages or so. It nearly drove me to distraction. After years of grading student papers my brain just could not ignore the spelling mistakes, excessive use of em rules, appalling punctuation etc etc in the emails from the Charlie character. It gave me a headache and I eventually gave up and skipped the entire section. I tried to read the rest of the book but it had lost me, I had no interest in the plot, characters or anything else so abandoned it. For any first time reader of this wonderful series, please don’t give up on Dalziel and Pascoe if you ave tried to read this book and disliked the style. Try another one!
October 24, 2021
This book is massively long for a murder mystery, and it did not endear itself to me at first. I stuck with it because it was assigned reading for my Jane Austen reading group (it’s set in a modern-day version of Austen’s fictional beach resort of Sanditon and uses many of her characters), and I’m glad I did. It eventually won both my admiration and my affection.
I have never read a Dalziel (pronounced “DEE-el”) and Pascoe novel, and while I could see there was a lot of backstory I was missing, I had no trouble reading this as a standalone. The duo are Yorkshire detectives, Dalziel the superior officer, but Dalziel has (presumably in the previous book in the series) been seriously injured and is now booked into a posh rehab facility in Sandytown, an aspirational health-and-wellness resort on the Yorkshire coast. Pascoe, his subordinate who is currently in charge, comes to town after a leading citizen is murdered.
The book opens with the story told in e-mails from a young woman, Charley Heywood, a psychology student, to her sister. Charley is a terrible speller and the font used is awful, so between those barriers and her modern-era British slang, I had a little trouble falling into the tale. Then Dalziel’s voice takes over, as he speaks into a recording device as part of his therapy. He has a whole different set of slang terms and non-PC asides, as well as introducing background characters with whom I was unfamiliar, and between the two narrators I was struggling and looking at the back of the book to figure out how many more pages to go. (It’s more than 500 pages in a large-format paperback!)
Then (about page 160 in my doorstopper edition) came a murder, and the story started to click for me. The personalities of the investigators are original and vivid and their little internal conflicts are very true to coworker life. I had fun trying to predict events based on the Sanditon-based characters, and thought the new characters introduced to the town were even more interesting. The investigation was complex and full of twists, and although its resolution relied too much on characters being willing to tell the truth to the detectives, it was basically satisfying for me. Nearly every character gets his or her due story arc, making for a rich and nuanced read.
I did suspect the final perpetrator, mainly because that person was one of the “present absences” I look for in murder mysteries—a character who is always around but never the center of attention. This perp was also inexplicably missing at a crucial moment. But I was enjoying my stay in Sandytown so much that I didn’t feel cheated, and the motives of all the suspects were pretty plausible.
It’s obvious that over the course of the series, Dalziel has become one of those larger-than-life, mythical detective heroes who can weigh down a novel (think Poirot). The loving descriptions of his physical presence and quirky brilliance did get a bit much for this newcomer to the series, but doubtless its fans are used to all that. Another presumably recurring character who is pitched as a Moriarty-type archcriminal fell a bit flat for me. But on the whole, I was very impressed with Reginald Hill’s depth and subtlety, his attention to detail in building a mystery that’s not just about whodunit.
I have never read a Dalziel (pronounced “DEE-el”) and Pascoe novel, and while I could see there was a lot of backstory I was missing, I had no trouble reading this as a standalone. The duo are Yorkshire detectives, Dalziel the superior officer, but Dalziel has (presumably in the previous book in the series) been seriously injured and is now booked into a posh rehab facility in Sandytown, an aspirational health-and-wellness resort on the Yorkshire coast. Pascoe, his subordinate who is currently in charge, comes to town after a leading citizen is murdered.
The book opens with the story told in e-mails from a young woman, Charley Heywood, a psychology student, to her sister. Charley is a terrible speller and the font used is awful, so between those barriers and her modern-era British slang, I had a little trouble falling into the tale. Then Dalziel’s voice takes over, as he speaks into a recording device as part of his therapy. He has a whole different set of slang terms and non-PC asides, as well as introducing background characters with whom I was unfamiliar, and between the two narrators I was struggling and looking at the back of the book to figure out how many more pages to go. (It’s more than 500 pages in a large-format paperback!)
