Trigger warnings for animal abuse and misogyny. Don't bother. This is the most boring book since the phone book. It was advertised as a mystery, so I assumed something like Father Brown or Midsomer Murders. This is no mystery at all. This is like a guy just doing his day to day stuff. "I woke up that morning and shaved. Then I did my rounds. I found a stray dog and took it to the station. His owner showed up later and picked him up." I'm not even exaggerating.

This is a DNF but this book could use some explanation. The book follows the adventures of a young constable in Yorkshire written in the 1970s. This is not a mystery. It’s more James Herriot than Agatha Christie. I was enjoying it but it’s sexist so I decided to stop.. So I stopped.. Some people make allowances for history. But this one just felt icky!

Perfect bedtime reading.

A gentle read from a more simple time. Very enjoyable night time reading, and I am keen to read more.

I stopped reading this one after chapter 3. I thought I would enjoy it, but it just didn't capture my attention. The narrator spent a bit too much time romanticizing his way of life and demonizing anyone who disagreed with him, and it irked me.

I was in the mood for an easy, gentle read when I bought this book.

And that is exactly what it is. If you like stories set in the good old days of the 1960's, when everything could be solved with a cup of tea, then this is a book you will enjoy.

For me, it was an okay read.

Many like to say this is All Creatures Great and Small, but with police.
It is not. ACGS has humor, great storytelling, drama, and is well-written.

This has nothing of that. One could easily cut this down to 50 pages, simply by removing the extremely details descriptions and explanation. Rhea uses a langue so archaic it's almost painfull to read. It would be safe to assume that if the book was released at the turn of the century, even then the language would seem old-fashioned.

Both Constable and ACGS is set the area of Yorkshire. The dialects in both series should be very close, yet the transcribed dialogue of the locals in Constable is borderline gibberish. Herriot also used written dialect, but it was understandable for the reader.

Rhea also seems to spend a lot of effort in using animal abuse as comedic relief. Such as a police sargeant dragging a random dog from the street into his office to beat it. There's also an entire chapter ridiculing mental health issues.

Do not bother with this. It's garbage.

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Constable on the Hill is the first book of the Constable series by Nicholas Rhea which inspired the perennial favorite TV program Heartbeat. Due out 14th March 2020 from Joffe Books, this edition is 176 pages and will be available in ebook format. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

These books are a gently written and nostalgic look at village living and the life of a village policeman in Yorkshire in the last half of the 20th century. The writing is solidly comfortable and the themes bucolic and (mostly) charming. It's the book equivalent of comfort food: warm, filling, and familiar. The author's love for the people and places he writes about shine through in the narrative. It will appeal to fans of James Herriot, or the Fairacre books by Miss Read.

Four stars. It's wonderful to see these genuinely entertaining books reformatted and re-released for a new generation of readers.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes