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Dalziel & Pascoe #20
Death's Jest
Sometimes a monster can hide behind a maskof civilized, urbane intelligence.
Sometimes the most terrible of crimes can go undetected and unpunished.
Sometimes Death has a wicked sense of humor ...
547 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 7, 2002
93 people are currently reading
550 people want to read
About the author
Reginald Hill
154 books504 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 93 reviews
January 25, 2021
I should win a prize or something because how much I jump head first into series without reading them in order. It didn't matter much in this novel, I enjoyed it a lot anyway. Thought it was well written and well paced, liked the characters and the mystery was interesting to read about. Need to find other books in the series
January 20, 2023
A double review of two books in the Dalziel and Pascoe series that really have to be seen as Parts 1 and 2 of the same story. I’m posting this double review on both books.
Dialogues of the Dead (Dalziel and Pascoe 19)
5 stars
When an AA man dies after apparently falling from a bridge, it is assumed to be an accident. Then a young musician crashes his car into a tree and dies, again put down to accident. But at the local library, librarians Dick Dee and Rye Pomona are going through the massive pile of entries to a short story competition in the local paper when they come across anonymous stories that show another side to these deaths, and it appears they must have been written before the deaths were reported in the media. As Dalziel and Pascoe begin to investigate, there’s another death, then another, and it appears obvious the team have a serial killer on their hands. The killer is soon nicknamed the Wordman, since each death is accompanied by another short story. Meantime, new member of the team, “Hat” Bowler, is falling in love…
I had forgotten just how good this one is! It’s a wonderful blend of light and dark, and full of Hill’s trademark love of words and wordplay, which this time he puts at the centre of the story by filling the Wordman’s written “confessions” with literary “clues”, and by involving the librarians – Dick Dee especially loves to play word games. There’s a huge cast – essential, since so many of them will be bumped off and there need to be enough left as suspects. It’s mainly set among the self-styled great and good of the town, and Hill has excelled himself in creating characters who stay just the right side of caricature. Dalziel is on fine form, which means the book is full of humour, but Hill is expert at suddenly changing the mask from comedy to tragedy – the murders are dark enough, but the Wordman’s confessions take us deep into a troubled and damaged mind.
The denouement is tense and thrilling, and the solution shocks. And we’re left with the reader knowing more about what happened than Dalziel and Pascoe. They think that everything has finally been wrapped up, maybe not neatly, but securely. However…
* * * * *
Death’s Jest-Book (Dalziel and Pascoe 20)
4 stars
It’s impossible to see this one as anything other than as Part Two of Dialogues of the Dead. Unlike many of the books in the series, this one does not stand on its own – anyone trying to read it without having read the one before would probably be completely lost, or at the very least feel as if important stuff had been left out. As a result, I’m not giving a little blurb, since almost anything I say about this one could spoil the last one. I’d also say to anyone who’s reading the series in order, make room to read these two one after the other – they’re both intricately plotted and having the details of the first one fresh in your mind helps when reading the second.
Oddly, although it is a sequel of sorts, this one doesn’t work nearly as well as the first, in my opinion. Hill had obviously become fascinated by the character of Franny Roote over the course of the series – a man who appeared in one of the early cases and reappears in several of the later ones, becoming a kind of nemesis for Peter Pascoe. In this one we get screeds of letters he writes to Pascoe which take up probably around a third of the book, and while they’re interesting, often amusing and, of course, well written, they slow the main plot down to a crawl. I’m afraid I never found Franny quite as entertaining as Hill clearly thought he was, although he provides an interesting study in psychology both of himself and of Pascoe’s reaction to him. I’m not sure the psychology is completely convincing, though.
The other aspect that weakens this one is very hard to discuss without spoilers, so forgive my vagueness. As I said above, at the end of Dialogues of the Dead, the reader knows more than the characters. This continues throughout Death's Jest-Book, which is basically the story of Dalziel and the team gradually realising that their knowledge is incomplete and trying to fill the gap. Hat’s love story continues too but, knowing what we know, we more or less know how that will work out. So all through we’re watching the characters learning about things the reader already knows. Of course it’s more complex than that makes it sound, and there’s still all the usual stuff that makes Hill so enjoyable – the writing, the language, the regular characters, secondary plots, moral dilemmas – but the pace is very slow, and plot-wise it doesn’t build the same level of tension. It’s good – just not as good as the first part of this story, and being a sequel of sorts it’s impossible to avoid making that comparison.
