- Hardcover: 416 pages
- Publisher: Delacorte Press (Jan 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385336004
- ISBN-13: 978-0385336000
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.8 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,958,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the things that the classic British crime novel does is set us puzzles; in Reginald Hill's new Dalziel and Pascoe novel Dialogues of the Dead they introduce us to a killer who does almost nothing else. A series of seemingly random killings are connected by the accounts of them--accounts awash in puns, literary allusions and deliberate obscurities--which keep turning up at the Mid-Yorkshire County Library. At first, keen young recruit Hat Bowler only takes the letters seriously as a way of chatting up the beautiful Rye Pomona--but it becomes progressively clearer to him and his superiors that whoever is writing them simply knows too much not to be the killer... Hill is at the height of his powers here--comic grotesques like Dalziel, with his habit of deliberately seeming more thuggish and obtuse than anyone could possibly quite be, compete for space with satiric observation of Jax, the bright young TV link who will do anything for her story, and the penny-pinching left-wing councillor who ends up with a chisel in his brain. Anyone who likes Hill's always excellent work will be impressed by this--and anyone who likes word-play and puzzles will be fascinated by it. --Roz Kaveney
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
‘He is probably the best living male crime writer in the English-speaking world’
Andrew Taylor, Independent
‘The finest male English contemporary crime writer. Compassionate, intelligent and entertaining’
Val McDermid, Manchester Evening News
‘He just keeps getting better and better… Hill, a true master, never fails to shock and surprise’
Ian Rankin, Scotland on Sunday
‘Few writers in the genre today have Hill’s gifts: formidable intelligence, quick humour, compassion and a prose style that blends elegance and grace’
Donna Leon, Sunday Times
‘One of Britain’s most consistently excellent crime novelists’
Marcel Berlins, The Times
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Hill Ever,
By A Customer
This review is from: Dialogues of the Dead (A Dalziel & Pascoe Novel) (Paperback)
...Hill has taken the puzzle and language to an incredible new level, while keeping the characters we know in character, teasing us with hints, puzzles, red herrings, but no cheating. Several times I wanted to fetch my copy of the OED, and I may just reread it with that set at my elbow. Didn't want to miss a word. The best I've read all year. This book should not be missed by lovers of language, literature, mysteries, and thrillers. I already anticipate greatly the next in the series.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A pleasure,
By A Customer
This review is from: Dialogues of the Dead (Dalziel & Pascoe Novel) (Hardcover)
It is only in the last two years that I have become aware of Reginald Hill's "Dalziel & Pascoe" novels. This has turned out to be a bonus for me as I have had the pleasure of being able to read through the whole series in a short space of time. I am one of those readers, who when I find an author whose books I love, finds the wait for the next book interminable. The new Dalziel & Pascoe novel "Dialogues of the Dead" was worth the wait.Wield, Pascoe & Dalziel are once again at the forefront of this book, in addition we have a fourth main character from CID, E. "Hat" Bowler, who was introduced in "Arms and the Women" when given the task of "baby sitting" Ellie Pascoe. (Hill seems to have a fondness for obscure names beginning with the letter 'E', Edwin, Edgar, Eleanor and now Ethelbert) The local newspaper is running a short story competition. Entries to the competition are being short listed on behalf of the newspaper by two library employees Dick Dee and Rye Pomona. In amongst the entries are two dialogues whose content shows that the author knows the circumstances of two recent deaths and is claiming responsibility. Rye Pomona makes the connection between the dialogues and the deaths and brings them to the attention of "Hat" Bowler who has been trying to gain the attention of Rye Pomona. From here we have more deaths and subsequent matching dialogues being received by the people involved in the Heritage, Arts & Library Centre and this is the basis of our 'whodunit'. As per Reginald Hill's other novels in this series, my enjoyment comes from the continued growth of the characters and the effort and thought expected of the reader in trying to sort out who is responsible for the deaths. Although I must admit to having got to the end of most of these books with a "Well I never...". "Dialogues of the Dead" in my opinion is on par with to "On Beulah Height", "Bones & Silence", "Child's Play" and "Pictures of Perfection" which I have a soft spot for. I found the previous novel in this series "Arms and the Women" a major disappointment, probably due to my antipathy to Ellie Pascoe who is the only Hill character I cannot warm to. For me at least, I am relieved the the series is back on track with emphasis on Hill's 'trinity' of Dalziel, Pascoe & Wield along with E. Bowler. I loved this book, my thoughts now turn, to the next in this series and how Reginald Hill is going to juxtapose Bowler and Novello (who is away on sick leave in this book and only makes a brief appearance) in future as I've enjoyed their expanded presence in the recent books.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An intelligent, probing thriller,
By A Customer
This review is from: Dialogues of the Dead (A Dalziel & Pascoe Novel) (Paperback)
This is by far the most cleverley written episode yet in the lives of Mid Yorkshire's finest detectives.Reginald Hill's use of the English language creates puzzles and red herrings a plenty. The characters are intricately fused together, each presenting a case for their own inclusion in the ring of suspects. The introduction of the hapless, although by no means hopeless, DC Bowler leaves the reader in no doubt that Reginald Hill is a great master of the written word. A constant sense of suspense and wonder at the ultimate truth is the reader's own reward. Miss this book at your peril!
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