CRIME FICTION ALPHABET: R IS FOR REGINALD HILL
I am a little late this week with posting my entry to the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme hosted by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise simply because I have been distracted by other events. It is strange that you can go quietly along for months without very much happening, and then suddenly you are facing a few very significant weeks in your life.
R is for Reginald Hill, who is one of the best of British crime writers of the past forty years. The winner of a CWA Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement in 1995, he won a Gold Dagger in 1990 for Bones and Silence. Although he has written the Joe Sixsmith, and other novels, his main claim to fame are the brilliant Dalziel and Pascoe books which have been adapted for a popular TV series starring Warren Clarke and Colin Buchanan.
There are twenty four books [one a selection of short stories] featuring Superintendent Andy Dalziel and DCI Peter Pascoe, and I have just finished reading Midnight Fugue, the most recent in the series.
Gina Wolfe's husband Alex, a cop, went missing seven years ago, after an investigation for corruption, but now a magazine photo has been sent to her with a message on notepaper from the Keldale, one of Mid- Yorkshire's poshest hotels. Her new boyfriend Commander Mick Purdy puts her in touch with the Fat Man, Andy Dalziel, who he thinks can be of assistance.
Andy is always ready to help an attractive blonde, but when he takes her to lunch at the Keldale, where coincidentally Pascoe and his wife Ellie are attending a christening party, he realizes that there are others on her trail.
The author tells a complex story from several different perspectives set over a period of 24 hours.
The plot involves a ruthless black entrepreneur, his handsome golden boy mixed-race Tory MP son, the MP's personal assistant, a Welsh tabloid journalist, and a couple of psychopathic fixers sent out to make sure the past remains in the past.
This is a brilliant read, but the plot is also very transparent, and the author drops a pair of massive clues as to how everything will turn out early on in the narrative. They are about as subtle as Andy Dalziel reaching for a pint, but this does not spoil the story proving again that larger than life characters can make up for any plot deficiencies. I really enjoyed spotting the clues and working out the inevitable ending early on, and I think Reginald Hill intended the clues to be spotted, knowing it would give the reader a self satisfied glow of pleasure, as they enjoyed the wit and humour in the book.
......Loudwater Villas was a wasteland of derelict mills that successive Bunteresque city councils promised to transform into a twenty-first-century wonderland of flats and shops and sporting arenas as soon as this postal order they were expecting daily turned up.
Midnight Fugue is dominated by the wonderfully politically incorrect Andy Dalziel, who along with his team Peter Pascoe, Shirley "Ivor" Novello and Wieldy make this one of the best police series around.
'But it tastes fine. Really.'
'Well, I'll try owt except for incest and the Lib Dems.'
One of the things I like about the current alphabet meme is that it is taking me either to new authors or back in Reginald Hill's case to a favourite from the past, who I haven't read for a long while. I will be back for more from this superb series.
'I'll have beef as well, luv, said Dalziel. 'But I'll have mine roast with Yorkshire pud and lots of spuds.'
posted by Uriah Robinson at 1:10 PM
7 Comments:
Norman - Thanks for this review. It's very nice to hear from you : ). Reginald Hill is a superbly talented writer, so I'm glad you featured him.
Despite the fact that I list reginald Hill among my favourite authors, I haven't yet read this one Norman. There is often much more to his books than just crime fiction isn't there. I have the feeling of him trying new plot ploys each time. Thanks for the review,and thanks for the support for the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme
Thanks Kerrie and Margot.
Reginald Hill is a brilliant writer, and he combines this pastiche of '24' with a touch of Golden Age clue dropping. He also takes a hefty swipe at journalists, politicians, and Britain's politically correct society.
I have read one or two Dalziel and Pasco novels but without really taking to them. This is probably a series that should be read in English because the Danish language cannot really reproduce working class dialogue.
Dorte, those of us from Southern England sometimes can't understand Northern dialects from the North East [Geordie] or the Black Country [Stoke on Trent potteries], or even dear old Glasgow.
Great stuff, Norman. Dalziel & Pascoe are brilliant characters and for once I like the TV version too. I suppose that may be because I've watched more programmes than I've read the books. I must remedy that.
Thanks Margaret. I watched this series a lot because Warren Clarke was almost exactly my image of Dalziel. The actual image I had was that of my old professor at University who was a Geordie, rather than a Yorshireman of Scottish ancestry, but he was sufficiently brusque to fit the bill.
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