* * * * *
In summary, then, together the two books form one massive story – both books individually are chunksters. Dialogues of the Dead is excellent and could be read separately as a standalone, although the reader is likely to feel that there are some loose ends. Death’s Jest-Book is good but with some structural weaknesses, and is very much a sequel or second part. It doesn’t work well as a standalone, and should be read soon after Dialogues of the Dead while the details are fresh.
Dialogues of the Dead (Dalziel and Pascoe 19)
5 stars
When an AA man dies after apparently falling from a bridge, it is assumed to be an accident. Then a young musician crashes his car into a tree and dies, again put down to accident. But at the local library, librarians Dick Dee and Rye Pomona are going through the massive pile of entries to a short story competition in the local paper when they come across anonymous stories that show another side to these deaths, and it appears they must have been written before the deaths were reported in the media. As Dalziel and Pascoe begin to investigate, there’s another death, then another, and it appears obvious the team have a serial killer on their hands. The killer is soon nicknamed the Wordman, since each death is accompanied by another short story. Meantime, new member of the team, “Hat” Bowler, is falling in love…
I had forgotten just how good this one is! It’s a wonderful blend of light and dark, and full of Hill’s trademark love of words and wordplay, which this time he puts at the centre of the story by filling the Wordman’s written “confessions” with literary “clues”, and by involving the librarians – Dick Dee especially loves to play word games. There’s a huge cast – essential, since so many of them will be bumped off and there need to be enough left as suspects. It’s mainly set among the self-styled great and good of the town, and Hill has excelled himself in creating characters who stay just the right side of caricature. Dalziel is on fine form, which means the book is full of humour, but Hill is expert at suddenly changing the mask from comedy to tragedy – the murders are dark enough, but the Wordman’s confessions take us deep into a troubled and damaged mind.
The denouement is tense and thrilling, and the solution shocks. And we’re left with the reader knowing more about what happened than Dalziel and Pascoe. They think that everything has finally been wrapped up, maybe not neatly, but securely. However…
* * * * *
Death’s Jest-Book (Dalziel and Pascoe 20)
4 stars
It’s impossible to see this one as anything other than as Part Two of Dialogues of the Dead. Unlike many of the books in the series, this one does not stand on its own – anyone trying to read it without having read the one before would probably be completely lost, or at the very least feel as if important stuff had been left out. As a result, I’m not giving a little blurb, since almost anything I say about this one could spoil the last one. I’d also say to anyone who’s reading the series in order, make room to read these two one after the other – they’re both intricately plotted and having the details of the first one fresh in your mind helps when reading the second.
Oddly, although it is a sequel of sorts, this one doesn’t work nearly as well as the first, in my opinion. Hill had obviously become fascinated by the character of Franny Roote over the course of the series – a man who appeared in one of the early cases and reappears in several of the later ones, becoming a kind of nemesis for Peter Pascoe. In this one we get screeds of letters he writes to Pascoe which take up probably around a third of the book, and while they’re interesting, often amusing and, of course, well written, they slow the main plot down to a crawl. I’m afraid I never found Franny quite as entertaining as Hill clearly thought he was, although he provides an interesting study in psychology both of himself and of Pascoe’s reaction to him. I’m not sure the psychology is completely convincing, though.
The other aspect that weakens this one is very hard to discuss without spoilers, so forgive my vagueness. As I said above, at the end of Dialogues of the Dead, the reader knows more than the characters. This continues throughout Death's Jest-Book, which is basically the story of Dalziel and the team gradually realising that their knowledge is incomplete and trying to fill the gap. Hat’s love story continues too but, knowing what we know, we more or less know how that will work out. So all through we’re watching the characters learning about things the reader already knows. Of course it’s more complex than that makes it sound, and there’s still all the usual stuff that makes Hill so enjoyable – the writing, the language, the regular characters, secondary plots, moral dilemmas – but the pace is very slow, and plot-wise it doesn’t build the same level of tension. It’s good – just not as good as the first part of this story, and being a sequel of sorts it’s impossible to avoid making that comparison.
