Synopses & Reviews
From the winner of Britain's most prestigious Diamond Dagger Award comes a beautifully written, multilayered psychological thriller.
Three times Yorkshire policeman Peter Pascoe has wrongly accused ex-con, aspiring academic, and inveterate joker Franny Roote of a crime, only to have Roote walk free. Now Roote is sending strange and threatening letters that connect back to a nineteenth-century poet-physician, and Pascoe fears there is worse to come. This time he's determined to prove Roote guilty as sin.
Meanwhile, Pascoe's colleague Edgar Wield rides to the rescue of a boy in danger, and in return, the boy tips him off about the heist of a priceless treasure. Soon Wield is torn between protecting the lad and doing his duty.
At least Detective Constable Bowler is looking forward to a blissful New Year with the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, her dreams are filled with a horror too terrible to tell...
Over all this activity broods Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel. As trouble builds, Dalziel discovers that omniscience can be more trouble than it's worth.
In this brilliant novel of suspense, complete with intricate plotting, sly humor, and deft wordplay, acclaimed author Reginald Hill sets up a battle of wills between determined cops and an ingenious villain. Hill has been praised by the New York Times Book Review as "ever the master of form and sorcerer of style," and with Death's Jest-Book, he delivers a tour de force not to be missed.
Review
"Reginald Hill is probably the best living crime writer in the English-speaking world." The Independent (U.K.)
Review
"Few writers in the genre today have Hills gifts: formidable intelligence, quick humour, compassion and a prose style that blends elegance and grace." Donna Leon
Review
"Reginald Hills novels are really dances to the music of time, his heroes and villains interconnecting, their stories intertwining." Ian Rankin
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"It's clever, involving and admirably resolved. No one does it better than Hill." The Guardian
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"Diamond Dagger winner Hill ties up some loose ends from his previous Dalziel/Pascoe book, Dialogues of the Dead (2002), in this gritty, witty psychological suspense novel." Publishers Weekly
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"If readers can hold on to this plot line through the ornate subplots...they will be rewarded with Hill's deft planting of suspense bombs. Mostly for the initiated Pascoe fan." Connie Fletcher, Booklist
Review
"Roote's epistolary style is as brilliant as it is bizarre, and his creepy letters on such eclectic matters as the revenge theme in Jacobean tragedy and the smartest way to avoid being raped in prison or in the groves of academe are a joy to read." Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Twenty novels into the series, nothing about Death's Jest-Book suggests that Hill is writing out of habit. It's an insult, particularly to a mystery writer, to say that his work is literate a novel, by definition, should be literate. But it may be necessary to use that descriptive to get at the high quality of Hill's writing....The fineness of Hill's writing is evident not just in the language itself but in the ease of his construction, the ease with which he cuts among his large cast of Yorkshire cops....The real tribute to mystery writers comes when you can say that you pick up their books to keep company with the cast of characters. Dalziel and Pascoe are nowhere close to wearing out their welcome." Charles Taylor, Salon.com
Review
"Once again, Hill takes the classic British mystery to new levels of psychological suspense, character development, and literary mastery....[A] superlative mystery." Library Journal
Synopsis
Now in paperback the latest psychological thriller from the winner of Britain's prestigious Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, featuring Yorkshire policeman Peter Pascoe and Detective Superintendent "Fat Andy" Dalziel.
Synopsis
From the winner of Britian's prestigious Diamond Dagger Award, comes a beautifully written, multilayered psychological thriller
Three times Yorkshire policeman Peter Pascoe has wrongly accused ex-con Franny Roote of a crime, only to have Roote walk free. Now Roote is sending out strange and threatening letters and Pascoe fears there is worse to come. This time he's determined to get his man.
In a brilliant novel of psychological suspense, acclaimed author Reginald Hill sets up a battle of wills between determined cops and an ingenious villain. Hill is known as a master of complex plotting, deep characterization, sly humor, and wordplay, and those qualities are amply evident in this stunning novel.
Synopsis
Bestselling and Diamond Dagger award-winning mystery writer Reginald Hill sets up a battle of wills between determined cops Andy Dalziel and DCI Peter Pascoe and an elusive and ingenious villain in a "dazzling" novel of psychological suspense (New York Times Book Review).
Three times Yorkshire policeman Peter Pascoe has wrongly accused ex-con Franny Roote of a crime, only to have Roote walk free. Now Roote is sending out strange and threatening letters and Pascoe fears there is worse to come. This time he's determined to get his man.
Meanwhile, Pascoe's colleague Edgar Wield rides to the rescue of a boy in danger and in return, the boy tips him off about the heist of a priceless treasure. Soon Wield is torn between protecting the lad and doing his duty.
Over all this activity broods the huge form of Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel. As trouble builds, Dalziel discovers that omniscience can be more trouble than it's worth.
Synopsis
Sometimes a monster can hide behind a maskof civilized, urbane intelligence.
Sometimes the most terrible of crimes can go undetected and unpunished.
Sometimes Death has a wicked sense of humor ...
About the Author
Reginald Hill is a native of Cumbria and a 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 the Car-tier Diamond Dagger Lifetime Achievement Award. The Dalziel and Pascoe stories have also been adapted into a hugely popular BBC TV series.