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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
It is well warranted that this is one of the most famous detective series ever penned. Horned and prickly criminals sprout from the brilliant mind of Reginald Hill. The Death of Dalziel is packed with innovative twists and amusement-park-worthy turns. These are animated characters and the dark plot is expertly shaded with touches of slapdash lightheartedness.
Hill produced some particularity zippy books that are intricate whodunits. They read with effortless breeze.
This entry is later in the series but it matters little. If you are even a moderate fan of the genre and stumble across a used Dalziel and Pascoe paperback, pick it up. There's not a dud in the series.
Hill produced some particularity zippy books that are intricate whodunits. They read with effortless breeze.
This entry is later in the series but it matters little. If you are even a moderate fan of the genre and stumble across a used Dalziel and Pascoe paperback, pick it up. There's not a dud in the series.
Two mutton pasties, an almond slice and a custard tart are not the normal order that a superior officer would give to a subordinate faced with a possible armed siege. But then, Andy Dalziel's never been one for all that official mucking about and Hector's never been one that anybody really believes. Number 3 Mill Street, an Asian and Arab specialist Video store, is an address flagged for low level interest by the Combined Anti-Terrorism Unit. Inspector Ireland's not convinced that Dalziel is taking this seriously enough. Inevitably he has to ring Peter Pascoe to tell him about this latest grievance with the Fat Man's response but what Peter doesn't expect is that it is Ellie that nudges him from his Bank Holiday hammock musing that Andy may need to be discouraged from starting his own Gulf War.
Meanwhile Andy is breaking every single rule in the CAT book. No roadblocks, no observation, no holding off until the CAT group can respond, and Andy hunkered down behind his car on the other side of the street, waving a bullhorn around and inviting the people in the store to order their own pasties. Pascoe thinks he's using heavy handed irony when he suggests “all you need do is stroll over there, check everything's OK, then leave a note for the CAT man on the shop door saying you've got it sorted and would he like a cup of tea back at the Station?” Unfortunately irony is often wasted on Andy and classic insult delivered, he struggles to his feet and confidently steps across the street towards No 3.
Mill Street then blows up.
Taking the full brunt of the explosion, Dalziel is critically injured, comatose and desperately ill. Pascoe is a little luckier, shielded from the initial blast by the Fat Man himself, he's bruised battered and befuddled, but as the crash cart is called to Andy, torn between grief and anger, acceptance and incomprehension, Peter is determined to find out what happened. Seconded to the CAT Unit as damage control by them (“better on the inside pissing out”), anybody who thinks that one of Dalziel's men can be tamed by token gestures, has obviously underestimated the stretch and tenacity of the Fat Man's influence.
The plot gets more and more complex as connections emerge between the explosion, terrorism, the Yorkshire Muslim community, the CAT Unit, young Hector and even Pascoe himself. Wield is there, providing quiet and faithful backup to Pascoe, distressed by Dalziel's fate and worried about Pascoe. Ellie is supporting her husband whilst dealing with her own feelings, worried about the increasing violence as the investigation gets closer to a mysterious group called the Knights Templar. In a luscious touch of irony, the CAT Unit is headed by Sandy Glenister – Scottish, female, forthright, bawdy and unorthodox. She is a woman who truly could have jousted with Dalziel and lived to tell the tale.
Part of the joy of DEATH OF DALZIEL is as always, the style. The language is peppered with the obscure and unexpected, alongside the most wonderful broad brush Yorkshire phrasing and terminology that just leaps off the page and draws the reader in – and I suspect, leaves you with a tendency to use “owt” and “yon” in your own conversation for quite a long time after the reading has finished.
The humour is also particularly of it's place. Slightly bawdy, edgy and self-deprecating. Only Dalziel, comatose, lying in a hospital bed, and having an out of body experience could joke about his position. Only Wieldy could sit quietly in his backyard, all hell breaking out around him, sneaking a marmoset toast with butter and jam. Surely Hill is one of the few writers who could draw the fabulous Tottie (could she be the Tottie from the Mecca Ballroom?), the classic Yorkshire wife and mother, conversion to Islam or not – she's a Yorkshire-woman first.
DEATH OF DALZIEL is going to grab you from that first explosion and keep you reading, wondering and hoping right to the very end.
