Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Fans of Hill's procedurals featuring Superintendent Dalziel and Inspector Pascoe may be startled at encountering Dalziel out of character. In the first U.S. publication of a 1975 work, Dalziel is mainly on his own, during Pascoe's honeymoon, and is, if not in love, at least in lust. Stranded in the country by heavy April rains, Dalziel is rescued by an odd funeral procesion led by new widow Bonnie Fielding. Dalziel is bothered by the mourners' casual airs and even more by the sensuously ripe Bonnie. Complications arise when he discovers the strange manner in which Bonnie's husband died, the possibility of an insurance scam, the mortal fear of Bonnie's father-in-law and the realization that all the Fieldings, including Bonnie, are suspects in a possible murder. The usually gruff, if not brutish, Dalziel begins an affair with Bonnie and when two more bodies are found he launches his own discreet investigation. Hill's high standards of humor and civilized characterization are intact here, and justice and ambiguity are served in satisfactory fashion. (April 28)
From the Publisher
Praise for Reginald Hill “Reginald Hill delivers literate, complex, and immensely satisfying thrillers.” —Orlando Sentinel “Reginald Hill is quite simply one of the best at work today.” —The Boston Globe “An excellent English author of crime fiction.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “Reginald Hill has raised the classical British murder mystery to new heights . . . in the Agatha Christie tradition.” —The New York Times Book Review “Reginald Hill’s novels deserve to be read in fine surroundings—perhaps in a leather chair by a crackling fire with a good sherry in your hand and a loyal hound at your feet. Or if that Agatha Christie stage set isn’t available, at least read Hill’s mysteries in a quiet place where you can savor his acrobatic prose, his sour lemon wit, his intricate puzzle plots.” —Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post “One of Britain’s most consistently excellent crime novelists.” —The Times (London) “A lot of people write classic detective stories, but Reginald Hill is one of the elite few who write classy classics.” —The Baltimore Sun “The British author’s faultless writing, ironic wit and—above all—recognizably human characters defy limiting his police stories to the mystery category.” —Publishers Weekly “The real joy of the Dalziel-Pascoe books is the writing and the characterization. Mr. Hill has such disparate writers as Trollope, Beerbohm, Sayers and Shaw in his blood.” —The New York Times “One of the masters of the modern police procedural.” —TheSunday Telegraph “Hill is never predictable.” —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