Then (about page 160 in my doorstopper edition) came a murder, and the story started to click for me. The personalities of the investigators are original and vivid and their little internal conflicts are very true to coworker life. I had fun trying to predict events based on the Sanditon-based characters, and thought the new characters introduced to the town were even more interesting. The investigation was complex and full of twists, and although its resolution relied too much on characters being willing to tell the truth to the detectives, it was basically satisfying for me. Nearly every character gets his or her due story arc, making for a rich and nuanced read.
I did suspect the final perpetrator, mainly because that person was one of the “present absences” I look for in murder mysteries—a character who is always around but never the center of attention. This perp was also inexplicably missing at a crucial moment. But I was enjoying my stay in Sandytown so much that I didn’t feel cheated, and the motives of all the suspects were pretty plausible.
It’s obvious that over the course of the series, Dalziel has become one of those larger-than-life, mythical detective heroes who can weigh down a novel (think Poirot). The loving descriptions of his physical presence and quirky brilliance did get a bit much for this newcomer to the series, but doubtless its fans are used to all that. Another presumably recurring character who is pitched as a Moriarty-type archcriminal fell a bit flat for me. But on the whole, I was very impressed with Reginald Hill’s depth and subtlety, his attention to detail in building a mystery that’s not just about whodunit.
October 10, 2016
One of my favorite British mystery series is Dalziel and Pascoe and this one does not disappoint. In the book immediately preceding this one, Dalziel is almost killed by a terrorist bomb. But it appears nothing can kill Fat Andy, so this book begins as he is a patient in a rehabilitation center, recovering from his injuries.
The author uses a little different format for this series entry as it is written in the form of e-mails and taped conversations, interspersed with regular narrative. At first I was put off by this approach but soon got into the rhythm and it was not a problem.
The story centers around the grotesque murder of a local "lady of the manor" who is found on the spit in a barbecue pit, slowly being roasted. This is soon followed by two other murders which seem to be connected but no motive is apparent. Pascoe and his team are investigating and nothing can keep Fat Andy from putting in his two cents since the murder took place on the grounds of the rehab clinic where he is a patient.
There is only one problem with this book........the last chapter. It adds a twist to an already complex story and could have been omitted. It was just one fact too many and did nothing to change the outcome of the investigation. Otherwise the author delivers another block buster in a long and popular series.
The author uses a little different format for this series entry as it is written in the form of e-mails and taped conversations, interspersed with regular narrative. At first I was put off by this approach but soon got into the rhythm and it was not a problem.
The story centers around the grotesque murder of a local "lady of the manor" who is found on the spit in a barbecue pit, slowly being roasted. This is soon followed by two other murders which seem to be connected but no motive is apparent. Pascoe and his team are investigating and nothing can keep Fat Andy from putting in his two cents since the murder took place on the grounds of the rehab clinic where he is a patient.
There is only one problem with this book........the last chapter. It adds a twist to an already complex story and could have been omitted. It was just one fact too many and did nothing to change the outcome of the investigation. Otherwise the author delivers another block buster in a long and popular series.
June 21, 2021
The title, believe it or not, is a direct quote from Jane Austen, and the situation and main characters are all drawn from her unfinished last novel Sanditon. There is a large cast of characters, but if you have read Sanditon or seen the recent TV effort at finishing it, you will find it easy to keep them all straight. In my view this is a far better attempt at dealing with the situation presented in that novel, and in honoring Jane Austen, than the TV completion. Dalziel is finally back almost in old form, after having spent most of the last book in a coma. A bright little girl says that if you painted him vomit green he would look like Shrek. A very long book, with a good deal of relaxed time spent enjoying the characters and the local setting of Sandytown, but when the murder finally takes place things become very complicated very fast. Much of the book is in the form of e-mails from Charlotte Heywood to her sister describing her impressions of all the characters. Like Austen herself, she has trouble spelling ei and ie words, almost always getting them wrong. Her attempt at "heifer" made me laugh out loud. The solution to the crime, if it is a solution (and we are left in some doubt) is satisfying, even with the doubt.
August 12, 2023
Welcome to Sandytown’s Festival of Health!
