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Reginald Hill - Page 4
Reginald Hill
Bones and SilenceBones and Silence
Dream of DarknessDream of Darkness
Under WorldUnder World
Death of a DoormouseDeath of a Doormouse
Child's PlayChild's Play



Paperback - Harpercollins (1998)
Bones and Silence
Winner of the Gold Dagger Award For Best Crime Novel of the Year
When Detective-Superintendent Andrew Dalziel witnesses a bizarre murder across the street from his own back garden, he is quite sure who the culprit is. After all, he's got to believe what he sees with his own eyes. But what exactly does he see? And is he mistaken? Peter Pascoe thinks so.
Dalziel senses the doubters around him, which only strengthens his resolve. To make matters worse, he's being pestered by an anonymous letter-writer, threatening suicide. Worse still, Pascoe seems intent on reminding him of the fact.
Meanwhile, the effervescent Eileen Chung is directing the Mystery Plays. And who does she have in mind for God? Dalziel, of course. He shouldn't have too much difficulty acting the part…

'Reginald Hill is on stunning form...the climax is devastating' Marcel Berlins, The Times
'Reginald Hill stands head and shoulders above any other writer of homebred crime fiction' TOM HINEY, Observer
'So far out in front that he need not bother looking over his shoulder' Susanna Yager, Sunday Telegraph


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Paperback - Harpercollins (1997)
Dream of Darkness
Sairey Ellis's father is writing his memoirs. His career in the security service has provided him with the ammunition for some explosive revelations about Britain's secret links with the brutal regime of Idi Amin, and unofficial British connivance in Rhodesian sanctions busting. But there are those who will stop at nothing to prevent him from publishing…
This complex thriller from the acclaimed Reginald Hill takes a cool look at the role of a pitiless security service that punishes the guilty and innocent alike. Gripping, assured and perceptive, here is a chillingly convincing portrait of the nightmarish repercussions of a life spent in espionage.
First published as a Patrick Ruell novel


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Paperback - Harpercollins (1998)
First British Edition Collins (1988)
Under World
Three years ago little Tracey Pedley went brambling in the woods near the mining village of Burrthorpe and vanished without trace. Deputy Chief Constable Watmough, retiring as he hopes into politics, is still convinced that she was a victim of the self-confessed child-killer whose suicide gave him his greatest detective triumph. But in Burrthorpe there were other theories. And to some, the fatal plunge down a disused shaft of the last man known to have seen Tracey alive seemed no more than simple justice.
It was his father's death that brought Colin Parr back home. And it is the dark whispers about its cause that keep him working down the hated pit. A university extra-mural course brings relief one day a week and it's there that Ellie Pascoe meets him and becomes personally involved. Inspector Peter Pascoe sees an emotional as well as an ideological gap opening up between himself and his wife, while Superintendent Andy Dalziel ruminates on the sidelines till a murder in the mine brings him into active and sometimes perilous contact with Parr and the Burrthorpe community.
There is mystery and excitement enough here to satisfy the most exacting crime reader, but there is much more besides as Reginald Hill probes beneath the surface of minds and motives in what is undoubtedly his finest novel yet.


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Paperback - Harpercollins
Death of a Doormouse
When policemen remove their hats, they do not bring good news. The bare-headed policeman on Trudi Adamson's doorstep brought the worst news possible - her husband Trent has been burned to death in a freak car accident.
Suddenly a widow after years of marriage, Trudi finds herself alone, unprovided for and increasingly aware of her ignorance of her late husband's world. Why had he resigned from his job without telling her? Where was all his money? And more terrifying still: is he really dead? As shock piles upon shock, Trudi is forced to re-examine her belief in Trent, and ultimately in herself. Compelled to leave the cosy nest of her old life, she is out in the open and fighting for her very survival…
First published as a Patrick Ruell novel

'The plot is splendidly intricate and involving' Sunday Times


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Paperback - Harpercollins (1998)
Child's Play
a tragi-comedy in three acts of violence with a prologue and an epilogue
Geraldine Lomas's son went missing in Italy during World War Two, but the eccentric old lady never accepted his death.
Now she is dead, leaving the Lomas beer fortune to be divided between an animal rights organization, a fascist front and a services benevolent fund. As disgruntled relatives gather by the graveside, the funeral is interrupted by a middle-aged man in an Italian suit, who falls to his knees crying, 'Mama!'
Andy Dalziel is preoccupied with the illegal book one of his sergeants is running on who is to be appointed as the new Chief Constable. But when a dead Italian turns up in the police car park, Peter Pascoe and his bloated superior are plunged into an investigation that makes internal police politics look like child's play…

'Must be a strong early candidate for the Golden Dagger best-of-the-year award.' Julian Symons, Independent
'Put out more flags for the return of mid-Yorkshire CID's finest ... No shortage of colourful characters or corpses in this wittily literate, socially alert puzzle.' John Coleman, Sunday Times
'No other crime writer manages so successfully and consistently to marry all the virtues of the traditional mystery with completely modern characters.' Marcel Berlins, The Times
'Yorkshire's Superintendent Dalziel and Detective Inspector Pascoe get my vote as the best pair of working coppers in the business.' Christopher Wordsworth, Observer
'Carefully organized and complex plotting is at the heart of this kind of detective story ... satisfyingly intricate, with not one but two surprise endings.' Julian Symons, Independent
'Into a police-story format he introduces a fine story of tolerance in our current society ... The crime writers' pledge of something to guess is amply honoured in a final twist.' H.R.F. Keating, Daily Telegraph
'A nicely plotted, smoothly written mystery on the top rung of the genre.' US Publishers Weekly
'Has raised the classical British Mystery to new heights' New York Times Book Review


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