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Dalziel & Pascoe #13
Recalled to Life
It was a crime of passion in onc of England's great houses, an open-and-shut case. But thirty years later, when the convicted nanny is freed, then spirited off to America before she can talk, Yorkshire's Superintendent Dalziel retums to the scene of the crime with Inspector Pascoe, determined to dig up the corpus delecti he investigated a generation before. Did the wrong aristocrat hang? Dalziel and Pascoe find decades-old clues that implicate a member of the royal family. When one of their prime leads is found dead, Dalziel is put "on leave"--and heads for New York to learn what the Nanny knows. Back home, Pascoe walks a thin line, quietly pursuing a case someone is trying to bury. Stiff upper lips do tell tale, but Dalziel and Pascoe discover on both sides of the Atlantic that it's hell on those trying to unearth the truth.
392 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
354 people are currently reading
454 people want to read
About the author
Reginald Hill
170 books499 followersReginald Charles Hill was a contemporary English crime writer, and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement.
After National Service (1955-57) and studying English at St Catherine's College, Oxford University (1957-60) he worked as a teacher for many years, rising to Senior Lecturer at Doncaster College of Education. In 1980 he retired from salaried work in order to devote himself full-time to writing.
Hill is best known for his more than 20 novels featuring the Yorkshire detectives Andrew Dalziel, Peter Pascoe and Edgar Wield. He has also written more than 30 other novels, including five featuring Joe Sixsmith, a black machine operator turned private detective in a fictional Luton. Novels originally published under the pseudonyms of Patrick Ruell, Dick Morland, and Charles Underhill have now appeared under his own name. Hill is also a writer of short stories, and ghost tales.
After National Service (1955-57) and studying English at St Catherine's College, Oxford University (1957-60) he worked as a teacher for many years, rising to Senior Lecturer at Doncaster College of Education. In 1980 he retired from salaried work in order to devote himself full-time to writing.
Hill is best known for his more than 20 novels featuring the Yorkshire detectives Andrew Dalziel, Peter Pascoe and Edgar Wield. He has also written more than 30 other novels, including five featuring Joe Sixsmith, a black machine operator turned private detective in a fictional Luton. Novels originally published under the pseudonyms of Patrick Ruell, Dick Morland, and Charles Underhill have now appeared under his own name. Hill is also a writer of short stories, and ghost tales.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
March 21, 2016
Reginald Hill died in 2012, and even though there are plenty of wonderful authors, I find that I truly miss his Dalziel & Pascoe series. Andy is everyone's favorite curmudgeon. Warren Clarke, the actor who played Andy Dalziel in the British television series, died in 2014. He did a masterful job. I'm hoping to find the series and start at the beginning since it played intermittently on PBS.
This book dates from 1992 and reopens a 1963 case when Andy was still in uniform. A local member of the gentry is hosting a weekend house party that involves, of course, shooting. There are several couples and their children, two nannies and a mysterious single man. When one of the women in the group is found dead, the host and one of the nannies, Cissy, are charged. The case is reopened after an appeal by Cissy's attorney instigated by a relative places doubt on the original investigation that was done by Andy's former and now deceased boss, Tarrantine. Andy involves himself in the investigation in order to prevent Tarrantine's name from being besmirched.
Like every other Reginald Hill book, there is MUCH more to this case than meets the eye. There is so much going on, so many delightful red herrings and more. I've never been disappointed by a Daziel and Pascoe which is why I miss Mr. Hill.
This book dates from 1992 and reopens a 1963 case when Andy was still in uniform. A local member of the gentry is hosting a weekend house party that involves, of course, shooting. There are several couples and their children, two nannies and a mysterious single man. When one of the women in the group is found dead, the host and one of the nannies, Cissy, are charged. The case is reopened after an appeal by Cissy's attorney instigated by a relative places doubt on the original investigation that was done by Andy's former and now deceased boss, Tarrantine. Andy involves himself in the investigation in order to prevent Tarrantine's name from being besmirched.
Like every other Reginald Hill book, there is MUCH more to this case than meets the eye. There is so much going on, so many delightful red herrings and more. I've never been disappointed by a Daziel and Pascoe which is why I miss Mr. Hill.
July 29, 2020
This started off well, but I soon began to find it confusing: there were too many people at the house party in the 1960s who were all sleeping with each other and some of them were British and some of them were American. Dalziel and Pascoe were their usual selves and the humour was there, but I found it hard to care about any of the other characters.
