Category Archives: Reginald Hill

Celebrating Reginald Hill

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As part of the Crime Writers’ Association’s Crime Writing Month the internet is playing host to a celebration of the life and work of Reginald Hill who died earlier this year. For the month of June a new post will appear each day at Celebrating Reginald Hill and will reflect on some aspect of Hill’s writing or broader life. The blog, created especially for this purpose, is also offering giveaways and an opportunity for Hill’s fans to share their stories about discovering the man or his writing. The blog is hosted by CWA debut dagger judge Rhian Davies and mystery novelist Margot Kinberg and it’s already proving to be a treat, having published personal accounts of meeting and getting to know Reg Hill, several reviews and a reflection on his short story writing.

I was quite chuffed to be asked to participate in these festivities and used it as an opportunity to re-read A CLUBBABLE WOMAN, the first book in Hill’s long-running Dalziel and Pascoe series, and compare it to the adaptation made for television. My contribution to the month-long festivities has now been posted.

Do head over and check out all the contributions as crime writers and readers from all over the world join in celebrating one of the genre’s most talented writers.

The Stranger House and other stories

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I finished Reginald Hill’s The Stranger House about a week ago but haven’t been able to write an even vaguely coherent review of it. Not because it’s not good but because I couldn’t think of anything new to say about how much I like and admire Hill’s writing and approach to the telling of stories. I’ve reviewed three of his books here (A Cure For All Diseases, Midnight Fugue and The Woodcutter) and on looking back I’ve been fairly repetitive in my gushing praise. I simply couldn’t think of a different way to say that I love the way this man tells a story.

The Stranger House is a standalone novel set in a remote Cumbrian village and tells the tale of two travellers, their ancestors and the village that ties them all together. A young Australian mathematician called Samantha (Sam) Flood goes to Illthwaite looking for information about her biological grandmother who she believes might have lived there before moving to Australia and adopting out the baby that was to become Sam’s father. Miguel (Mig) Midero is a Spanish man with an English mother who was studying to be a priest before ceasing his studies and embarking on a quest to uncover the details of his ancestor who was last heard of when setting sail with the Spanish armada in the 1580′s. Both Sam and Mig’s searches uncover dark secrets, recent and ancient, about the village and its families in a book that is epic in scope and somewhat gothic in feel. Above all it’s a marvellous story full of the larger than life characters, wit and intelligence that I’ve come to expect from Hill.  I think the thing I admire most is that he never seemed to be ‘phoning it in’. He was trying new things, taking risks, having fun with writing styles and genre conventions right to the end. The Woodcutter (published in 2010 when Hill was 73) is simply a perfect example of the art of storytelling.

If you’d asked I probably wouldn’t have called myself a die hard fan of Hilll’s because I don’t think I’ve read even half of his books and I haven’t liked all of the ones I have read. But two of the three books mentioned above appeared in my top ten books for the year I read them and the last one missed out by only the slimmest of margins. There isn’t another author who has appeared so consistently in my lists of favourite books. So it kind of snuck up on me while I wasn’t looking but it turns out I am  a real fan of Reginald Hill which probably explains why waking to the news of his death this morning made me very sad. I will however be forever grateful for the hours of escape, entertainment and joy that he has provided, and I will take comfort knowing there are some of his books I’ve yet to read.

RIP Reginald Hill, and thank you.

The half-way point

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As of the end of June I had finished 84 books (and abandoned another eight) which is a pretty good start to the year. I consider anything I rate 3 stars or above to be reading time well spent and 70 (or 83%) of the books I’ve read have fallen into that category this year. While this is obviously good news for my reading it does make choosing ‘best of’ lists quite hard. Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise is, once again, collecting ‘best crime fiction books of the year so far’ lists and after much struggling I’ve come up with 10:

Left off this list (because if I didn’t stop at 10 I’d have listed the lot) were a whole load of great books. Most of these are listed on my 2011 reviews page (a few books have not been reviewed but that can’t be helped)

A Review (and musings on storytelling) – The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill

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I’m going to provide even less of a plot synopsis for this book than my usual skimpy effort because a big part of my enjoyment of this book was that I knew so little about it to start with (I listened to it on a whim following a comment by Barbara at the 4 Mystery Addicts online reading group). I quite literally had no idea what it was about when I started and still had no clue what direction the story would take when I was well into its Machiavellian depths and think you should have the same opportunity. So all I’ll say is that it’s one of Hill’s standalone books and tells the story of Wilfred ‘Wolf’ Hadda, a Cumbrian native of working class birth who makes a name for himself in the world of business before his world falls apart in a rather alarming way. If that’s not enough for you to ponder reading it, there are plenty of great easily google-able reviews that will tell you more.

