Blood Sympathy

Joe Sixsmith #1

by Reginald Hill

Private investigator Joe Sixsmith suddenly finds himself going from dozing in his office to being hired by a self-proclaimed dabbler in the dark arts to retrieve a stolen locket. There's also a man who dreams he's murdered his entire family and two thugs who think Joe's in possession of several kilos of heroin. In addition to all this chaos, he has his meddlesome aunt trying to fix him up with marriage candidates.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Humor, Mystery Thriller, British Literature

251 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

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

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read by Simon Williamson: 8 Hours

Description: PI can mean many things, but can it really mean a balding, middle-agd redundant lathe operator from a high rise in Luton, Beds? Joe Sixsmith thinks it can. His Aunt Mirabelle thinks you'd have to be crazy to hire him, and Joe's current clients certainly fit the bill. One seems to be confessing to the brutal murder of his whole family; another thinks she's a witch. Alongside them, the two heavies who believe Joe is hiding their illicit drugs seem almost normal.

This is a step up from recent encounters with Spillane and Cleeves. I immediately liked Sixsmith, a middle-aged, balding British born man of colour with the cat who has a white eye-patch. Luton as setting was also a plus. I have more of this series hanging about and look forward to them.

3* A Clubbable Woman (Dalziel & Pascoe, #1)
3* Ruling Passion (Dalziel & Pascoe, #3)
3* A Killing Kindness (Dalziel & Pascoe, #6)
3* Bones and Silence (Dalziel & Pascoe, #11)

3* The Woodcutter

3* Blood Sympathy (Joe Sixsmith, #1)

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the world of Joe Sixsmith. I love all the characters, his cases and their solutions (outstanding), his cat (what a cat!), and even how his personal life is interwoven with his investigations.

Yes, I'm in love with this series. We were meant for each other. Sigh!

[Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This contains enough casual racism to make the modern progressive reader weary (in fact I was surprised to see that it was written in 1993 since it seems way more dated than that), but besides all that, it is also really, really funny, so it's got that going for it.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the first of a series, we meet Joe Sixsmith, a black British ex-machinist turned private investigator. Joe’s beer-drinking cat is his sidekick, and in this short book, they deal with a number of cases as best they can while fending off the match-making efforts of Joe’s aunt. At least, Joe (and his author) have a sense of humor.

[Paula R C R. C. Readman · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took awhile to gel with this book but the storyline was full of twist and turns. The main character isn’t your normal run of the mill PI but that added to the plot line.

[Flapidouille · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is nothing like the masterpiece The Woodcutter, but you can feel the writer having great fun writing it, and so it is for the reader!
The whole (if dated) aventure is told with much wit.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this series. This is probably not the best of them, I'd say that prize goes to the final book.

Graet character and great stories.

[Grey Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was surprisingly excellent! The pink cover almost made me not borrow it from the library, but there was nothing girly about the story. I have no idea if Luton has any of the places he mentions within it, in fact reading the disclaimer on the front maybe it doesn't, but the IDEA of these places is the same idea as Walford or Sunhill, and fitted the grittiness of the story.

The hero is a fun guy, with a cat. I can relate to cats. After a few misadventures turn out OK, you know he's going to get through to the end in some sort of triumph, but the joy is finding out how.

This story reminded me in many ways of Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently, and I read it in one sitting, at night, finishing at 01:30am, so that should be a recommendation of itself!

[Kirsty Darbyshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun stuff. Having read so many of the Dalziel and Pascoe books I know that Hill can turn his hand to any kind of story he likes so I wasn't afraid of trying his non Dalziel and Pascoe books. This is a different kind of crime book, I was never too sure how close to reality we were - it's a bit of a farce, a bit of a caper, a lot of a funny crime novel and mainly just very enjoyable to read.

And I love the message in the front: "This novel is set in a town called Luton in Bedfordshire which has nothing to do with the town called Luton in Bedfordshire.", or words to that effect. That's kind of the way the humour in the book goes too. I'll be back for more of Joe Sixsmith.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. I liked the humor and the characters are quite endearing.

The plotting is extremely half-assed though, which probably doesn't bode well for the rest of the series. That's a shame because the prose itself is strong.

(And is it even possible to slit the throats of four sober people while they all sit around the tea table? I'm going to say definitely not, although this doesn't seem to bother any of the detectives on the case.)

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very funny detective story - with fine cat humor.

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not hardboiled after all. Rather nice, serendipitous

[Dee Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reginald Hill was outspoken in his novels against the tyrannies of racism. But he was from a different age, and his own, inadvertent racism is displayed here. Joe Sixsmith is a laid-off lathe operator who decides to become a private investigator. He is balding, smaller than average, and no fighter. He is kind, with a big heart--but he's not that smart. Throughout this work he follows rather than leads and is, for the most part, just lucky. Comparing him with Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins reveals the issues: Joe is really not cut out for his chosen profession, while Easy is brilliant, knows the back streets like the back of his hand, and can take, and throw, a punch. By the time the novel neared its end, I became frustrated that even the woman his nosy aunt's trying to set him up with is constantly berating him as unfit to be a PI.