* * * * *
In summary, then, together the two books form one massive story – both books individually are chunksters. Dialogues of the Dead is excellent and could be read separately as a standalone, although the reader is likely to feel that there are some loose ends. Death’s Jest-Book is good but with some structural weaknesses, and is very much a sequel or second part. It doesn’t work well as a standalone, and should be read soon after Dialogues of the Dead while the details are fresh.
December 25, 2016
I always marvel at the complexity of the Dalziel and Pascoe series by Reginald Hill. The books take you to places in the past and present that you don't expect at all. This is one of his better ones. It starts out during Christmas which was kind of fun, however that's only part of the story. This is a continuation of the people in Dialogues of the Dead that included a rookie police officer, Bowler, who inevitably acquires the nickname of "Hat." In that book, he rescued the beautiful Rye Pomona and nearly died in the process. Now he is recovering, he and Rye are madly in love. Unfortunately she is carrying around some secrets. In the meantime, Pascoe is being plagued by letters from Franny Roote who, having spent some time in prison thanks to Pascoe, is now out and has acquired an MA in literature and is beginning to make a name for himself. However, Pascoe is sure that he is up to no good. Then there is the famous Eldreth Hoard, a treasure that is being moved and has some bad guys eyeing it. There are competing story lines including references to the original Death's Jest-Book by Thomas Beddoes, a poet who was obsessed by death. This has so many complications and subplots that it's impossible to really go into too much depth without giving a lot away. Suffice it to say that things get wrapped up in the end but rather messily and with a twist as always.
October 19, 2017
This is the first book that I have read by this author. It is from the middle part of a series. I'm not sure if these need to be read in order. It took a little while to get going but someone familiar with the series may feel differently.
Essentially this is a well written novel that just happens to be about police officers, their relationships to colleagues, to families and to loved ones. The crime element seems to be secondary to character development. I can't remember the last time a crime novel sent me, more than once, to spend time with the dictionary. (I say that as a good thing)
If all the rest of the series is as well written then I highly recommend it. I would note, that if you are looking for a Raymond Chandler type page turner, you will be disappointed. If you are willing to spend some time enjoying a well written novel, you won't be.
Essentially this is a well written novel that just happens to be about police officers, their relationships to colleagues, to families and to loved ones. The crime element seems to be secondary to character development. I can't remember the last time a crime novel sent me, more than once, to spend time with the dictionary. (I say that as a good thing)
If all the rest of the series is as well written then I highly recommend it. I would note, that if you are looking for a Raymond Chandler type page turner, you will be disappointed. If you are willing to spend some time enjoying a well written novel, you won't be.
December 16, 2012
This is superb. Gripping, convincing characters, humour. It had me constantly thinking about the plot, characters and locations when I had to put it down to react to the real world. It made me feel that it had some deep meaning and that I would be enriched by finishing it. It also made me go and read the original by Thomas Beddoes.
I think this is what reviewers mean when they say a book is "immersive". Death's Jest-Book
I think this is what reviewers mean when they say a book is "immersive". Death's Jest-Book
June 21, 2018
This long mystery builds heavily on the events of a prior book, which I read years ago and didn’t remember very well. Why such a long book? Each character has his/her own ongoing story, and there are a lot of characters to keep up with, some more interesting than others. If you haven’t met Dalziel, Pascoe, Ellie, Wield, Novello, and the rest of the cast of characters, don’t start here! If you have met them, I’d recommend reading the prior book first.
April 3, 2018
It's not often that you read a murder mystery that has you in tears at the end, but this is one of them. By the time I got to the last of its 669 pages, I wasn't surprised that Hill needed them all to tell the story.
A great deal and nothing much happens in those pages. Unusually, no murder investigation takes place. Mysteries from previous books are resolved, possibly. The big crime itself is more or less incidental to everything else that happens, and the way in which it's going to happen and its perpetrators are obvious to the reader, although not to the police. It does, however, provide a fitting climax.
The novel is about love, both requited and unrequited. There is new love, which sweeps the participants off their feet, one of them finding redemption, the other great loss and despair. Parental love, or lack thereof, is explored in many ways. There is the father who has spoiled his son, in all senses of the word, and loses him. Other parents abandon their children. Two of the characters are young men who had been left to shift for themselves at an early age, which doesn't turn out well for either of them. Then there is the parental love that will give and risk everything to save the child. It's about the things people will do to save the ones they love, to revenge them, or even just to get their attention.
