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A review by cleheny
Bones and Silence by Reginald Hill
3.0
This is my first Dalziel and Pascoe mystery. Hill's a very good writer; he creates three-dimensional supporting characters and his detective team complement each other.
The principle mystery is whether Dalziel is correct to suspect a husband of murdering his wife, when both the husband and the lover claim she shot herself as they tried to wrestle the gun from her. This story might have been universally accepted if a drunk Dalziel had not been a (partial) witness. The mystery is clever, but weakened by an explanation that is, in my opinion, over-reliant on several coincidences. Still, the suspect--Swain--is a convincing creation, and, towards the end of the book, but before the key to the mystery is fully revealed, Dalziel gives a persuasive explanation of how someone like him might have pulled off the crime.
There is a secondary plot, involving anonymous letters to Dalziel from a woman who claims to be suicidal. Is she writing to him because she wants a disinterested listener who will hear her but not get in her way? Because she wants someone to stop her? Because she wants to taunt the man who is chosen to play God in a festival presentation of the Mystery Plays? Dalziel doesn't really care, so it falls to his partner, Pascoe, to take the lead here. Hill does a good job creating several potential suspects, and I (incorrectly) thought I had identified Pascoe's "Dark Lady." The reveal of that mystery makes for a powerful conclusion, but I didn't buy it.
This is probably not the best introduction to this series and these characters. Pascoe and Dalziel aren't on the same page for the vast majority of the book, and, therefore, one doesn't get a picture of a functioning partnership so much as a bullying superior and intelligent subordinate who has learned to live and work with the dynamic. Still, Hill's writing is quite effective. He paints scenes well without being overly detailed or carried away with his own descriptive powers. His characters are vividly drawn, and they make sense (except, as noted above, the "Dark Lady").
The book is dated in the manner that it describes one supporting character. A multi-racial (English and Malayan) theatre director is frequently described in terms of classic Asian beauty tropes (she is--bar none--the most sexually attractive woman in the book; the kind of woman for whom the act of breathing is enough to attract men). Her character is distinctive and doesn't track with all Asian-woman stereotypes (such as being demure or quiet), but there's liberal use of "Oriental" as an adjective. Because this is my first Hill novel, I don't know if his use of these terms was a subtle, but deliberate, way to get the reader thinking about her status in a fictional Yorkshire town or just a product of a 1990 publication.
To new readers of Dalziel and Pascoe, I'd suggest starting with another book in the series (though you'll need to check with fans to know where to start). Even though it's a bit hard to feel the lead characters' connection, it's still a good story, well written.
The principle mystery is whether Dalziel is correct to suspect a husband of murdering his wife, when both the husband and the lover claim she shot herself as they tried to wrestle the gun from her. This story might have been universally accepted if a drunk Dalziel had not been a (partial) witness. The mystery is clever, but weakened by an explanation that is, in my opinion, over-reliant on several coincidences. Still, the suspect--Swain--is a convincing creation, and, towards the end of the book, but before the key to the mystery is fully revealed, Dalziel gives a persuasive explanation of how someone like him might have pulled off the crime.
There is a secondary plot, involving anonymous letters to Dalziel from a woman who claims to be suicidal. Is she writing to him because she wants a disinterested listener who will hear her but not get in her way? Because she wants someone to stop her? Because she wants to taunt the man who is chosen to play God in a festival presentation of the Mystery Plays? Dalziel doesn't really care, so it falls to his partner, Pascoe, to take the lead here. Hill does a good job creating several potential suspects, and I (incorrectly) thought I had identified Pascoe's "Dark Lady." The reveal of that mystery makes for a powerful conclusion, but I didn't buy it.
This is probably not the best introduction to this series and these characters. Pascoe and Dalziel aren't on the same page for the vast majority of the book, and, therefore, one doesn't get a picture of a functioning partnership so much as a bullying superior and intelligent subordinate who has learned to live and work with the dynamic. Still, Hill's writing is quite effective. He paints scenes well without being overly detailed or carried away with his own descriptive powers. His characters are vividly drawn, and they make sense (except, as noted above, the "Dark Lady").
The book is dated in the manner that it describes one supporting character. A multi-racial (English and Malayan) theatre director is frequently described in terms of classic Asian beauty tropes (she is--bar none--the most sexually attractive woman in the book; the kind of woman for whom the act of breathing is enough to attract men). Her character is distinctive and doesn't track with all Asian-woman stereotypes (such as being demure or quiet), but there's liberal use of "Oriental" as an adjective. Because this is my first Hill novel, I don't know if his use of these terms was a subtle, but deliberate, way to get the reader thinking about her status in a fictional Yorkshire town or just a product of a 1990 publication.
To new readers of Dalziel and Pascoe, I'd suggest starting with another book in the series (though you'll need to check with fans to know where to start). Even though it's a bit hard to feel the lead characters' connection, it's still a good story, well written.