Page Updated: 09/07/2007

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Reginald Hill - Page 6

A Pinch of Snuff An April Shroud Ruling Passion An Advancement of Learning Fell of Dark

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A Pinch of Snuff
Inspector Pascoe's dentist believes he has witnessed a murder on film, but he has other worries when accused of assaulting a patient. Not so Pascoe, who finds himself going round a curiously circular track, alternately advised and abused by Superintendent Dalziel.
'A first-class story with a brilliant range of bizarre characters and a plot puzzling enough to suit the most pernickety.' Violet Grant, Daily Telegraph
'Amusing and intriguing, with plenty of Mr Hill's succinct sardonic comment on everyday life and domestic bliss.' Edmund Crispin, Sunday Times
'A really good detective story... here is invention, ingenuity, unguessability and, of course, contemporary nastiness, all tied up for the unravelling.' Listener
'Good gritty whodunit of the English provincial school. Mr Hill's quirky characterization and harsh, pointed dialogue gives his story the texture of a real novel.' Irish Times
'Reginald Hill has, I think, given us one of his best in A Pinch of Snuff. Mr Hill fashions a real tangle and develops it well; but it is in his people and his manner that he shines most. He has a lively mind and an observant eye, his cops and clients are an interesting lot, their encounters and reactions are real and often provocative, and he has style and a nice quirky sense of fun' Oxford Times

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Paperback - Harpercollins

An April Shroud
After seeing Inspector Pascoe off on his honeymoon with a few ill-chosen words, Superintendent Andy Dalziel soon runs into trouble and water on his solitary holiday. Rescued by a bunch of somewhat cheerful mourners, he accompanies them back to their rundown mansion to dry off.
The owner of Lake House, Bonnie Fielding, seems less troubled by her husband's tragic death than by the problem of finishing the half-completed Banqueting Hall which is to save the family fortunes. Prompted not only by a professional curiosity - why for instance would anyone want to keep a dead rat in a freezer? - but also by a more personal interest in Mrs Fielding's ample charms, Dalziel stays on.
By the time Pascoe reappears, there have been several more deaths and it looks as if his normally hard-headed boss might have compromised himself beyond redemption…
'Literary and suave style… he has raised the classical British mystery to new heights' New York Times Book Review

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Paperback - Harpercollins (1997)

Ruling Passion
Peter Pascoe is in shock. A weekend in the country with old friends turns into a nightmare when he finds three of them dead and the missing fourth a prime suspect in the eyes of the local police.
They want his co- operation Superintendent Andy Dalziel wants him back in Yorkshire where a string of unsolved burglaries looks like turning nasty.
Perhaps it's all too much for Pascoe. As events unfold, the two cases are getting jumbled in his mind...

'These novels last, like a grand malt whisky... Here is an author at his formidable best' Frances Hegarty, Mail On Sunday
'I make no apology for another longish look now at what Hill does with the crime novel: he is, I think, its best hope. What virtues he already has. He writes about real people with roots going into pasts and tendrils touching the present.' H. R. F. Keating, The Times
'Here is first-rate entertainment, highly skilled without pretentiousness, and notable for its amused portrait of fat, reactionary Superintendent Dalziel.' Edmund Crispin, Sunday Times
'Mr Hill's characters and backgrounds are as well done as ever; he is rapidly taking over as the most civilized, varied, clever and enjoyable crime writer we have.' Francis Goff, Sunday Telegraph
'The manner in which Reginald Hill holds together a complex plot is admirable and this combined with his feeling for dialogue and mastery of police procedure equips him strongly as a detective story writer.' Scotsman
'Mr Hill has a gift for making his policemen completely credible.' Belfast Telegraph
'He has established himself as a writer of extremely readable thrillers.' Northern Evening Despatch

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Paperback - Harpercollins

An Advancement of Learning
Lecturers having it away with students, midnight romps among the sand dunes, these fit in pretty well with Superintendent Andy Dalziel's views of the benefits of Higher Education. But the discovery of a body buried beneath a statue in the grounds of Holm Coultram College surprises even his cynical mind.
Fortunately he has an expert to hand, that prize product of H.E., Peter Pascoe. Together they settle in on campus and the learning process begins. The only trouble is that just as they think they have solved one problem, a second body turns up to set them another.… and another ....
Pascoe is both helped and hindered by finding an old flame on the staff, while the students class Dalziel as a fascist pig and thick with it, which is a very serious mistake....

'Here is an author at his formidable best' Mail on Sunday
'Goody-crammed. Seaside college murders splendidly illumination the liberal dilemma. Each new Hill henceforth will evoke the "Aha" of delight ahead' H.R.F.Keating
'An excellent adult mystery story' Edmund Crispin, Sunday Times
'One of the finest British mystery writers at work today' Publishers Weekly

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First British Edition Harpercollins (1971)

Fell of Dark
A friendship renewed; a marriage going sour; Harry Bentick heads for the Lake District not knowing if he's going in search of something or running away.
Then two girls are found murdered in the high fells, and suddenly there's no doubt about it.
He's running.
Set in his native Cumberland, this was Reginald Hill's very first novel and its cleverly interwoven strands of detective story, psychological thriller and Buchanesque adventure prefigure much that in the intervening decades has taken him into the topmost ranks of British crime fiction.
'Read him' John Lannard, London Review of Books

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