It's also about fathers and sons, and surrogate fathers and sons. There are relationships that destroy and relationships that heal and there's more than a hint that leopards can change their spots.
Most of all, of course, it's about death. The book encompasses all kinds of death - accidental, suicide, murder and manslaughter. Many people die in the course of the few weeks covered by the novel. Hill is quite perverse about the ways in which these deaths are presented. There are two deaths which, if you read about them in a newspaper, would probably bring a tear to your eye, but which are almost incidental in the novel. There are another two deaths which would hardly touch you, again if you read them in a newspaper, but are a blow to the reader.
There are many loose ends in the book, but these are not to its detriment. Two of the deaths might be murder, or they might be accidental. An ancient manuscript might or might not have destroyed. A man might or might not have been trying to terrorise a young woman. The reader cannot know with certainty.
A great deal and nothing much happens in those pages. Unusually, no murder investigation takes place. Mysteries from previous books are resolved, possibly. The big crime itself is more or less incidental to everything else that happens, and the way in which it's going to happen and its perpetrators are obvious to the reader, although not to the police. It does, however, provide a fitting climax.
The novel is about love, both requited and unrequited. There is new love, which sweeps the participants off their feet, one of them finding redemption, the other great loss and despair. Parental love, or lack thereof, is explored in many ways. There is the father who has spoiled his son, in all senses of the word, and loses him. Other parents abandon their children. Two of the characters are young men who had been left to shift for themselves at an early age, which doesn't turn out well for either of them. Then there is the parental love that will give and risk everything to save the child. It's about the things people will do to save the ones they love, to revenge them, or even just to get their attention.
It's also about fathers and sons, and surrogate fathers and sons. There are relationships that destroy and relationships that heal and there's more than a hint that leopards can change their spots.
Most of all, of course, it's about death. The book encompasses all kinds of death - accidental, suicide, murder and manslaughter. Many people die in the course of the few weeks covered by the novel. Hill is quite perverse about the ways in which these deaths are presented. There are two deaths which, if you read about them in a newspaper, would probably bring a tear to your eye, but which are almost incidental in the novel. There are another two deaths which would hardly touch you, again if you read them in a newspaper, but are a blow to the reader.
There are many loose ends in the book, but these are not to its detriment. Two of the deaths might be murder, or they might be accidental. An ancient manuscript might or might not have destroyed. A man might or might not have been trying to terrorise a young woman. The reader cannot know with certainty.
December 29, 2014
Wow! Just wow! Another great Dalziel & Pascoe mystery. Though, I feel this volume exceeds the mystery genre. Several parallel storylines wind through this story and eventually end up intertwining at the end of the story.
Engaging, thrilling, and just plain fun! Pascoe, Dalziel, Ellie, Wieldy, and the new addition "Hat" Bowler are like a family who I love to visit again and again.
Engaging, thrilling, and just plain fun! Pascoe, Dalziel, Ellie, Wieldy, and the new addition "Hat" Bowler are like a family who I love to visit again and again.
March 12, 2024
Disappointed.
Dalziel as good as ever. But otherwise Uncertain tone. The letter sequence to Pascoe is a dreadful device badly done. The romantic poet sounds more like the obsessions of a renaissance standard. The Bowler related plot line is almost as bad.
My first Dalziel and Pascoe, whose threads this volume picks up on, sucked me in to Hill’s writing. I think I have had my fill.
Dalziel as good as ever. But otherwise Uncertain tone. The letter sequence to Pascoe is a dreadful device badly done. The romantic poet sounds more like the obsessions of a renaissance standard. The Bowler related plot line is almost as bad.
My first Dalziel and Pascoe, whose threads this volume picks up on, sucked me in to Hill’s writing. I think I have had my fill.
February 15, 2013
The story is disjointed and the list of characters confusing. Periodically the story grabs the reader with a little spurt of excitement or tension, but frequently these bouts fizzle or are left unresolved
March 23, 2013
Excellent book, intricately plotted with fascinating characters. It's beautifully written and I loved it!!