The thing I have discovered more lately than I ought to have done is that Reginald Hill is a truly superb storyteller in the purest sense of the term and this, in my opinion, is one of his best. Having studied the storytelling art a little over the years I’d boil the essence of a good story (regardless of whether it is told, written or shown) down to these attributes

  • they must draw their audience in and make them feel connected to the events being described
  • they must have a basic structure of beginning, middle and end
  • they need at least one central character who encounters some form of conflict that prevents them from going along the path they had been taking
  • they must invite, even prompt, the audience to picture or imagine the places, people and events that are being described
  • they cannot offer an easy resolution to the issues or conflicts they are describing

For me The Woodcutter ticks all of these boxes with gusto. The audience is drawn in by Hill’s wonderful depictions of Wolf’s out-of-the ordinary young life in the forests of Cumbria and then a very early depiction of his fall from grace. Knowing that an author wouldn’t willingly use up all their most dramatic material in the first few chapters of a novel the reader is left wondering what sort of theme this story will explore..redemption? wronged man? revenge? something else?

Using several characters in addition to Wolf, Hill manages to present several versions of the truth, exploring the notion that what’s true depends on the perspective and facts or knowledge a person has at any time. As a reader you are prepared to go along with each subtle variation of reality, never quite knowing where the whole thing is headed, but somehow always feeling confident that the resolution will be a satisfying and authentic one. Along the way there are splendidly depicted images of both the Cumbrian landscapes and the characters (including a terrific fictional dog) who are central to the story.

Part of the way Hill draws the reader in and keeps them glued is the interesting array of ideas and themes he explores along the way and unlike so many writers he does this, always, as part of the story. The book is a masterclass in the concept of showing not telling. He examines things like the way the British class structure plays out in contemporary society, the role and nature of the justice system and even takes a look modern psychiatry in a way that makes you think.

Literary critic (and professional controversy-starter) Christopher Booker once claimed that there are only seven basic plots for stories and, if this is true, it must get harder to be original as they keep being re-told. In broad ways The Woodcutter is an age-old tale that you’ve heard a thousand times before (in fact it bears a strong resemblance to a 19th Century French adventure classic) but with it’s sparkling dialogue, intricate plot, wonderfully realised characters and the thought-provoking ideas it ponders it is utterly unique. I cannot think of any reader who would not enjoy this wonderful book, crime fiction fan or not, especially via the narration of English actor Jonathan Keeble whose mastery of accents and gender roles was, as always, outstanding.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

My rating 5/5
Narrator Jonathan Keeble
Publisher Whole Story Audio Books [this edition 2011, original edition 2010]
ISBN n/a downloaded from audible.com
Length 16 hours 34 minutes
Format mp3
Book Series standalone
Source I bought it

Halfway Down the Stairs

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OK the title really doesn’t have any relevance as this is a post about being half way through the reading year and reflecting on my favourite books so far. But I never think of the word halfway without remembering my favourite A A Milne poem. As I wrote about way back in the early days of this blog one of my very favourite bookish presents was a copy of When We Were Very Young and Halfway Down is my favourite poem from it (other people can recite Keats and Wordsworth by heart, I can do A A Milne).

Anyway, on to the favourites. Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise is collating people’s thoughts on this very topic so do stop by her blog and tell her your favourite reads so far this year. Given the overall improvement in the quality of my reading these days I could easily list a top 30 or 40 books but I suspect that is not the spirit of things so I’ve whittled it down to a favourite ten. I’ll be curious to see how many of them survive to appear in my favourite books for the year. Could I possibly read ten better books than this in the remaining 6 months of Twenty Ten?

Books of the Month – May 2010

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That was then

I finished 15 books in May and, thankfully, had no DNFs (though I might have done had I not been too warm and lazy to get out bed and find a book other than this one). Only four of these were audio books though that was enough for me to achieve the obsessed level of the 2010 Audio Book Challenge (1 challenge down, 3 to go).