I'm hoping the next 5 books in the series proves her--and me--wrong. I'm hoping this first novel isn't merely a display of the subliminal racism that infects most older white people who have no relationships with people of color. It's not Hill's fault; it's the system. How could he not be affected by Britain's centuries of colonialism and exploitation so explicitly based on race?

For a really great crime series, check out Louise Penny's on Inspector Gamache, now 18 books worth reading in order, as the residents of Three Pines develop realistically. For even more, try Simenon's Inspector Maigret series--75 books! These can be read in any order or none.

[Hayley Shaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great, funny book. Joe Sixsmith is a regular, run of the mill Private Investigator who lives with his cat. The most exciting thing that has come across his desk for a while is a request for him to prove a spouse is cheating. One day that all changes. In a series of astonishing coincidences, he finds three sets of clients that will lead him right into the middle of a complex investigation. A man comes into his office saying he needs to report he knows a murder will happen because he dreamed of it. A lady comes into his office and asks whether she can be helped because her husband is being held in an immigration mix up. A lady who believes she is a witch and someone is out to get her (another witch) asks for a small favor. Can Joe see the connections between these people and their cases before his life - - and the lives of those he loves - - are placed in imminent danger? Or is it too late already?

[M. O'Gannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blood Sympathy – A Joe Sixsmith Detective Novel – 1993 - ***1/2 – First book in the Joe Sixsmith series – an unsophisticated inexperienced detective who is black, balding, and way down to earth with a cat as a buddy. Good dialogue, some surprises, a little romance, some crusty characters. The book was an entertaining read but does not really qualify as a who done it – more of a light thriller. Dialogue is sound, plenty of action, very limited slow spots, some self-introspection but not as complete a package as a reader may like. I may or may not read another Joe Sixsmith novel, but I will try another novel by this author.

[Lila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hill tries his hand at the humorous cat mystery in this first of the Joe Sixsmith mysteries as he also addresses preconceptions and biases. The cat goes with the detective on his cases, drinks beer out of pub ashtrays, and works on his 5-year project of trying to get into the fridge. Humorous and diverting.

[Kevin Wadlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laid off after 20 years in a British machine shop, Joe Sixsmith opens a down-in-the-dumps PI office. Along with his faithful companion, a cat. Joe knows he doesn't know everything but keeps plugging along with his "operatives" - a helpful lawyer, cab driver and other unpaid friends. Reginald Hill, author of the better-known "Dalziel and Pascoe" series, lightens the series up.

[Wolfgang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to the audio version read by Simon J. Williamson and I think this is one of the rate times where the term "delightful" might be employed. Williamson is a great vocal actor, who doesn't overdo it. The story is nice and twisted as I like my English crime novels and the characters are stereotypically quirky enough to make listening to it while walking the dog a real pleasure.

[Terry Simpkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A completely unique take on the PI genre: Sixsmith isn’t very bright, or tough, or courageous. But he’s lucky and persistent, kind, and a cat dad. Hill manages to touch on all kinds of social themes at the same time - racism (Sixsmith is black), dating, what losing one’s job does to a man, male friendship - all with a deft, light touch. A surprising winner for me

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Reginald Hill's humor! I have finished the Pascoe and Dalziel books and thought I would start on the Joe Sixsmith ones. This first one was good. I love his Auntie, the choir, the detective work, and his love life, if he can find one to suit Auntie!

[Cisco · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this 5-book series entertaining and endearing - further comments filed with book 5.

[Margaret Kirchner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first of the Joe Sixsmith series. Joe is a likeable sleuth who seems to bumble through life but has a great gift for detective work.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Reginald Hill series. Likely won’t read the remaining installments in the series.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humor and mystery

I enjoyed this book. It held my interest with humorous dialogue, a lot of action, and good writing. I'll certainly read more books by Reginald Hill.

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable romp through the case files of inexperienced Luton private eye and ex-welder Joe Sixsmith

[Rebecca M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book, lots of Joe. Chums and sweetness of life. Joes mind was a trip.
I think I would’ve enjoyed it better had I read the book instead of listened to. The narrator had a strong accent.

[Victoria Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly kept getting confused on who was who and kept thinking the cat was a human several times. The story is interesting, but I just really didn't get much out of it.

[Lisa Main · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. Loved the cat!

[Judy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t finish this. Life is too short to try to power through books that you just don’t like.

[Mare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book with it's interesting characters. Looking forward to reading the next one.