The solutions to the various mysteries were convoluted and involved Dalziel going to the US and apparently not knowing what a muffin or a pretzel is. I was glad when it was all over, but I'm not sure even now I grasped the whole plot.
The solutions to the various mysteries were convoluted and involved Dalziel going to the US and apparently not knowing what a muffin or a pretzel is. I was glad when it was all over, but I'm not sure even now I grasped the whole plot.
December 11, 2021
The last Golden Age murder…
Back in 1963 Dalziel was a young detective, working for a man he respected as a mentor and friend, Wally Tallantire. It was Tallantire who solved what has since been called “the last Golden Age murder” – called that, anyway, by the documentary maker who is casting doubt on the investigation and questioning the verdict. A weekend house party at Mickledore Hall had included a government minister, a diplomat with Royal connections, a CIA officer, a variety of spouses and a couple of nannies, and much bed-hopping had gone on. It all ended with the shooting of one of the wives, and Tallantire’s investigation led to the conviction of the owner of the Hall, Ralph Mickledore, and his lover, the American nanny Cissy Kohler. Mickledore, strangely confident that he would be pardoned, found his confidence misplaced and was hanged. Cissy Kohler, whose confession led to the conviction of them both, has spent thirty years in prison, but is now out and is claiming Tallantire forced the confession out of her. In a bid to protect the reputation of his old mentor, now dead, Dalziel starts to look into the case again. At first he is confident the right people were convicted at the time, but gradually he begins to worry that Tallantire may indeed have cut a few corners…
This is quite an odd one in the series, in that it’s a cold case investigation. As is usual in the UK, another force has been tasked with carrying out the review of the handling of the case and Dalziel is told by his boss to keep out of it, but when does Dalziel ever do what his boss tells him? Soon he has dragged Pascoe into his unofficial investigation, reluctantly since Pascoe is in the unenviable position of being the liaison with the official investigators. Pascoe never knew Tallantire, but his loyalty to Dalziel is stronger than he would like to admit so he understands why Dalziel wants Tallantire’s name cleared.
1963 was the time of the Profumo affair in Britain, which involved the downfall of a government minister, John Profumo, when it was revealed that he had been having an affair with a woman, Christine Keeler, who had also been playing around with a Soviet naval officer. One scandal led to another, and there were all kinds of rumours of men in prominent positions being involved with high-class prostitutes provided by an equally high-class pimp, who later killed himself. Hill has used this story freely to build his own version of the scandal among the people visiting Mickledore Hall, but with enough differences to keep it interesting. For instance, he has added at least one murder! One of the things I like about Hill is that when he borrows from life or fiction, he makes it very clear that he’s doing so – it is no coincidence, I’m sure, that Christine Keeler and Cissy Kohler share initials, for instance. The title is also borrowed, from Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, in which an innocent man spends many years in prison for the crime of knowing too much about the sordid secrets of the rich and powerful.
However, Cissy is not an appealing character. Whether guilty or innocent of involvement in the murder for which she was convicted, there is no doubt that one of her young charges died while in her care, either through negligence or deliberate design. And during her imprisonment she killed a prison guard. Dalziel feels these actions vindicate Tallantire’s belief in her guilt. But when he comes to suspect that maybe Tallantire did pressure her into a confession, he realises this would mean that the real guilty party got away with murder, and that’s not an idea that pleases him.
When Dalziel is told in no uncertain terms to take a holiday before he gets suspended, he decides to go to America, where several of the original suspects now are, including Cissy herself. Seeing Dalziel blundering about America in his usual blunt, bull in a china shop way is fun – he is as baffled by some aspects of American culture as the Americans are by him.
