Good Morning, Midnight [Hardcover]

What a pleasure it is to be in the hands of a trusted writer. And Good Morning, Midnight is a reminder of just how good this British crime writer is. Reginald Hill's reputation has been steadily consolidated with some of the most accomplished crime writing in the UK, and his Dalziel and Pascoe novels enjoy a consistency of achievement rare in the genre, with only the occasional misstep. Of course, it's hard these days not to visualise TV actors when we begin a D and P novel, but those adaptations soon seem a world away, so much more sophisticated and atmospheric are the novels.

Here, Hill gives us his very individual gloss on a standard crime plot, one that most serious practitioners feel obliged to tackle at least once: the locked room mystery (P D James recently had a crack at the same narrative device). Pal Maciver has committed suicide in a manner similar to that of his father several years ago: the death happening in the classic locked room. Pal's stepmother Kay doesn't enjoy all the negative attention she gets after the death, and although the dependable D S Dalziel is on her side, his help is restricted by a surprising influence--nothing less than as Dalziel's partner, the intractable DCI Pascoe, who regards Kay with suspicion, despite Dalziel's sympathy and support. When a key witness, seductive provider of sexual services Madame Dolores, vanishes, things become very complicated for both detectives--particularly as Pal Maciver's death appears to have many international complications. Will the squabbling Dalziel and Pascoe be able to come to a compromise before further deaths occur?

It goes without saying that readers are in for a very enjoyable time in the company of the disputatious coppers; amazingly, Hill is able to ring fresh changes on what might have been supposed to be over-familiar material. The plotting is as mystifying as ever--just what we read D and P for, right? --Barry Forshaw

‘He is probably the best living male crime writer in the English-speaking world’ Andrew Taylor, Independent

‘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

‘An increasingly lyrical and always humorous writer, he is first and foremost an instinctive and complete novelist who is blessed with a spontaneous storytelling gift’ Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday

‘The writing is brilliant, witty and erudite…as enjoyable as anything Reginald Hill has ever produced’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

He has the boldest vocabulary of any mainstream British crime writer. You feel Hill delighting in words.’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

‘…unfolds compellingly and displays all his familiar intelligence and wit. Good Morning Midnight shows Hill on top form’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The brilliant new Dalziel and Pascoe novel from the Top Ten Bestseller, Reginald Hill

Like father like son…

But heredity seems to have gone a gene too far when Pal Maciver's suicide in a locked room exactly mirrors that of his father ten years earlier.

In each case accusing fingers point towards Pal's stepmother, the beautiful enigmatic Kay Kafka. But she turns out to have a formidable champion, Mid-Yorkshire's own super-heavyweight, Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel.

DCI Peter Pascoe, nominally in charge of the investigation, finds he is constantly body-checked by his superior as he tries to disentangle the complex relationships of the Maciver family.

At first these inquiries seem local and domestic. What really happened between Pal and his stepmother? And how has key witness and exotic hooker Dolores, Our Lady of Pain, contrived to disappear from the face of Mid-Yorkshire?

Gradually, however, it becomes clear that the fall-out from Pal's suicide spreads far beyond Yorkshire. To London, to America. Even to Iraq. But the emotional epicentre is firmly placed here in Mid-Yorkshire where Pascoe comes to learn that for some people the heart too is a locked room, and in there it is always midnight.

Like father like son…
But heredity seems to have gone a gene too far when Pal Maciver's suicide in a locked room exactly mirrors that of his father ten years earlier. In each case accusing fingers point towards Pal's stepmother, the beautiful enigmatic Kay Kafka. But she turns out to have a formidable champion, Mid-Yorkshire's own super-heavyweight, Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel. DCI Peter Pascoe, nominally in charge of the investigation, finds he is constantly body-checked by his superior as he tries to disentangle the complex relationships of the Maciver family. At first these inquiries seem local and domestic. What really happened between Pal and his stepmother? And how has key witness and exotic hooker Dolores, Our Lady of Pain, contrived to disappear from the face of Mid-Yorkshire? Gradually, however, it becomes clear that the fall-out from Pal's suicide spreads far beyond Yorkshire. To London, to America. Even to Iraq. But the emotional epicentre is firmly placed here in Mid-Yorkshire where Pascoe comes to learn that for some people the heart too is a locked room, and in there it is always midnight.

Reginald Hill is a native of Cumbria and a former resident of Yorkshire, the setting for his outstanding crime novels featuring Dalziel and Pascoe, ‘the best detective duo on the scene bar none’ (Daily Telegraph). His writing career began with the publication of A Clubbable Woman (1970), which introduced Chief Superintendent Andy Dalziel and DS Peter Pascoe. With their subsequent appearances Reginald Hill has won numerous awards, including the Crime Writers’ Assocation Cartier Diamond Dagger for his lifetime contribution to the genre.