When Tom Parker drives into a ditch on Stompy Heywood’s land, Tom and his wife Mary strike up a friendship with young Charley, the Heywoods’ daughter. Charley has just graduated as a psychologist and wants to study the psychological effects of alternative medicine, so when she discovers that Tom is on a mission to make his little town of Sandytown into a health resort, she’s intrigued. Tom and Mary invite her for a visit. Meantime, Andy Dalziel is on the slow road to recovery from his “death” in the previous book, and has been persuaded by Cap Marvell to spend a few weeks in a nursing home, the Avalon, in Sandytown. Both Charley and Andy are keen observers of human nature, and it’s through Charley’s emails to her sister and Andy’s therapeutic revelations to Mildred, his digital dictaphone, that we meet the many personalities that make up Sandytown life. And then, during the annual hog roast, one of the most prominent of those citizens is murdered…
If any of that blurb is ringing bells for you, it may be because this novel is Hill’s homage to Jane Austen’s unfinished novel, Sanditon. Many of the names are the same or similar, and initially the various relationships between the people in the town mirror the set-up in Austen’s book. And of course Sanditon too was based around a town that was hoping to cash in on the fashion for health resorts. However, Sanditon is a mere 70 pages long – tantalising but with the story barely begun – so Hill has plenty of room to develop a plot in his own style on this meagre foundation. He liberally references Sanditon via the setting and characters but happily doesn’t try to copy Austen’s style of writing, and the characters’ behaviour is strictly contemporary with lots of hanky-panky going on that would have shocked Ms Austen to her socks.
Hill’s writing is always a pleasure, and Andy is my favourite character so I particularly enjoyed spending time in his head. His thoughts, as to be expected, are full of humour, but we also learn more about how he feels about things – his own health, his relationship with Cap, etc. Often we only see Andy through Peter’s eyes, so it’s quite a rare perspective in the series. This time we see Peter through Andy’s eyes, and I must say Peter rather suffers from it. He’s in charge while Andy is on sick leave, and although he’s perfectly competent he lacks that spark of inspiration that turns a good, painstaking detective into a great one. Andy is trying not to tread on Pete’s territory, but he has to guide him occasionally to stop him making a fool of himself. Given that Hill usually seems to favour Peter, it’s an odd and rather disconcerting change in perspective, and for once makes it very clear that Peter’s reputation for greatness derives mainly from the reflected glory of being Andy’s henchman.
Charley’s emails are done well, but are a matter of taste. I got tired of her obsession with sex – or rather, the sexiness or otherwise of every man she meets. But otherwise I found her quite fun to be with, and Hill does a reasonably good job of catching the tone of a young woman just starting out on life’s adventures. They do go on for a (very) long time before the murder happens, though, and it can get a bit wearing. I pictured her poor, long-suffering sister in Africa, receiving a twenty-five page email every day full of information about people she had never met and in all likelihood never would. She had my sympathies! But from the reader’s perspective they give a great outsider’s view of the town and its inhabitants, and Charley has the knack of wheedling out gossip from all and sundry – very useful when the investigation begins.
Unfortunately for me, this is another Franny Roote novel. I have mentioned before that I never enjoyed the character of Franny Roote nearly as much as Hill clearly did, and by this stage he’s appearing as a major character in nearly every book. By now, he has developed almost into a Moriarty character in Andy’s mind, and the ambiguity around him – is he a villain or a misunderstood victim? - has been overplayed. There’s an air of unreality around him, and while I can see that Hill is doing that intentionally, it still doesn’t quite work for me.
