Midnight Fugue [Hardcover]

Crime fiction fans are devoted to Reginald Hill’s excellent sequence of Dalziel & Pascoe novels, and there is a burgeoning interest in his equally adroit series featuring the canny private eye Joe Sixsmith (notably The Roar of the Butterflies, one of the most compelling entries in the series). However, for the real Reg Hill aficionado, it’s Fat Andy and his more sophisticated colleague who inspire the real dedication, so the arrival of a new book, Midnight Fugue, is a cause for celebration – particularly as a refutation of the information in the title of Hill’s recent novel, Dalziel is Dead.

Gina Wolfe arrives in north Yorkshire seeking her missing husband, believed dead. Her new fiancé, a policeman in the Met, suggests the caustic copper Andy Dalziel might be of help – and everyone involved discovers that dark events of years ago have a way of causing troubling eruptions in the present.

It's hard to believe, but it’s been nearly four decades since readers first encountered the well-read, sensitive detective Peter Pascoe and his partner, the brash but winning Andy Dalziel, in A Clubbable Woman. Hill has always rung the changes in the series with new wrinkles that take us to startling terra incognita (for example, One Small Step addressed the first murder on the moon in the year 2010). But the key factor in the series’ continuing success (leaving aside the ratings-winning TV adaptations) is Hill’s eagerness to take on key societal issues (always, however, married to reader-grabbing plots) – and that characteristic is abundantly evident in Midnight Fugue, with the two protagonist striking sparks off each other in the usual highly satisfying fashion. --Barry Forshaw

Praise for ‘Midnight Fugue’:

‘Back on his old form. Witty, wise and welcome’ Literary Review

‘[Reginald Hill] shows no sign of descending from the high quality of his writing … Beautifully plotted and intriguingly resolved’ Marcel Berlins, The Times

'Fresh and memorable … It's a witty, wise and warm read, with rich characterisation and emotional depth' Val McDermid, The Times

'A sort of genteel, very funny and extremely well-written version of 24' Telegraph

‘A masterly performance … will deservedly be one of this summer’s big bestsellers’ Mark Sanderson, Evening Standard

‘Hill’s ingenuity continues to dazzle’ John O’Connell, Guardian

‘Midnight Fugue has a clever plot, written without whimsy, and one of the best things in it is Dalziel's sense of his advancing age and its impact on his relationship with Pascoe’ The Sunday Times

‘As ever it is steeped in a dry, wry wit and accents almost as thick as good gravy on roast beef and Yorkshire pudding…it is a measure of Hill's masterful grasp that time flies imperceptibly…Hill makes it all look so deceptively simple that it masks a writer on top of his trade’ Sunday Express

‘Hill's plot is elegantly constructed, and his prose is delectable…Witty, slightly surreal and fundamentally humane, the novel is a welcome addition to one of the best crime series around’ Andrew Taylor, Spectator

A masterly performance ... The plot contains at least three twists but, as always, the greatest pleasure lies in the humorous interaction between the machosexual Dalziel and his more enlightened colleagues ... will deservedly be one of this summer's big bestsellers

Hill's ingenuity continues to dazzle

`A sort of genteel, very funny and extremely well-written version of 24'

'Witty, wise and welcome'

`Fresh and memorable ... It's a witty, wise and warm read, with rich characterisation and emotional depth'

The highly anticipated return of Dalziel and Pascoe, the hugely popular police duo and stars of the long-running BBC TV series, in a new psychological thriller.

It starts with a phone call to Superintendent Dalziel from an old friend asking for help. But where it ends is a very different story.

Gina Wolfe has come to Mid-Yorkshire in search of her missing husband, believed dead. Her fiancé, Commander Mick Purdy of the Met, thinks Dalziel should be able to take care of the job. What none of them realize is how events set in motion decades ago will come to a violent head on this otherwise ordinary summer's day.

A Welsh tabloid journalist senses the story he's been chasing for years may have finally landed in his lap. A Tory MP's secretary suspects her boss's father has an unsavoury history that could taint his prime ministerial ambitions. The ruthless entrepreneur in question sends two henchmen out to make sure the past stays in the past. And the lethal pair dispatched have some awkward secrets of their own.

Four stories, two mismatched detectives trying to figure it all out, and 24 hours in which to do it: Dalziel and Pascoe are about to learn the hard way exactly just how much difference a day makes…

Reginald Hill is a native of Cumbria and former resident of Yorkshire, the setting for his novels featuring Superintendent Dalziel and DCI Pascoe. Their appearances have won him numerous awards including a CWA Gold Dagger and Lifetime Achievement award. They have also been adapted into a hugely popular BBC TV series.