December 6, 2023
Reginald Hill's "Death's Jest-Book" is comprised of multiple interwoven and parallel narratives. The Mid-Yorkshire Police Department is currently working on several criminal cases. DCI Peter Pascoe receives long perplexing letters from Franny Roote, an ex-convict describing his academic accomplishments and trips throughout Europe. DC Hat Bowler is recuperating from an injury he got while saving the beautiful librarian, Rye Pomona. They get enamored with one another. In the meantime, DS Edgar Wield becomes involved in the rescue of Lee Lubanski, a young prostitute who informs him about the theft of a valuable treasure. Andy Dalziel, the detective superintendent, looks into the possibility of Marcus Belchamber, a dishonest attorney being involved in the theft of a priceless artifact. Charley Penn is suspected of breaking into Rye's apartment due to her and Hat’s shared involvement in the death of his best friend, Dick Dee. Charley never gave up on the idea that his pal wasn't a serial killer named Wordman. The plot of this multi-layered thriller is extremely intricate, making it challenging to follow the several subplots and the cast of characters. The story seems disconnected and in the end all the various plots merge together. The book lacks excitement or tension. The novel's only positive aspect is the excellent quality of the writing. MISFIRING.
March 4, 2022
An extended epilogue to the climactic revelations of the final pages of Dialogues of the Dead, which is an impossible act to follow. RH makes a very good stab at it here, though, surprisingly, no one is actually stabbed in this one.
The intertextuality (and quota of macabre woodcuts) is ramped up a bit, even as the clever wordplay and banter is damped down. Three stories converge: that of Thomas Beddoes (1803-1849), minor gothic literary figure, Renaissance throwback and student of medicine, whose tale is told in excerpts from the papers of a victim of the serial killer from Dialogues; that of Franny Roote, whose ludicrous picaresque anti-heroic romp through academia, Central Europe, California and Mid-Yorkshire encompasses plenty of Beddoes, bedfellows and bollocks in his breathless epistolary re-telling; the CID cast we know and love coping with the aftermath of the multiple murders and the possibility of a looming big crime of some sort involving various murky villains and lawyers.
A very pleasing non-whodunnit, which is as much a whatsgoin’onhere as anything else. RH builds the tension very capably, while we are wondering what to make of it all, and pulls off a tear-jerker of a conclusion. Say no more.
The intertextuality (and quota of macabre woodcuts) is ramped up a bit, even as the clever wordplay and banter is damped down. Three stories converge: that of Thomas Beddoes (1803-1849), minor gothic literary figure, Renaissance throwback and student of medicine, whose tale is told in excerpts from the papers of a victim of the serial killer from Dialogues; that of Franny Roote, whose ludicrous picaresque anti-heroic romp through academia, Central Europe, California and Mid-Yorkshire encompasses plenty of Beddoes, bedfellows and bollocks in his breathless epistolary re-telling; the CID cast we know and love coping with the aftermath of the multiple murders and the possibility of a looming big crime of some sort involving various murky villains and lawyers.
A very pleasing non-whodunnit, which is as much a whatsgoin’onhere as anything else. RH builds the tension very capably, while we are wondering what to make of it all, and pulls off a tear-jerker of a conclusion. Say no more.
October 7, 2022
I hesitated to give this one five stars--it's very long, and even longer when you realize that in many ways it is the continuation of the book that precedes it in the Dalziel and Pascoe series. As a pure murder mystery it fails, I guess, since there is so much going on, so much material that is apparently extraneous to the mystery, that it doesn't seem to be following the usual train tracks; but nevertheless, everything comes together in the last 75 pages in brilliant and exciting fashion. The characters are all fully drawn, the language very allusive and literate, and my main objection to the preceding book--that we are expected to believe that a serial killer is so insane that he can appear to be completely normal even to intelligent and discerning people--is more than adequately dealt with. As usual, Pascoe is too smart for his own good, and Dalziel is his usual crass ("He scratched his crotch like a boy scout trying to start a fire.") and unrepentant self, this time not quite as omniscient as usual. An extremely satisfying read that makes me want to go back (after four years) and re-read the earlier volume. I think I might enjoy it much more than the first time.