The story in this one is very convoluted, and it seems as if everyone has at least one secret, often more. I think it gets too busy at times, and crosses the credibility line more than Hill usually does. However, he’s great at showing how big a part class played in all aspects of British life in the early ‘60s – it still does, of course, but there’s not the same reverence today as there was back then towards the “well-born” rich and powerful. The death of the child makes it darker than a true Golden Age mystery would normally be, and gives a psychological depth and ambiguity to Cissy’s character that might otherwise have been missing. But there’s also enough humour in it to lift the tone and make it as entertaining as most of these books are. Not one of my top favourites, and not one I’d recommend as an entry point for newcomers to the series, but still a rewarding and enjoyable read for existing fans.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Back in 1963 Dalziel was a young detective, working for a man he respected as a mentor and friend, Wally Tallantire. It was Tallantire who solved what has since been called “the last Golden Age murder” – called that, anyway, by the documentary maker who is casting doubt on the investigation and questioning the verdict. A weekend house party at Mickledore Hall had included a government minister, a diplomat with Royal connections, a CIA officer, a variety of spouses and a couple of nannies, and much bed-hopping had gone on. It all ended with the shooting of one of the wives, and Tallantire’s investigation led to the conviction of the owner of the Hall, Ralph Mickledore, and his lover, the American nanny Cissy Kohler. Mickledore, strangely confident that he would be pardoned, found his confidence misplaced and was hanged. Cissy Kohler, whose confession led to the conviction of them both, has spent thirty years in prison, but is now out and is claiming Tallantire forced the confession out of her. In a bid to protect the reputation of his old mentor, now dead, Dalziel starts to look into the case again. At first he is confident the right people were convicted at the time, but gradually he begins to worry that Tallantire may indeed have cut a few corners…
This is quite an odd one in the series, in that it’s a cold case investigation. As is usual in the UK, another force has been tasked with carrying out the review of the handling of the case and Dalziel is told by his boss to keep out of it, but when does Dalziel ever do what his boss tells him? Soon he has dragged Pascoe into his unofficial investigation, reluctantly since Pascoe is in the unenviable position of being the liaison with the official investigators. Pascoe never knew Tallantire, but his loyalty to Dalziel is stronger than he would like to admit so he understands why Dalziel wants Tallantire’s name cleared.
1963 was the time of the Profumo affair in Britain, which involved the downfall of a government minister, John Profumo, when it was revealed that he had been having an affair with a woman, Christine Keeler, who had also been playing around with a Soviet naval officer. One scandal led to another, and there were all kinds of rumours of men in prominent positions being involved with high-class prostitutes provided by an equally high-class pimp, who later killed himself. Hill has used this story freely to build his own version of the scandal among the people visiting Mickledore Hall, but with enough differences to keep it interesting. For instance, he has added at least one murder! One of the things I like about Hill is that when he borrows from life or fiction, he makes it very clear that he’s doing so – it is no coincidence, I’m sure, that Christine Keeler and Cissy Kohler share initials, for instance. The title is also borrowed, from Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, in which an innocent man spends many years in prison for the crime of knowing too much about the sordid secrets of the rich and powerful.
However, Cissy is not an appealing character. Whether guilty or innocent of involvement in the murder for which she was convicted, there is no doubt that one of her young charges died while in her care, either through negligence or deliberate design. And during her imprisonment she killed a prison guard. Dalziel feels these actions vindicate Tallantire’s belief in her guilt. But when he comes to suspect that maybe Tallantire did pressure her into a confession, he realises this would mean that the real guilty party got away with murder, and that’s not an idea that pleases him.
When Dalziel is told in no uncertain terms to take a holiday before he gets suspended, he decides to go to America, where several of the original suspects now are, including Cissy herself. Seeing Dalziel blundering about America in his usual blunt, bull in a china shop way is fun – he is as baffled by some aspects of American culture as the Americans are by him.
The story in this one is very convoluted, and it seems as if everyone has at least one secret, often more. I think it gets too busy at times, and crosses the credibility line more than Hill usually does. However, he’s great at showing how big a part class played in all aspects of British life in the early ‘60s – it still does, of course, but there’s not the same reverence today as there was back then towards the “well-born” rich and powerful. The death of the child makes it darker than a true Golden Age mystery would normally be, and gives a psychological depth and ambiguity to Cissy’s character that might otherwise have been missing. But there’s also enough humour in it to lift the tone and make it as entertaining as most of these books are. Not one of my top favourites, and not one I’d recommend as an entry point for newcomers to the series, but still a rewarding and enjoyable read for existing fans.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
April 27, 2020
A rare misstep for the Dalziel and Pascoe series. Dalziel's antics get a bit cartoonish; the very convoluted plot takes forever to take off and then it takes way to o long to wrap up. Feel freee to skim.
January 13, 2019
It you are not familiar with Reginald Hill's Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel, this is not the book to start with.
But that doesn't mean that this isn't a great read. It is very, very good and if you have read earlier books with the fat, rude and wily detective, then its just right to read something about his earlier adventures prior to the series as it gives clues to just began his career and helped shape his worldview into crime and what people will do.