The actual plot is fun, though, with a murder method that manages to be both gruesome and funny – a Hill trademark! The various relationships gradually veer off at tangents from Austen’s originals, and we learn the many secrets that are hidden in this small community. Plenty of twists and it all comes to a satisfying conclusion. Not quite one of the best in the series, but close, and the homage element is an added bonus for Austen fans. It’s not essential to have read Sanditon, though – the first time I read this I hadn’t heard of Sanditon, much less read it, and yet I enjoyed this book just as much. While this could theoretically be read as a standalone, I really wouldn’t recommend it – it works much better if you know Andy and Peter and their history well, and also the background to the Franny Roote strand. And the very fact that Andy is alive is a bit of a spoiler for the previous book, The Death of Dalziel! But definitely recommended to those who have made it this far in this wonderful series. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
When Tom Parker drives into a ditch on Stompy Heywood’s land, Tom and his wife Mary strike up a friendship with young Charley, the Heywoods’ daughter. Charley has just graduated as a psychologist and wants to study the psychological effects of alternative medicine, so when she discovers that Tom is on a mission to make his little town of Sandytown into a health resort, she’s intrigued. Tom and Mary invite her for a visit. Meantime, Andy Dalziel is on the slow road to recovery from his “death” in the previous book, and has been persuaded by Cap Marvell to spend a few weeks in a nursing home, the Avalon, in Sandytown. Both Charley and Andy are keen observers of human nature, and it’s through Charley’s emails to her sister and Andy’s therapeutic revelations to Mildred, his digital dictaphone, that we meet the many personalities that make up Sandytown life. And then, during the annual hog roast, one of the most prominent of those citizens is murdered…
If any of that blurb is ringing bells for you, it may be because this novel is Hill’s homage to Jane Austen’s unfinished novel, Sanditon. Many of the names are the same or similar, and initially the various relationships between the people in the town mirror the set-up in Austen’s book. And of course Sanditon too was based around a town that was hoping to cash in on the fashion for health resorts. However, Sanditon is a mere 70 pages long – tantalising but with the story barely begun – so Hill has plenty of room to develop a plot in his own style on this meagre foundation. He liberally references Sanditon via the setting and characters but happily doesn’t try to copy Austen’s style of writing, and the characters’ behaviour is strictly contemporary with lots of hanky-panky going on that would have shocked Ms Austen to her socks.
Hill’s writing is always a pleasure, and Andy is my favourite character so I particularly enjoyed spending time in his head. His thoughts, as to be expected, are full of humour, but we also learn more about how he feels about things – his own health, his relationship with Cap, etc. Often we only see Andy through Peter’s eyes, so it’s quite a rare perspective in the series. This time we see Peter through Andy’s eyes, and I must say Peter rather suffers from it. He’s in charge while Andy is on sick leave, and although he’s perfectly competent he lacks that spark of inspiration that turns a good, painstaking detective into a great one. Andy is trying not to tread on Pete’s territory, but he has to guide him occasionally to stop him making a fool of himself. Given that Hill usually seems to favour Peter, it’s an odd and rather disconcerting change in perspective, and for once makes it very clear that Peter’s reputation for greatness derives mainly from the reflected glory of being Andy’s henchman.
Charley’s emails are done well, but are a matter of taste. I got tired of her obsession with sex – or rather, the sexiness or otherwise of every man she meets. But otherwise I found her quite fun to be with, and Hill does a reasonably good job of catching the tone of a young woman just starting out on life’s adventures. They do go on for a (very) long time before the murder happens, though, and it can get a bit wearing. I pictured her poor, long-suffering sister in Africa, receiving a twenty-five page email every day full of information about people she had never met and in all likelihood never would. She had my sympathies! But from the reader’s perspective they give a great outsider’s view of the town and its inhabitants, and Charley has the knack of wheedling out gossip from all and sundry – very useful when the investigation begins.
Unfortunately for me, this is another Franny Roote novel. I have mentioned before that I never enjoyed the character of Franny Roote nearly as much as Hill clearly did, and by this stage he’s appearing as a major character in nearly every book. By now, he has developed almost into a Moriarty character in Andy’s mind, and the ambiguity around him – is he a villain or a misunderstood victim? - has been overplayed. There’s an air of unreality around him, and while I can see that Hill is doing that intentionally, it still doesn’t quite work for me.
The actual plot is fun, though, with a murder method that manages to be both gruesome and funny – a Hill trademark! The various relationships gradually veer off at tangents from Austen’s originals, and we learn the many secrets that are hidden in this small community. Plenty of twists and it all comes to a satisfying conclusion. Not quite one of the best in the series, but close, and the homage element is an added bonus for Austen fans. It’s not essential to have read Sanditon, though – the first time I read this I hadn’t heard of Sanditon, much less read it, and yet I enjoyed this book just as much. While this could theoretically be read as a standalone, I really wouldn’t recommend it – it works much better if you know Andy and Peter and their history well, and also the background to the Franny Roote strand. And the very fact that Andy is alive is a bit of a spoiler for the previous book, The Death of Dalziel! But definitely recommended to those who have made it this far in this wonderful series. 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
September 25, 2014
For parts of the book, the author uses the literary contrivance of showing his readers e-mail messages sent from a young lady in Yorkshire to her sister who is working as a nurse in Africa. It reads like Young Adult romance fiction with a measure of gossip. I found it unappealing.