December 19, 2019
I've given this five stars mainly because it's so complex and detailed that for any author to have kept all this stuff in his head is a major achievement. But it is long/i>, some 643 pages in my copy. You have to be patient with it because it really is an oddity, even among Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe titles, with its extracts from another book, its frequent letters from that recurring Hill character, Franny Roote, its apparent solving of a crime that was solved differently in a previous book, and much more. It's clever as, but it leaves more than one death unexplained; it's almost as if they're red herrings and not murders at all.
As always there are a bunch of great characters, good and bad, some pretty scabrous stuff from Dalziel (perhaps more than usual), and a terrific ending.
As always there are a bunch of great characters, good and bad, some pretty scabrous stuff from Dalziel (perhaps more than usual), and a terrific ending.
January 1, 2020
British author with a story taking place in Britain. England. Interesting, my favorite parts of the book were the letters from Franny Roote to detective Pascoe. a lot of intertwined stories and things going on in this one. Sex, violence, the whole gamut. But I also liked the reference to obscure poet Thomas Beddoes, from which this book gets its name.
Just as an aside, Tasha and I went to a Black Keys concert at the Tacoma Dome. We were early so we walked around a bit and discovered a book store just down the street from the Dome. Lots of books and Tasha got a few and I chose this one because I was intrigued by the title.
No one really knows, where we go from here. But we all decompose, and slowly disappear. Shine a light on my soul......
Just as an aside, Tasha and I went to a Black Keys concert at the Tacoma Dome. We were early so we walked around a bit and discovered a book store just down the street from the Dome. Lots of books and Tasha got a few and I chose this one because I was intrigued by the title.
No one really knows, where we go from here. But we all decompose, and slowly disappear. Shine a light on my soul......
September 9, 2022
This book is a mystery on many levels. It's based on a book written in 1829 and actually called Death's Jest-Book, a fact I didn't know until 15 seconds ago when I looked up this Dalziel and Pascoe title on Goodreads.
I've liked the mystery series Dalziel and Pascoe on television, with the thuggy wonderful actor Warren Clarke as Dalziel. I found this book at our town's swap shop and decided to pick it up.
My daughter died two months ago, and I dont know what was going on in the life of the author Reginald Hill when he wrote this book but ... there was so much in it about death and mourning and grief and a young girl ending her life in her 20s... It was eerily appropriate and comforting to me.
It's also a completely compelling and wonderful read, a very large book at about 580 pages, with lots of erudite references and words I'd never seen before — but I flew through this novel and am looking forward to reading more in the series. I also want to find out more about the author, and see if I can learn why this book shows such a deep and true understanding of how it feels when a young person you love ends her own life and how you go on living in the aftermath.
I've liked the mystery series Dalziel and Pascoe on television, with the thuggy wonderful actor Warren Clarke as Dalziel. I found this book at our town's swap shop and decided to pick it up.
My daughter died two months ago, and I dont know what was going on in the life of the author Reginald Hill when he wrote this book but ... there was so much in it about death and mourning and grief and a young girl ending her life in her 20s... It was eerily appropriate and comforting to me.
It's also a completely compelling and wonderful read, a very large book at about 580 pages, with lots of erudite references and words I'd never seen before — but I flew through this novel and am looking forward to reading more in the series. I also want to find out more about the author, and see if I can learn why this book shows such a deep and true understanding of how it feels when a young person you love ends her own life and how you go on living in the aftermath.
January 8, 2021
Reginald Hill tried a different style, an epistolary approach. And, as usual, introduced me to someone new, Thomas Beddoes. I was happy to see Daphne, as well as more of Novello. As a side note, I’m also reading Dracula, so parts of this were easy to confuse with that.
June 26, 2024
Reginald Hill's P&D mysteries are so well written. I particularly like the character development in his stories. My particular issue with this edition, or mine, was that it was missing 33 pages due to a publishing error. Guess it added to the mystery.
May 6, 2017
A Tour de Force.
That’s what this book was intended to be, but it fell a bit short. Instead, this is a well-written, though a bit overly-long, novel of crime, murder and police work in Yorkshire, U.K. As usual, Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel and Detective Chief Inspector Peter Pascoe, along with the rest of the crew at Mid-Yorkshire CID, is hot on the heels of criminals engaged in multiple crimes. The story involves multiple, simultaneous plot lines that are complex, but not confusing. A reader would, however, find it helpful to have read the preceding book in the series, Dialogues of the Dead, before tackling this novel. Most of the familiar characters in Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe series of novels make an appearance in this story, so an acquaintance with the characters would be helpful to any reader.