Meanwhile Andy is breaking every single rule in the CAT book. No roadblocks, no observation, no holding off until the CAT group can respond, and Andy hunkered down behind his car on the other side of the street, waving a bullhorn around and inviting the people in the store to order their own pasties. Pascoe thinks he's using heavy handed irony when he suggests “all you need do is stroll over there, check everything's OK, then leave a note for the CAT man on the shop door saying you've got it sorted and would he like a cup of tea back at the Station?” Unfortunately irony is often wasted on Andy and classic insult delivered, he struggles to his feet and confidently steps across the street towards No 3.
Mill Street then blows up.
Taking the full brunt of the explosion, Dalziel is critically injured, comatose and desperately ill. Pascoe is a little luckier, shielded from the initial blast by the Fat Man himself, he's bruised battered and befuddled, but as the crash cart is called to Andy, torn between grief and anger, acceptance and incomprehension, Peter is determined to find out what happened. Seconded to the CAT Unit as damage control by them (“better on the inside pissing out”), anybody who thinks that one of Dalziel's men can be tamed by token gestures, has obviously underestimated the stretch and tenacity of the Fat Man's influence.
The plot gets more and more complex as connections emerge between the explosion, terrorism, the Yorkshire Muslim community, the CAT Unit, young Hector and even Pascoe himself. Wield is there, providing quiet and faithful backup to Pascoe, distressed by Dalziel's fate and worried about Pascoe. Ellie is supporting her husband whilst dealing with her own feelings, worried about the increasing violence as the investigation gets closer to a mysterious group called the Knights Templar. In a luscious touch of irony, the CAT Unit is headed by Sandy Glenister – Scottish, female, forthright, bawdy and unorthodox. She is a woman who truly could have jousted with Dalziel and lived to tell the tale.
Part of the joy of DEATH OF DALZIEL is as always, the style. The language is peppered with the obscure and unexpected, alongside the most wonderful broad brush Yorkshire phrasing and terminology that just leaps off the page and draws the reader in – and I suspect, leaves you with a tendency to use “owt” and “yon” in your own conversation for quite a long time after the reading has finished.
The humour is also particularly of it's place. Slightly bawdy, edgy and self-deprecating. Only Dalziel, comatose, lying in a hospital bed, and having an out of body experience could joke about his position. Only Wieldy could sit quietly in his backyard, all hell breaking out around him, sneaking a marmoset toast with butter and jam. Surely Hill is one of the few writers who could draw the fabulous Tottie (could she be the Tottie from the Mecca Ballroom?), the classic Yorkshire wife and mother, conversion to Islam or not – she's a Yorkshire-woman first.
DEATH OF DALZIEL is going to grab you from that first explosion and keep you reading, wondering and hoping right to the very end.
I can't believe I am almost done with this series. Another great novel from Hill. I really enjoyed it-like meeting old friends. Only two to go. I am so sad that Hill dies and Dalziel and Pascoe are almost done as well.
mysterious
medium-paced
Wow! How did I miss Reginald Hill!? This was fantastic: great characters, interesting plot, great writing. Gotta love a man who sends me to the dictionary. Good turns of phrase, too, my favorite being: "a smile touched [his:] lips without getting a grip..." Sometimes coming in on the middle of a series leaves you in the dark, but I never felt that with this book. The characters were so vividly drawn that I was completely involved in their stories. My only quibble is that some key plot twists depend on coincidences-- not completely improbable, but noticeably unlikely. Minor point, though, and I can't wait to read to read more in this series.
Terrorism and Templars…
When PC Hector reports that he thinks he saw two men with a gun in a video shop, Andy Dalziel doesn’t take it too seriously – Hector is not the brightest star in Mid-Yorkshire’s firmament. Peter Pascoe is more cautious, since it appears the shop has been of interest to CAT – the Combined Anti-Terrorist unit, half police, half “funny buggers” as Dalziel calls the Secret Services. So they go along to check it out, and Andy marches confidently towards the shop, with Peter in his wake. When the bomb goes off, then, Andy takes the brunt of it while his body acts as a shield for Peter. Andy is alive, but only just, and as he lies in hospital in a coma hovering between this life and the next, Peter gets co-opted into CAT to help with their investigation.