No crime is committed until 165 pages into a 477-page book. I almost quit reading the story before I got that far. It was very dull and boring. The ending is unsatisfying. The author seems to be experimenting with different literary devices, and it is unfair to readers to treat them as guinea pigs. I would not recommend this book.
No crime is committed until 165 pages into a 477-page book. I almost quit reading the story before I got that far. It was very dull and boring. The ending is unsatisfying. The author seems to be experimenting with different literary devices, and it is unfair to readers to treat them as guinea pigs. I would not recommend this book.
November 4, 2015
3.5
Part epistolary novel [in emails] owing more to Agatha Christie than to Jane Austen, with far too many characters and an entertaing, convoluted plot. Had Hill divided the cast in half and then in half again, we could have come to know the characters [BIG SPOILER]
In spite of its surplus of potential culprits and creaky resolution, I enjoyed the heck out of this book and will be shelving all the Pascoe/Dalziel novels on my 'characters I love' shelf.
Part epistolary novel [in emails] owing more to Agatha Christie than to Jane Austen, with far too many characters and an entertaing, convoluted plot. Had Hill divided the cast in half and then in half again, we could have come to know the characters [BIG SPOILER]
In spite of its surplus of potential culprits and creaky resolution, I enjoyed the heck out of this book and will be shelving all the Pascoe/Dalziel novels on my 'characters I love' shelf.
July 18, 2020
Slow start almost gave up
December 2, 2024
As usual in this series there is much to enjoy. The convoluted tongue in cheek scenarios, laugh out loud descriptions and situations are all here as is Hill's unique writing style.
Unfortunately though I found the plot of this one confusing and overly complicated with way too many red herrings and flit in and out characters.
5 out of 10 at the most
Unfortunately though I found the plot of this one confusing and overly complicated with way too many red herrings and flit in and out characters.
5 out of 10 at the most
March 30, 2009
The author has taken the last unfinished novel of Jane Austen (Sandition) and set it in 21st century England. Instead of local gentry, sea cures and bathing machines, we find local gentry and development and planning to make "Sandytown" the capital of the healthy holiday.
Hill follows Austen conventions to a point - the heroine finds true love, but the main business of the novel is murder and its investigation by Daziel and Pascoe.
The novel contains its usual facsinating insights into character and motivation, and once again creates an interesting portrait of modern Yorkshire. The playing with Jane Austen's work is just icing on a very delicious cake.
Hill follows Austen conventions to a point - the heroine finds true love, but the main business of the novel is murder and its investigation by Daziel and Pascoe.
The novel contains its usual facsinating insights into character and motivation, and once again creates an interesting portrait of modern Yorkshire. The playing with Jane Austen's work is just icing on a very delicious cake.
January 3, 2015
Just finished this, and, well, as usual I'm elated at having found another good Dalziel/Pascoe and sad that this one's over. Unlike some writers (coughMarthaGrimescough), Hill hasn't gotten stale. He's even changed his writing style and pacing, so the books aren't formulaic. This one is almost epistolary (e-mail and digital recordings rather than actual letters) and while I suspected the actual culprit, it wasn't until the end that I knew... or did I? This isn't a clean/tidy solution case, it's got loose ends. Knowing Hill, they may never be wrapped up.
March 2, 2009
This was fine, not nearly as good as his best. I literally skipped the first 160 pages or so (up til the second part) because the fonts types and stylized email writing were nearly impossible to read. You can get away with bad grammer and punctuation in an email because they are short. Ten page 'emails' with no punctuation are nearly unreadable and certainly annoying. Skipping this many pages did not affect my ability to read the rest of the mystery, which I feel backs me up on my assertion that R.H. needs a good editor....
October 1, 2016
Reginald Hill wrote my favorite police procedurals. His enduring, 40 year spanning Dalziel and Pascoe series, of which this novel is one, was amazing. This is book is up to his usual standard.
If you haven't read any of them, you might want to pick up the first one, "A Clubbable Woman." His novels about Joe Sixsmith, private detective are awesome too.
It's a great shame that Reginald Hill died in 2012.
If you haven't read any of them, you might want to pick up the first one, "A Clubbable Woman." His novels about Joe Sixsmith, private detective are awesome too.
It's a great shame that Reginald Hill died in 2012.
May 30, 2021
This is the first book from series I have read. When I read the other Good Read reviews I know that those who have read a lot of these books said this was not a good one and I have to agree. Long winded and overly wordy with an incessant annoying email commentary that added nothing to the story.
I won’t let this turn me off of reading another but was glad when this story was over. A who dunnit by the end made me feel who cares?
I won’t let this turn me off of reading another but was glad when this story was over. A who dunnit by the end made me feel who cares?
January 8, 2010
Of the many Reginald Hill books I have read this is my least favorite. Dalziel is even more crude in his thoughts than his spoken word if such can be imagined. The first time reader would find Pascoe colorless.
August 8, 2011
This book picks up where Death come for the Fat Man left off. I enjoyed the variety of ways the story unfolded; as emails, transcripts of recordings, and basic narrative. There were lots of twists and turns, and they were resolved satisfactorily in the end. Reginald Hill is a great writer.
November 27, 2009
This is my night read from 11:30PM - around 1:00AM. I often wake up at three and do some owl reading as well. The book suits this light but engaging and wonderful peek into English mystery.
December 20, 2020
Too much concentration on sex and the plot was just too improbable. I also disliked the parts written in the form of emails from Charlie to her sister and Dazliel's recorded monologues.
April 8, 2020
While Dalziel is recuperating from injuries received in the previous series entry, he happens upon a series of murders in the sea-side town of Sandytown. The starting point of this book is the unfinished novel Sanditon by Jane Austen. Our ingenue is a somewhat worldly 21st century girl called Charlie. She reports her escapades in Sandytown in emails to her sister, working as a nurse in Africa. Alternately, Dalziel is recording his experiences and impressions on a personal recorder. After the first murder, one third of the way into the narrative, the book adds a more traditional third person narration. The emails are breezy, gossipy, and ungrammatical. Dalziel's take is characteristically chauvinistic and bawdy. But despite his lack of niceties, Dalziel has a pretty good take on everyone, including Charlie, whom he grows to quite admire. An old frenemy makes an appearance and contributes greatly to the plot and Charlie's emails also contribute to the investigation. The police, including Dalziel, engage in some legally questionable recording of witnesses. I've not read much of this series, and not for a long time, but I was quite taken with it.
April 8, 2022
Surely the most ludicrous attempt to complete Jane Austen's Sanditon that ever there was. It would be stretching it to say that this puts it squarely in the spirit of the original, but the original was also very silly.
The original, of course, was not a whodunnit, nor was everyone having sex with everyone else, as it seems they are here. There is something slightly tawdry about these late Dalziel & Pascoes, but there is so much invention and panache, and they are bursting with life as well as death, that it just about holds together. We have at least three narrators here (this is certainly one way of padding out a merely moderately complex plot, though RH's attempt to do hundreds of pages of the long emails of a recent psychology graduate to her sister does get a bit wearing - it doesn't quite ring true and there's only so much bad spelling and punctuation that one can take) and a flurry of arrests and false finales worthy of Trent's Last Case.
There is a certain complacenly in the treatment (geddit!?) of the convalescing Dalziel, a character who, like Sherlock Holmes, and with social and moral flaws notwithstanding, is a bit too good to be true. But this is always a risk with a long-running crime series, and the virtuosity of the display just about distracts the reader from the comfortable fondness of the whole and the cheap repartee of some of the parts.
The original, of course, was not a whodunnit, nor was everyone having sex with everyone else, as it seems they are here. There is something slightly tawdry about these late Dalziel & Pascoes, but there is so much invention and panache, and they are bursting with life as well as death, that it just about holds together. We have at least three narrators here (this is certainly one way of padding out a merely moderately complex plot, though RH's attempt to do hundreds of pages of the long emails of a recent psychology graduate to her sister does get a bit wearing - it doesn't quite ring true and there's only so much bad spelling and punctuation that one can take) and a flurry of arrests and false finales worthy of Trent's Last Case.