My pick of the month is Simon Lelic’s A Thousand Cuts which I read in print. It’s a very sad book but beautiful in its way and I found it extremely difficult to put down. It blurs the genre boundaries too and I’ve already recommended it to people who don’t normally read crime fiction.

Honourable mentions for the month go to

  • Shona MacLean’s debut historical mystery The Redemption of Alexander Seaton for transporting me virtually to a fascinating version of 17th Century Scotland
  • the latest installment of Reginald Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe series Midnight Fugue for being one of the most cleverly plotted books I’ve read in ages
  • Elly Griffiths’ The Crossing Places for introducing me to someone I think will become one of my very favourite characters, Ruth Galloway

I didn’t realise it until after finishing the list but the three honourable mentions are all audio books.

New Additions

It’s pretty easy to tell when my life is a bit pants because there is a correlation between the amount of books I acquire and my crankiness level. This month’s acquisition of 28 books should make most of you very glad you only know me virtually. My frenzy of buying, mooching, dowloading and saying yes to an unprecedented number of ARCs has gone part way to mitigating my bad mood. Among my new treasures are

Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s My Soul to Take which I am very much looking forward to reading, having enjoyed Last Rituals.

Imogen Robertson’s Instruments of Darkness because it seems I haven’t had my fill of historical crime fiction and am continuing to try new authors in this genre.

Affairs of State by Dominque Manotti is one of only a handful of books I’ve bought in an Australian bookstore this year as most books I buy these days make their way here from Book Depository with its cheaper prices and free shipping down under

What to read next?

I’ve still got three challenges to complete for this year but with 7 months to go I’m not panicking. Before the winner is announced on July 23 I also want to read the four remaining books that are on the shortlist for the Crime Writer’s Association International Dagger (an award for books translated into English). So in June expect to see reviews for

Rob Kitchin’s The White Gallows (its official publication date is 12 June and I want to have it read and reviewed around that date) (plus I’m itching to get to it)

Johan Theorin’s The Darkest Room (one of the six International Dagger hopefuls)

Petros Markaris’ Zone Defence (which I’m going to use for the final European leg of my global challenge)

The Uncomfortable Dead by Paco Ignacio Taibo II (a Mexican novel that I had to work hard to find so I could have a third country represented on the North American leg of my global challenge)

Hopefully there’ll be a whole lot more besides these but I don’t like to be too prescriptive about what I’m going to be reading as I never know where my mood might take me.

Chart of the month

Review: Midnight Fugue by Reginald Hill

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Midnight Fugue is the 20th and final book to count towards the obsessed level for the 2010 Audio Book Challenge (that’s one challenge done, three to go for twenty ten).

It is several months since he was nearly killed in an explosion and DS Andy Dalziel is officially back at work though there are doubts, both in his own mind and in others’, about whether he is quite the operator he once was. One morning he wakes up and rushes to work thinking he is running late only to realise en route that it’s Sunday and his day off. He calls into a Church, to confirm his suspicion about the day of the week, where he is approached by Gina Wolfe. She is the current girlfriend of a London cop Dalziel knows and, on the advice of her boyfriend, she asks Dalziel’s help in determining whether her husband, who disappeared seven years ago and was presumed dead, is really living in Yorkshire. In parallel we meet Goldy Gidman, former gangster turned corporate success, whose main goal in life now is to ensure that is son David, currently a Tory MP, continues his successful political career unhindered by anything including his father’s shady past resurfacing. Over the course of a single day these two threads then intertwine in a myriad of ways.

In musical terms a fugue is a formal piece which has multiple parts that are thematically related though independent and which, in words that could only come from the mouth of Andy Dalziel is “…a bit of a tune that chases itself round and round ’til it vanishes up its own asshole”. Which, though I might not have put it so crudely, is exactly what Hill has created. Although the same core characters do appear through the whole novel in each of the five independent parts different characters and twists are incorporated to form an intriguing though completely circular tale.

Not content with pulling off such a masterpiece of plot construction Hill gives dual meaning to the book’s title by employing the psychiatric meaning of the word fugue as well. It could be argued there is more than one character who experiences a ‘dreamlike state of altered consciousness’ in this story where one of the strongest themes explored is whether or not a person can ever really escape their past.