As he often did, Hill incorporates the big real-life story of the day into the novel. First published in 2007, the big story of that day was Iraq and Muslim terrorism. Much though I love Hill, his occasional forays into the world of intelligence never ring as true as his more domestic plots, and this is a prime example of that. It transpires that there is a secret anti-Muslim society based on the Knights Templar who are carrying out attacks on prominent Muslims in revenge for Muslim terrorist attacks on British soil. Trust Hill to find a way to make the terrorists the victims and the “far right” the villains! I’m afraid the plot is unconvincing and relies on all kinds of coincidences to provide reasons for Peter to be involved in an investigation that isn’t being headed up by the police. As if that’s not enough of a stretch, Hill uses even more unlikely coincidences to get Elly involved too, including creating a family backstory for her out of the blue that we have never heard about in any of the preceding twenty-one books.
Peter is again angst-ridden throughout this one, this time because he feels survivor guilt from having been behind Dalziel when the bomb went off. This leads him to behave in a way that I unkindly described in my notes as “even more deranged” than usual. Poor Peter! Hill has been very hard on him over the last few books.
However, as always with Hill, there’s plenty of good stuff to make up for some of these weaknesses. Funnily enough, even in a comatose condition Andy steals the limelight. We are privy to his disordered thoughts as he is pulled between the opposing forces of life and death, and these are often amusing and occasionally moving. We also see the reactions of the other characters to his possible death, and Hill handles this well without descending into mawkishness.
While many of the earlier books work well as standalones, I wouldn’t recommend jumping in at this late stage in the series. These later books all tend to have elements that are carried over from previous books, especially in the main characters’ lives, and they also tend to set the scene for the next book. Overall, this is not one of my favourites – as well as the lack of credibility and over-reliance on coincidence it is rather slow, with too much focus (again) on Peter’s state of mind. But as I have said about a million times now, the quality of Hill’s writing is such that even his less good novels are head and shoulders above most of what’s out there, so it’s still well worth reading. And it provides a great set-up for the next book which, if memory serves me right, is a treat…
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When PC Hector reports that he thinks he saw two men with a gun in a video shop, Andy Dalziel doesn’t take it too seriously – Hector is not the brightest star in Mid-Yorkshire’s firmament. Peter Pascoe is more cautious, since it appears the shop has been of interest to CAT – the Combined Anti-Terrorist unit, half police, half “funny buggers” as Dalziel calls the Secret Services. So they go along to check it out, and Andy marches confidently towards the shop, with Peter in his wake. When the bomb goes off, then, Andy takes the brunt of it while his body acts as a shield for Peter. Andy is alive, but only just, and as he lies in hospital in a coma hovering between this life and the next, Peter gets co-opted into CAT to help with their investigation.
As he often did, Hill incorporates the big real-life story of the day into the novel. First published in 2007, the big story of that day was Iraq and Muslim terrorism. Much though I love Hill, his occasional forays into the world of intelligence never ring as true as his more domestic plots, and this is a prime example of that. It transpires that there is a secret anti-Muslim society based on the Knights Templar who are carrying out attacks on prominent Muslims in revenge for Muslim terrorist attacks on British soil. Trust Hill to find a way to make the terrorists the victims and the “far right” the villains! I’m afraid the plot is unconvincing and relies on all kinds of coincidences to provide reasons for Peter to be involved in an investigation that isn’t being headed up by the police. As if that’s not enough of a stretch, Hill uses even more unlikely coincidences to get Elly involved too, including creating a family backstory for her out of the blue that we have never heard about in any of the preceding twenty-one books.
Peter is again angst-ridden throughout this one, this time because he feels survivor guilt from having been behind Dalziel when the bomb went off. This leads him to behave in a way that I unkindly described in my notes as “even more deranged” than usual. Poor Peter! Hill has been very hard on him over the last few books.
However, as always with Hill, there’s plenty of good stuff to make up for some of these weaknesses. Funnily enough, even in a comatose condition Andy steals the limelight. We are privy to his disordered thoughts as he is pulled between the opposing forces of life and death, and these are often amusing and occasionally moving. We also see the reactions of the other characters to his possible death, and Hill handles this well without descending into mawkishness.