There is a certain complacenly in the treatment (geddit!?) of the convalescing Dalziel, a character who, like Sherlock Holmes, and with social and moral flaws notwithstanding, is a bit too good to be true. But this is always a risk with a long-running crime series, and the virtuosity of the display just about distracts the reader from the comfortable fondness of the whole and the cheap repartee of some of the parts.
May 10, 2018
This is a classic British mystery series featuring Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel and Chief Inspector Peter Pascoe. Since this is #23 in the series, their relationship is well established and fans of this series must gobble up each new book. In this one, a murder is committed near a clinic in which Dalziel is recuperating from an injury and he gets pulled into the case despite Pascoe's desire to solve the mystery himself. Part of the story is told in emails that a young woman who is visiting the area sends to her sister and other parts are told by Dalziel in taped messages that his surgeon has recommended as a way to recover from his coma. Anyone who enjoys a good British mystery, will like this series.
January 15, 2021
This time Hill takes on Austin. I have “Sanditon” sitting in my VCR so must now watch it. Lots of old friends... if Franny Roote is a friend... and with only one book left (sniff!) I don’t know if we’ll get to know Sandy any better.
victim set up. . . suspects in place . . . motives well established . . . great detective on the spot . . . all waiting for a writer to give them the nod . . .
This is the first time I’ve ever seen a character boss his author around!
victim set up. . . suspects in place . . . motives well established . . . great detective on the spot . . . all waiting for a writer to give them the nod . . .
This is the first time I’ve ever seen a character boss his author around!
March 18, 2018
Good story, but the format took getting used to; alternating between a character's emails to her sister, and Dalziel's ravings into a voice recorder. It eventually returns to a normal narrative, with occasional lapses serving as glosses for off-page action. One book left in the series, as far as I can tell, and it's still hard to tell which side Franny Roote is playing for.
August 22, 2017
A bit long, but certainly not slow, Hill's modern murder mystery take on Austen's Sanditon takes liberties but doesn't mock the original, even if the best parts for me were at the very beginning. The character of Charley and her gossipy emails to her sister were pure reading joy, likewise the lovely Tom Parker and his daughter Minnie. Some plot bits were a stretch and I'd have enjoyed much more Diana Parker but the beauty and humor made this a four-star book. I'm not sure if I'll try out the rest of the series or not.
March 11, 2019
Fooled by a different cover.
November 1, 2018
This one was a real challenge for me to stay up with the characters and the plot lines. Could be my concentration level was not up to snuff, but I found it hard to read, even compared to the other Dalziel (Dale) and Pascoe books.
February 23, 2021
Great story, disappointing ending. That is how I can quickly sum up this book.
I really, really enjoyed where the story was going, the inter-woven relationships, the wide variety of characters, the history. However, for a novel that kept building and building right until the very end - I was left feeling a little flat.
The book skips between telling us the story in real time and learning about it third hand through emails and voice recordings. I've read a lot of negative feedback about the email/voice recording sections of the book but I personally found no problem with it. It added a little depth by viewing different perspectives of the same situations.
Now, I should also mention that this is an instalment in a collection of stories. You can read it as a stand alone however you will miss a little background and pre-knowledge of the main characters Dalziel & Pascoe.
Our tale centres on the seaside location of Sandytown, a place dedicated to healing and alternative therapies. Leading up to the Festival of Health, newcomer Charlotte Heywood finds herself in the midst of a bunch of colourful characters whilst staying with one of the festival organisers and his family. As a budding psychologist the town and its new age approaches are fascinating to Charlotte. However, amongst all of the health and well-being is Lady D and her fortune-seeking family.
When a gruesome murder is discovered, the biggest question around town is who has the most to gain from the recent untimely death.
Luckily Pascoe is quickly on the scene and together with Superintendent Dalziel - who is staying in Sandytown recovering from a recent trauma - and fresh insight from Charlotte, they eventually wade through the never-ending amount of suspects to find the killer. Unfortunately, it just isn't as satisfying as you might hope for.
Have you read it? What did you think?
I really, really enjoyed where the story was going, the inter-woven relationships, the wide variety of characters, the history. However, for a novel that kept building and building right until the very end - I was left feeling a little flat.
The book skips between telling us the story in real time and learning about it third hand through emails and voice recordings. I've read a lot of negative feedback about the email/voice recording sections of the book but I personally found no problem with it. It added a little depth by viewing different perspectives of the same situations.
Now, I should also mention that this is an instalment in a collection of stories. You can read it as a stand alone however you will miss a little background and pre-knowledge of the main characters Dalziel & Pascoe.
Our tale centres on the seaside location of Sandytown, a place dedicated to healing and alternative therapies. Leading up to the Festival of Health, newcomer Charlotte Heywood finds herself in the midst of a bunch of colourful characters whilst staying with one of the festival organisers and his family. As a budding psychologist the town and its new age approaches are fascinating to Charlotte. However, amongst all of the health and well-being is Lady D and her fortune-seeking family.
When a gruesome murder is discovered, the biggest question around town is who has the most to gain from the recent untimely death.
Luckily Pascoe is quickly on the scene and together with Superintendent Dalziel - who is staying in Sandytown recovering from a recent trauma - and fresh insight from Charlotte, they eventually wade through the never-ending amount of suspects to find the killer. Unfortunately, it just isn't as satisfying as you might hope for.
Have you read it? What did you think?
June 7, 2022
Death Didn't Come For the Fat Man, so he went into a poncy rehab facility and his raunchy self went on for another adventure in which he met his match with the visiting, stud-obsessed Charlie Heywood. We hear from them both in Andy Dalziel's recordings and Charlie's emails, a pefect vehicle to, in Andy's case, work the crime, while Charlie introduces the plethora of characters.
When there's a murder, Chief Inspector Peter Pascoe leads the investigation, along with Wield, Novello and Bowler. Andy has regrets about not being the Superintendent this time.
Not using apostrophes in the emails in which much of this tale is told drove me nuts. Some like "Ive" were easy, but "shed" for "she'd" made me stumble almost every time. Plus, I had two handicaps: I made my living as an editor and I'm not a Jane Austen fan, so I missed the subtext. Mispellings of words like "receive/recieve" made me super angry at the sloppiness of the editing until I realized they were consistent, and even the worst copy editor could not have missed them all; and of course, they turned out to be an element of the mystery.
To my delight, the story has all the usual sarcastic descriptions. The hypocondriac Diana the Diva "spends so much time lying at death's door to be a real hindrance to the milkman." An herbalist is described as someone "you could have sprayed green and sold as a pixie in a garden center."
Glad you're still with us, Andy. So sorry Reginald Hill is not. But the density of previous works makes it possible to enjoy them again upon re-reading.
When there's a murder, Chief Inspector Peter Pascoe leads the investigation, along with Wield, Novello and Bowler. Andy has regrets about not being the Superintendent this time.
Not using apostrophes in the emails in which much of this tale is told drove me nuts. Some like "Ive" were easy, but "shed" for "she'd" made me stumble almost every time. Plus, I had two handicaps: I made my living as an editor and I'm not a Jane Austen fan, so I missed the subtext. Mispellings of words like "receive/recieve" made me super angry at the sloppiness of the editing until I realized they were consistent, and even the worst copy editor could not have missed them all; and of course, they turned out to be an element of the mystery.
To my delight, the story has all the usual sarcastic descriptions. The hypocondriac Diana the Diva "spends so much time lying at death's door to be a real hindrance to the milkman." An herbalist is described as someone "you could have sprayed green and sold as a pixie in a garden center."
Glad you're still with us, Andy. So sorry Reginald Hill is not. But the density of previous works makes it possible to enjoy them again upon re-reading.
March 2, 2009
I seem to be giving a lot of books a 4 star rating lately. Maybe I'm feeling generous, maybe I've just been reading a lot of good books. If you have never read a Reginald Hill book, don't start with this one. This is the 23rd book in the series and relationships develop along the way and there is quite a lot of references to earlier books. The other problem with the book (discounting the fact that it's 500 pages long) is that about half of the book is told through a major character emailing her sister in Africa and giving the sister her view of reality--which changes, and Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel speaking into a small recording device that his doctor gave him to record his feelings and impressions. Unless you were a fan of the series, those conceits might have made continuity an issue. But fan that I am, I loved the book and it had just enough twists and turns to satisfy.
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