This is a look back into the 1960s, especially all that was happening in the world in that time, and then brings it to one particular event in which a house party ends tragically with the death of a woman — the wife of one man, the mistress of another. The police struggle but come up with not one accused but two. One, the titled man, goes to the gallows; the woman is sentenced to a lifetime behind bars. But 27 years later, things in the world and in this case seem to change and Dalziel, not officially connected any longer, can't leave it alone when it seems to be heading to tainting the reputation of his former superintendent.
If you lived through the 60s, the death of an American president and the British spy and Profumo scandals, this is especially interesting reading. If you haven't, it's still intriguing. Either way, take a long evening, a good weekend and dedicated it to the full enjoyment of this book, this tale.
But that doesn't mean that this isn't a great read. It is very, very good and if you have read earlier books with the fat, rude and wily detective, then its just right to read something about his earlier adventures prior to the series as it gives clues to just began his career and helped shape his worldview into crime and what people will do.
This is a look back into the 1960s, especially all that was happening in the world in that time, and then brings it to one particular event in which a house party ends tragically with the death of a woman — the wife of one man, the mistress of another. The police struggle but come up with not one accused but two. One, the titled man, goes to the gallows; the woman is sentenced to a lifetime behind bars. But 27 years later, things in the world and in this case seem to change and Dalziel, not officially connected any longer, can't leave it alone when it seems to be heading to tainting the reputation of his former superintendent.
If you lived through the 60s, the death of an American president and the British spy and Profumo scandals, this is especially interesting reading. If you haven't, it's still intriguing. Either way, take a long evening, a good weekend and dedicated it to the full enjoyment of this book, this tale.
July 23, 2019
A little slower getting into this, mostly because of the un-sympathetic heroine, but as usual, a wonderful mystery full of twists and turns. Dalzeil loose in America is a disturbing image but truly a delightful adventure! I
find, after all, that since Mr. Hill wrote his novels 'catch as catch can' ( to quote Billy Robinson), popping back and forth in his character's lives, attempting to read the works chronologically by case order is too much trouble, so I'll just enjoy the ride and 'Think of England'!
A couple of little things bothered me, but again, what does an Englishman know of the inner workings of New York Citizens, mostly he got the feel, the grubbiness and the danger of 80's NYC. I will allow myself one tiny whine that won't give away anything, at one point his heroine mistaken for a prostitute on the street by a man who is wearing what looks like 'old-fashioned preacher's' clothes. The typical NY image that immediately came to my mind was a Hasidic Jew. This would never have happened...if it was he would never have spoken, touched her or even made eye-contact! Anyway, minor detail.
Also...I finally realize, after all this time I've been reading the fat man's name as Dal zeel...it's not the z is silent! Too late for me to re-learn I fear.
find, after all, that since Mr. Hill wrote his novels 'catch as catch can' ( to quote Billy Robinson), popping back and forth in his character's lives, attempting to read the works chronologically by case order is too much trouble, so I'll just enjoy the ride and 'Think of England'!
A couple of little things bothered me, but again, what does an Englishman know of the inner workings of New York Citizens, mostly he got the feel, the grubbiness and the danger of 80's NYC. I will allow myself one tiny whine that won't give away anything, at one point his heroine mistaken for a prostitute on the street by a man who is wearing what looks like 'old-fashioned preacher's' clothes. The typical NY image that immediately came to my mind was a Hasidic Jew. This would never have happened...if it was he would never have spoken, touched her or even made eye-contact! Anyway, minor detail.
Also...I finally realize, after all this time I've been reading the fat man's name as Dal zeel...it's not the z is silent! Too late for me to re-learn I fear.
May 19, 2009
Dalziel in America--this one is laugh out loud funny. The plot is straight forward but complicated by a fairly large cast of characters spanning more time than is usual in a Dalziel/Pascoe book.
February 15, 2020
Flawed but amusing. Dalziel's antics in the U.S are not very believable but fun nevertheless.
March 3, 2024
Although the book has the familiar Reginald Hill style, with its clever turn of phrase, humour and original characters, I’m afraid I found the storyline totally disjointed, difficult to follow and undramatic.
It won’t put me off the rest of the series but I’m very pleased I didn’t read this one first!
2 out of 10
It won’t put me off the rest of the series but I’m very pleased I didn’t read this one first!