As always the characterisations are strong, particularly of the long-running characters that must feel a little like family to Hill by now. Fat Andy is still, at his core, the same bloke but his uncertainty about himself adds an interesting element to the book and is very credibly depicted. When his actions bring about an injury to one of his squad both his sense of guilt and his overwhelming need to hide that from the rest if his squad are palpable. Over the past couple of books Hill has made subtle changes to the relationship between Dalziel and his offsider Peter Pascoe and here both men are more evidently coming to terms with the fact that the balance of power in their relationship is in flux. We see lots of explorations of romantic and familial relationships in fiction but it is actually quite rare to see such a considered portrayal of a working relationship, particularly between two men, and it is one of the things I really enjoyed about this book. I think some of the criminal characters were a little flat but I suspect that’s at least partly because it’s hard for anyone to compete with people as fully realised as Dalziel and Pascoe.

I’ve read less than half of the two dozen books in this series but A Cure For All Diseases was one of my favourite books of last year and that made me curious to read this next installment. For me Midnight Fugue, although a very different book from its predecessor, was darned close to being just as good but it must be a tough decision for an author to keep experimenting at the risk of alienating die-hard fans. At least one of those admitted to being a little disappointed with this book partly because it dared to depict some fallibility in the formerly unstoppable Andy Dalziel, and there’s the rub for writers like Hill. Can you write to keep the fans happy and to attract new audiences or do you have to choose? I’m not sure of the answer to that question but I admire the way Hill has resisted the temptation to write the same book over and over.

Once again listening to Jonathan Keeble’s excellent narration of a Dalziel and Pascoe novel was a joy. Both he and Hill seem to have fun with this complicated, contemporary tale and its larger than life characters and their enjoyment was infectious. This novel is an absolute treat.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

My rating 4.5/5

Narrator:Jonathan Keeble; Publisher Whole Story Audio [this edition 2010, originally 2009]; ISBNN/A (download); Length 10 hours 21 minutes

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Midnight Fugue has been reviewed at Crime Scraps, Euro Crime (by Mike), Mysteries in Paradise and Mystery Mile (Nick is the fan I mentioned above who knows Hill’s experimentations are the right thing to do but who can’t help that they leave him a little shaken)

2009 – The Favourites

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I don’t rely entirely on my ratings for including a book into my favourite reads of the year. There’s also an indefinable ‘something-about-it-stuck-in-my-head-long-after-finishing’ quality that comes into play and that element is unknown when I give my rating (which I do within a day or so of reading the book). So, to arrive at my top ten books for the year I looked at a list of all the books I’d read and rated 3.5 or above (81 out of the 127 books I finished) and reflected on each one (sometimes skimming my review, sometimes not needing to) and slowly whittled them down to the ones with the most ‘stickinmyheadedness’. The result (in alphabetical order of the author’s surname) is:

I didn’t take any of this into account when narrowing down my list but noticed something curious once I’d finished:

  • Three of these are by women.
  • I read three of these in audio (unabridged of course), the rest in old-fashioned print
  • Three of these qualify as historical fiction although the past they are set in is quite recent (two in the 1950’s and one in the 1970’s)
  • There is one each set in Australia, Laos, Scotland, South Africa, Palestine, Russia, England and three set in Sweden (which is odd because I read 43 books set in the US this year but none of those made it to the list and only six set in Sweden)
  • Only three of these were by authors I had read previously

There are procedurals and whydunnits and whodunnits and thrillers and books where crime-solving is incidental to a different kind of story in the list.

There are light books and dark ones and a few in-between ones.

What they all have in common is characters that are memorable and stories that have captured my imagination. I’ve met people who are strong, funny, poignant, awe-inspiring, evil or tragic. Their stories have made me angry, happy, wistful, sad and nostalgic. Each one of them has made me badger friends, family, colleagues and, in at least two cases that I can recall, strangers on a bus to read them.

Hearing this year about the struggles new (and new-ish) authors must go through to get published made me count my blessings for all the wonderful books that do get published and make their way to my hands. To the authors of all the great books I read this year, the ones on this list and the ones that narrowly missed a spot but still entertained and engaged me, thank you for your endurance and your stories.

