The Death of Dalziel
Reginald Hill 's Dalziel and Pascoe in their 22nd mystery
A review of Mid-Yorkshire CID's Fat Man and Peter Pascoe's latest mystery, in a series that started with A Clubbable Woman and has been made into a BBC television series.
This is a review of The Death of Dalziel by Reginald Hill, published by in the UK (598pp, ISBN978-000-719486) in October 2007, and as Death Comes for the Fat Man by Seal Books in the US (528pp, ISBN 978-0770429904) in January 2008.
Dalziel and Pascoe
The detectives are answering a call in Mill Street when an explosion rips the houses apart. Only the Fat Man's vast bulk saves DI Pascoe from serious injury; but Dalziel himself is not so lucky -- his injuries are so serious that he lapses into a coma.
Pascoe recovers, and teams up with the Combined Anti-terrorist Team, who have links with MI6, to try to solve who is behind the bomb blast. Their investigations led them to the Knights Templar, a shadowy organization that is behind a series of very public attacks on Muslims.
Pascoe finds it difficult to know who to trust, especially when his novelist wife Ellie is invited to participate in a TV debate, and a member of the studio audience pulls a gun -- just as the transmission is cut.
A Clubbable Woman
The series started in 1970 with A Clubbable Woman, and since then has run through 20 novels and two collections. As the series has progressed, so the novels have become longer and more complex, introducing first Ellie, Pascoe's firebrand wife, Wieldy, the ugly detective with a mind like a ballistic computer (and who is gay, allowing Hill to show Dalziel's unexpected lack of bigotry), and latterly Amanda 'Cap' Marvell, the Tory-grandee animal-liberation activist. Each is drawn expertly, and The Death of Dalziel introduces Police Constable Hector, mid-Yorkshire CID's most inept policeman; yet even he is allowed his moment of glory.
Bones and Silence
In 1990, Hill published Bones and Silence, which won him the Gold Dagger Award from the Crime Writer's Association, and was a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America.
A Pinch of Snuff
In 1994 Yorkshire Television staged the first attempt to adapt the series for television, with A Pinch of Snuff, featuring the comedians Hale and Pace, who were keen to try serious roles. It was less than successful, and it took BBC television several attempts to persuade Reginald Hill to allow them to make a series featuring the unlikely duo, with Warren Clarke and Colin Buchanan in the title roles, and David Royle was an inspired choice as Detective-Sergeant Edgar Wield. But none of the adaptations were able to capture Hill's erudition, nor the depth of characterization.
Those who love Dalziel and Pascoe would be advised to stay with the book, rather than watch the diluted televison version. This latest novel is even better than the outstanding Arms and the Women, which until now has been the high-point of the canon. The Death of Dalziel is one of the finest mysteries of recent years. Whether it is the last Dalziel and Pascoe mystery remains to be seen
