- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; New Ed edition (4 Jan 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006499023
- ISBN-13: 978-0006499022
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.7 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 650,492 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
There is an army of contenders for the title Queen of Crime, but many would consider the finest male practitioner of the genre to be the superlative Reginald Hill. His novels are crammed with atmospheric detail, ingenious plotting, and some of the sharpest characterisation in English writing--be that literary or crime novel. His detectives, Dalziel and Pascoe, have become among the best-loved fixtures of the current crime scene. And Singing the Sadness is possibly his most beguiling entertainment yet--even though it's not a Dalziel and Pascoe book.
Recently, Hill has created a new character, Joe Sixsmith. Born in a short story, Hill so much enjoyed writing about Joe that he decided to give his redundant lathe-operator-turned-private-eye his own series of novels. As in the earlier Sixsmith books, Blood Sympathy, Born Guilty and Killing the Lawyers, Sixsmith proves to be a wonderfully laconic and winning personality: always up against it in both his personal and professional life, his half-haphazard, half-inspired piercing of some pretty sinister mysteries provides a very good time for the reader.
In Singing the Sadness, Joe is going west - but only as far as Wales, where his local choir has been invited to compete in the Llanffugiol Choral Festival. Joe has agreed to accompany them--but soon discovers that no one seems to have heard of Llanffugiol. And instead of a welcome in the hillside, all that he finds is a burning house, with a mysterious woman trapped inside. Soon, Joe is dealing with a strange and suspicious group of characters: a drug-dealing student, a supercilious headmaster and a deeply antagonistic policeman. And that's not to mention the disaffected locals who have decided to sabotage the Festival, with the aid of the caretaker's daughter who seems prepared to go to some remarkable lengths to take care of Joe. Amidst all the chaos, Joe finds himself (over the space of a single weekend) uncovering crimes that have been buried for years. And soon, as often before, his own life is on the line.
Written with all the sharp-edged humour and rich humanity that distinguishes his best work, this new development in Hill's much-acclaimed body of work bids fair to gain just as devoted a following as the Dalziel and Pascoe books, with Hill's prose style as keen as ever: "She still regarded Joe's post-lathe career in private investigation as a symptom of stress-induced brain fever which marriage to a good woman, plus regular attendance at chapel and the job centre would soon cure. She'd reacted to the news that Joe had bought a mobile phone like a Sally Army captain catching a reformed drunk coming out of an off-licence with a brown paper parcel". --Barry Forshaw
Review
‘Hill is an instinctive and complete novelist who is blessed with a spontaneous storytelling gift’
Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday
‘Reginald Hill stands head and shoulders above any other writer of homebred crime fiction’
Observer
‘This is high-speed pantomine… with plenty of sly dialogue to spice the action’
Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday (of Singing the Sadness)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the fourth of the novels about Joe Sixsmith, a redundant lathe operator turned private eye from Luton. The chapel choir that Joe sings in is on its way to Wales for a choral festival. Things get off to a fine start when the bus first gets lost on the way, and then breaks down in the middle of nowhere.The last incident to mar the journey is a good deal more serious, as they come across a burning cottage with a woman trapped inside. Joe goes to the rescue, saving the woman but putting himself in hospital for a few hours, and putting himself out of the choral competition with the tenporary throat damage from smoke inhalation. That leaves him with plenty of time to investigate the fire, which at first glance looks like an anti-English arson attack that went further than intended. But his digging gradually turns up evidence of other crimes, some petty and others very serious indeed.
As always with Reginald Hill's novels, this book is both a gripping mystery and a beautifully written piece of prose. Joe is an entertaining character, and the book is very funny without ever trivialising the crime that lies at the heart of the case. The cast of characters is well developed, and there's a nice exploration of the way middle and upper-class criminals can cover their tracks by exploiting the willingness of others to do a little favour for a friend.
Hill's series books build a continuing universe, with his characters developing as a results of events in previous books, and later books often refer back to early books in the series. This one is no exception, but there's enough backstory worked in that you don't need to have read the earlier books in the series first--at the time of writing this is the only Sixsmith novel I've read, and I had no trouble following the references to the backstory.
As always with Reginald Hill's novels, this book is both a gripping mystery and a beautifully written piece of prose. Joe is an entertaining character, and the book is very funny without ever trivialising the crime that lies at the heart of the case. The cast of characters is well developed, and there's a nice exploration of the way middle and upper-class criminals can cover their tracks by exploiting the willingness of others to do a little favour for a friend.
Hill's series books build a continuing universe, with his characters developing as a results of events in previous books, and later books often refer back to early books in the series. This one is no exception, but there's enough backstory worked in that you don't need to have read the earlier books in the series first--at the time of writing this is the only Sixsmith novel I've read, and I had no trouble following the references to the backstory.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I usually think of Joe Sixsmith of the poor relation to Dalziel and Pascoe. Often humourous and lightly written in this book Joe has come of age. He is given more maturity and depth and I enjoyed it much more than usual. The Welsh setting takes him out of Luton for once, which I think helps a lot! For a relatively short novel it has a lot to offer.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I always enjoy Reginald Hill's books, they are well constructed and a very good read. But, this book has had me puzzled from the beginning not because of the story but because it keeps sending me to sleep and has taken me longer to read than any of his other books - I keep asking myself why am I reading it, but I will not be beaten so keep trying!
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