While many of the earlier books work well as standalones, I wouldn’t recommend jumping in at this late stage in the series. These later books all tend to have elements that are carried over from previous books, especially in the main characters’ lives, and they also tend to set the scene for the next book. Overall, this is not one of my favourites – as well as the lack of credibility and over-reliance on coincidence it is rather slow, with too much focus (again) on Peter’s state of mind. But as I have said about a million times now, the quality of Hill’s writing is such that even his less good novels are head and shoulders above most of what’s out there, so it’s still well worth reading. And it provides a great set-up for the next book which, if memory serves me right, is a treat…
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The Death of Dalziel by Reginald Hill
I'm a massive fan of Dalziel and Pascoe, and have practically grown up watching the TV series. However, I didn't realise they were books until I found one in a charity shop.
It was probably the wrong Dalziel and Pascoe book to start with, but nevertheless it was brilliant. For me, Dalziel and Pascoe will always be Warren Clarke and Colin Buchanan, so I had no problem picturing them. The dialogue was really well written and several times I laughed out loud, which I didn't expect to do in a murder mystery!
The characters are worth five stars, but the plot confused me. It started off with a bomb on Mill Street knocking Andy unconscious and injuring Peter. What initially was a simple case turned into something much more complicated with code names for the gang of people who were involved in the various crimes that occured through out the novel and the relationships between certain people. There were also a lot of characters to keep track of. When it finally reached the end I didn't feel entirely satisfied and had to reread the last couple of pages to make sure I understood everything correctly.
Overall a great book, but very complex, almost too complex, which why it isn't the five stars I would've expected it to be.
I'm a massive fan of Dalziel and Pascoe, and have practically grown up watching the TV series. However, I didn't realise they were books until I found one in a charity shop.
It was probably the wrong Dalziel and Pascoe book to start with, but nevertheless it was brilliant. For me, Dalziel and Pascoe will always be Warren Clarke and Colin Buchanan, so I had no problem picturing them. The dialogue was really well written and several times I laughed out loud, which I didn't expect to do in a murder mystery!
The characters are worth five stars, but the plot confused me. It started off with a bomb on Mill Street knocking Andy unconscious and injuring Peter. What initially was a simple case turned into something much more complicated with code names for the gang of people who were involved in the various crimes that occured through out the novel and the relationships between certain people. There were also a lot of characters to keep track of. When it finally reached the end I didn't feel entirely satisfied and had to reread the last couple of pages to make sure I understood everything correctly.
Overall a great book, but very complex, almost too complex, which why it isn't the five stars I would've expected it to be.
Andy Dalziel (usually pronounced Dee-elle), a large English detective and Peter Pascoe, his better educated (and it's presumed, classically handsome) subordinate are two characters that Reginald Hill has used in a number of murder mysteries. He usually uses them in a way that allows him to make clever digs about class and education in the UK, while they solve crimes there.
This book is slightly different. Dalziel is severely wounded (and spends the remainder of the book in intensive care) when an Muslim run videostore is blown up. The deaths of the people inside are followed by the deaths of a number of high profile radical British Muslims, but Pascoe has to investigate all the deaths on his own (in conjunction with the Anti-Terrorism Squad), because Dalziel is otherwise engaged.
I'm not sure about this book, because the typical central dynamic that allows the story to rattle along isn't there. It flows along at a decent enough pace, but it doesn't work as well I don't think, because that central focus of most of Hill's stories isn't there.
You'll probably enjoy it, but don't come in expecting what you've got in previous books or what you get in the TV series. It isn't the same as those previous outings.
This book is slightly different. Dalziel is severely wounded (and spends the remainder of the book in intensive care) when an Muslim run videostore is blown up. The deaths of the people inside are followed by the deaths of a number of high profile radical British Muslims, but Pascoe has to investigate all the deaths on his own (in conjunction with the Anti-Terrorism Squad), because Dalziel is otherwise engaged.
I'm not sure about this book, because the typical central dynamic that allows the story to rattle along isn't there. It flows along at a decent enough pace, but it doesn't work as well I don't think, because that central focus of most of Hill's stories isn't there.
You'll probably enjoy it, but don't come in expecting what you've got in previous books or what you get in the TV series. It isn't the same as those previous outings.
If you like British mysteries, add Reginald Hill to your list! Dalziel and Pascoe are the best mismatched pair out there. These books make for fast and interesting reads, great for mass transit rides. Dalziel is one of my fave literary creations ...
One of my all time favorite series. In this outing Dalziel is gravely injured during a bomb blast and Pascoe feels he must solve the crime and his actions become Dalziel like.