The book was written by British crime writer Reginald Hill and first published by HarperCollins in Great Britain in 2002. The paperback version (which is the one I read and am reviewing) was copyrighted by the author in 2008, and published by HarperCollins in 2009. At 669 pages, this is not a short story, or a thin book.
Clearly, the author intended this novel to be his signature work of fiction, and it probably is, but barely. The story is too long to be a good mystery or police procedural, but it is masterfully written. Although the story drags a bit in some places, especially in the descriptions of the letters written by Franny Roote and sent to DCI Peter Pascoe, the author seems to bring the multiple plot threads together at the end. There are, however, several loose ends that are left untied — Frere Dierick, and the lawyer, Marcus Belchamber, for example. I also found the ending to be vaguely unsettling. It appears that the author has set the stage for another sequel because at the end of the story, we are left wondering about what will happen next to Pascoe and Detective Constable Hat Bowler. I would like to have seen a neater conclusion to the story.
You should read this book if you are a fan of the author, or of the genre. You should, however, be sure to read Dialogues of the Dead first. I rated that one an unambiguous five stars. I liked this book, but it is not the author’s best work. I flirted with an award of four stars, but felt that, after all, the story probably really deserves a five-star rating, so that is what I awarded.
The book was written by British crime writer Reginald Hill and first published by HarperCollins in Great Britain in 2002. The paperback version (which is the one I read and am reviewing) was copyrighted by the author in 2008, and published by HarperCollins in 2009. At 669 pages, this is not a short story, or a thin book.
Clearly, the author intended this novel to be his signature work of fiction, and it probably is, but barely. The story is too long to be a good mystery or police procedural, but it is masterfully written. Although the story drags a bit in some places, especially in the descriptions of the letters written by Franny Roote and sent to DCI Peter Pascoe, the author seems to bring the multiple plot threads together at the end. There are, however, several loose ends that are left untied — Frere Dierick, and the lawyer, Marcus Belchamber, for example. I also found the ending to be vaguely unsettling. It appears that the author has set the stage for another sequel because at the end of the story, we are left wondering about what will happen next to Pascoe and Detective Constable Hat Bowler. I would like to have seen a neater conclusion to the story.
You should read this book if you are a fan of the author, or of the genre. You should, however, be sure to read Dialogues of the Dead first. I rated that one an unambiguous five stars. I liked this book, but it is not the author’s best work. I flirted with an award of four stars, but felt that, after all, the story probably really deserves a five-star rating, so that is what I awarded.
October 20, 2019
Another brilliant Reginald Hill novel! However, I found my focus drifting away sometimes and couldn't help myself getting a little infuriated with Franny Root's letters. I suppose that was the writer's intention though - we are as infuriated as Pascoe at this constant interruption of a seemingly unconnected plot. The ending was satisfyingly emotional however, and the characterisation was on point as always. It was refreshing to have Edgar Wield's character developed further, and, however much I love him, it worked well for Dalziel to take more of a back seat. There aren't many writers who can push their protagonist seamlessly into the background whilst still maintaining reader investment. Hill does this as easily as breathing.
December 28, 2018
This was OK. I did feel that the late Reginald Hill's powers were waning slightly and I stopped reading after about the eleventh Dalziel and Pascoe. Then someone gave me this as a present, so...
The plot is deliberately confusing, based on a series of letters sent to Pascoe by one of his ex collars, a murderer who's served his sentence and seemingly been rehabilitated. The reader is never quite sure if that's true or not; that's part of the suspense.
Meanwhile there are a number of sub-plots, one involving DC "Hat" Bowler's girlfriend, Rye Pamona. Bowler, it seems, is recovering from an injury sustained in a previous book I haven't read, and there's also a question about whether a serial murderer has correctly been identified and caught. Oh and there's a series of robberies going down, and DS Wield has some issue with a rent-boy who wants to give him information. Follow all that? Keep up.
Anyway, read the book for the rest. I'm kind of Dalziel & Pascoed out. It wasn't bad, but I'm glad to be moving on to something else.