Review: A Cure For All Diseases by Reginald Hill

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Title: A Cure For All Diseases (the 23rd of 24 Dalziel and Pascoe novels and published as The Price of Butcher’s Meat in the US)

Author: Reginald Hill

Publisher: Whole Story Audio Books [2009]

ISBN: N/A (bought via digital download from audible.com)

Length: 15hours 49minutes

Narrator: Jonathan Keeble

After barely surviving a terrorist blast Superintendent Andy Dalziel is convalescing at a swanky private clinic in the seaside resort of Sandytown in Yorkshire. He befriends another young visitor to the town, Charlotte (Charley) Heywood, who is the daughter of an old Rugby mate of Dalziel’s and a psychologist reviewing the benefits of alternative therapies. They are both keen observers of the people and happenings in the town and record their observations: Andy using a digital audio recorder provided by his doctor and Charley via a series of emails to her sister. As with all fairly closed communities there are a couple of prominent families whose lives seem to impact everyone in the town directly or indirectly and the same is true of Sandytown which is the setting for a soon to be opened alternative healing centre. When one of the town’s most prominent citizens is killed in a gruesome way a full police investigation, headed by Dalziel’s old partner Peter Pascoe, gears up but Andy and Charley’s continuing observations play a key role in the solving of the murder.

This is, more than usually, a review specifically of the audio version of A Cure For All Diseases narrated by Jonathan Keeble. Because, regardless of how good the original content is, Keeble added a truly wonderful element that I don’t think could exist in the print version. His portrayal of the two main narrators of the story, ageing male Dalziel and young, somewhat excitable female Charley is truly magnificent and he rounds out the reading with an entire cast of minor players that are equally beautifully depicted. Coming back to my iPod each day became a real treat over the past week or so and I now have a sense of the anticipation people used to get as they ‘gathered round the wireless’ to hear the latest radio play in the days before television.

The format and, to some extent, the content of this story is actually Hill’s homage to Jane Austen but I don’t think it matters all that much if you’re an Austen fan and can recognise what he’s done or not. Far more important is that it provides an interesting, different approach to the standard police procedural. As someone who has lamented the formulaic writing by other well-known authors of late I applaud both the decision to do try something new and the successful execution of that decision. About half of the story is told via the recorded observations of Charley and Dalziel and I thoroughly enjoyed their dual points of view, especially the brave inclusion of a significant narrative voice that wasn’t Dalziel or Pascoe. The rest of the story is told via a more traditional narrative but the two forms are pretty seamlessly integrated.

There’s a strong undertone of humour through this book that I haven’t noticed in the series before (although I’ve not read a large number of them so maybe it has been present). Both Dalziel and Charley’s epistles are full of humour that suits their respective characters: Dalziel’s is coarse and reminiscent of a 1970’s comedian dripping with barely concealed sexual innuendo while Charley’s is full of the biting observations that a modern young woman might share with her friends in an online chat room. I found this added a very natural component to the characterisations and, particularly in the case of Dalziel, provided a layer of credibility to a character that I’ve struggled to believe in previously. He’s still all-seeing, all-knowing Fat Andy that nearly everyone is instantly afraid of, but the humorous monologue provides an insight into what makes him tick and because of it I cringed less and saw him as a more well-rounded character.

The book isn’t the fastest paced story you’ll find, especially where the two narrative voices overlap and recount the same events from their different perspectives, but the relatively slow revelation of events allowed the myriad of characters to be more fully developed than would otherwise have been the case. Rather than being ‘filler’ content of the ‘a book must have 500 pages’ variety this was a highly nuanced building up of a picture of the town and its inhabitants and I was completely captivated. I have to admit the final conclusion bordered on contrived but I forgave this minor lapse in what was otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Hill is to be congratulated for maintaining interest in his long-running series by trying something innovative with this book. I also admire the fact you don’t need to be a die hard fan of Dalziel and Pascoe to enjoy the book (although I doubt it hurts if you are). If you’re at all keen on audio books I’d highly recommend you relax and let Keeble’s narration spirit you away to Yorkshire for a few hours.

My rating 5/5

Other stuff

As Hill as a huge legion of fans his book has been reviewed by lots of fellow book bloggers including those at Mysteries in Paradise, Reviewing the Evidence, Euro Crime, Aust Crime Fiction and Ms Bookish