The plot is deliberately confusing, based on a series of letters sent to Pascoe by one of his ex collars, a murderer who's served his sentence and seemingly been rehabilitated. The reader is never quite sure if that's true or not; that's part of the suspense.
Meanwhile there are a number of sub-plots, one involving DC "Hat" Bowler's girlfriend, Rye Pamona. Bowler, it seems, is recovering from an injury sustained in a previous book I haven't read, and there's also a question about whether a serial murderer has correctly been identified and caught. Oh and there's a series of robberies going down, and DS Wield has some issue with a rent-boy who wants to give him information. Follow all that? Keep up.
Anyway, read the book for the rest. I'm kind of Dalziel & Pascoed out. It wasn't bad, but I'm glad to be moving on to something else.
January 10, 2018
I've quite forgotten how much I enjoy reading the Dalziel & Pascoe series, and this is certainly in top notch form. Something big is going on in Sheffield, and it's up to the cops to discover what it is. Franny Roote, a free man once again, now hobnobbing with academics and politicians and incidentally, leaving bodies in his wake, is haunting Pascoe through ghostly sightings and psychologically astute correspondence. Wield got himself an admirer in a rentboy who is also acting as his snout. Hat Bowler is still madly in love with Rye Pomona, while Dalziel is still worrying over the Wordman case. Of course, as the sequel to Dialogues of the Dead I knew beforehand this will not have a happy ending. Still enjoyed this one though. It's just sad there won't be any more of this series.
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January 12, 2011This book is labeled a mystery but for the first 475 pages there is no crime and then when a crime happens it is no mystery. There are some themes carried over from his previous book and what is interesting is how Mr. Hill uses those themes in this book to tell a story about each of the characters, their development and interaction with each other. So we have a mystery book with no mystery but yet you keep reading to find out what happens.
Mr. Hill has a sharp sense of humor and he can easily make you like of dislike an character regardless of their personality. He can have you cheering for the bad guy or make you wonder about the good guy.
Mr. Hill has a sharp sense of humor and he can easily make you like of dislike an character regardless of their personality. He can have you cheering for the bad guy or make you wonder about the good guy.
March 27, 2014
Ένα πολύ καλό αστυνομικό, με πλοκή που τιμά την ετυμολογία της λέξης. Ξεκινάει εκπληκτικά, κατορθώνει να δέσει έγκλημα και λογοτεχνία, έχει χαρακτήρες με τρομερό βάθος και ένα ιδιαίτερο χιούμορ, ενώ μέχρι το τέλος δεν είσαι σίγουρος για το τι έχει συμβεί. Από τη μέση και μετά απογειώνεται και δεν μπορούσα να το αφήσω. Φαντάζομαι ότι η απόλαυση για όσους έχουν διαβάσει κι άλλα βιβλία του Ηill με τους ίδιους ήρωες θα είναι διπλή -τουλάχιστον.
October 16, 2015
This is a continuation of the Wordman case which had appeared in the previous book and follows the lives of Rye Pomona the librarian and DC "Hat" Bowler add into the mix DCI Pascoe's fixation with Francis Roote who is now pursuing an academic career but is he quite who he seems? The theme is Beddoes Death's Jest Book and this is the running theme through the novel. Various interwoven threads make it a good read although a long book 669 pages in the paperback edition.
September 15, 2007
Reginald Hill and his excellent creations Peter Pascoe, a literate Yorkshire police detective, and his boss "The Fat Man" Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel, are two of the most engaging and entertaining policemen working these days. Throw in an ambience of non-London England in current time and you have a true winner in the mystery genre.
May 10, 2008
A kind of sequel to Dialogues of the Dead, which it would be useful to have read before this. It works well as a stand alone in the series, but works better as a complement to the earlier novel referred.
August 11, 2008
Good riddance, Franny Roote! I was entirely sick of him by the end of this. Diappointed more wasn't made out of the Rye/Hat situation, that could have been really good. Liked the last one so much better!
May 27, 2010
I've been re-reading a few books that I either remember fondly or don't remember much at all. This is a difficult read because of multiple complex story lines, but in the end I think I'm going to revise my rating. Hill is amazing at character development and the subtlety of evil in ordinary people.
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