2 out of 10
September 10, 2010
This really is a great one, if you love Dalziel and Pascoe. I truly enjoyed seeing the Fat Man trying to adjust to New York, and I think Hill must have had some fun with the alternating viewpoints, moving between Britain and USA, and deciding exactly how much of a Crocodile Dalziel he could make out of the Fat Man. The mystery is a very solid one. I didn't guess. Usually I do, so this pleased me very much. Good characterization, problems in the Pascoe household that must have happened after an earlier book I read, whose ending I recall as being totally believably traumatizing to Peter. I like it that characters move from one book to the next, carrying burdens with them. I must admit, I've not been happy with some of Hill's latest work. They seem determined to be too long, and silly, getting the women/wives involved in an awkward way. I don't like Ellie Pascoe much, which makes those books hard for me. But this is an earlier Dalziel and Pascoe, from 1992. I don't know how I missed it then, but I'm glad to have found it now. If it were only for his thrillers and these earlier Dalziel and Pascoe books, and Joe Sixsmith who hasn't taken off but is a really interesting and funny detective, I'd be a fan of Hill's.
June 8, 2016
Not often I mark a mystery down because it's too complicated, but that's where I am with this one. An already complex traditional locked-room, country-house mystery gets mixed up with the CIA, MI-5, characters whose names change, and characters with multiple sleeping partners and jealousies. Add to this parallel investigations by Dalziel and Pascoe in alternating chapters, life stories of the characters before the event, and descriptions of their lives for 15 years after the event, and it all gets to be too much. I could barely keep track of who's on first. But as always in this series, the writing is crisp and literate. The title and every chapter epigraph are from A Tale of Two Cities. And Dalziel is in fine form, criticizing his subordinates with crass obscenity to their faces and stalwartly defending them behind their backs; relishing every confrontation, purposely antagonizing the "funny buggers" in the CIA and MI-5, and needling upper-class snobs:
"So, I expect you could give me a lift back to the station, as my sergeant needs our car."
"I beg your pardon...I have no intention of becoming your personal taxi service."
"Oh, aye? Well that's good, 'cos I weren't planning to pay. Step lively now, I'm a busy man."
"So, I expect you could give me a lift back to the station, as my sergeant needs our car."
"I beg your pardon...I have no intention of becoming your personal taxi service."
"Oh, aye? Well that's good, 'cos I weren't planning to pay. Step lively now, I'm a busy man."
Read
December 7, 2010Writing up notes on each book in this series is getting a bit pointless and probably pretty tedious for anyone reading. Hill's a master storyteller and surprises me everytime with the inventiveness of not just his plots but of the way he narrates these stories.
I think this book draws a lot on Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities but I'm not qualified to comment on that angle. Pascoe stays in Mid-Yorkshire looking into a 1963 murder case. The surviving murderer has just been released from prison. Dalziel, who was a mere constable in the original case, takes off for New York and investigates the American side of the case. The American angle stops just short of turning into an outright comedy and Pascoe's home end stops just short of turning into a full scale tragedy.
If I had to find a complaint to put to Hill it would be that he likes to tie up every single loose end in his plots and sometimes I feel it might be preferable to leave things dangling a little more. But that's not really much of a complaint since many of the threads are only tied up for the reader and not for the police.
January 24, 2016
Recalled to Life by Reginald Hill - very good
I always forget just how good Reginal Hill's writing is until I pick up one of his novels.
This is the 12th Dalziel & Pascoe book (I haven't read them all, but those I do are read in order) and they improve as you go. The first couple I read, I really didn't like. They were set in the 1970s and in accordance with the time, they were horribly sexist.
This one brings us to the 1990s, but also looks back to 1963, the height of the Profumo Scandal and a murder in a country house. Various leading lights of the day are present and Dalziel is a young policeman in support of the Investigating Officer. Now the conviction is looking unsafe and the young Nanny who was convicted at the time is released after serving nearly 30 years. There is to be a review of the case by a different force, but Dalziel wishes to protect the reputation of his friend and mentor and is also still convinced they got it right at the time.
Cue the adventure....
This one was really a page turner, flew through it.
I always forget just how good Reginal Hill's writing is until I pick up one of his novels.
This is the 12th Dalziel & Pascoe book (I haven't read them all, but those I do are read in order) and they improve as you go. The first couple I read, I really didn't like. They were set in the 1970s and in accordance with the time, they were horribly sexist.
This one brings us to the 1990s, but also looks back to 1963, the height of the Profumo Scandal and a murder in a country house. Various leading lights of the day are present and Dalziel is a young policeman in support of the Investigating Officer. Now the conviction is looking unsafe and the young Nanny who was convicted at the time is released after serving nearly 30 years. There is to be a review of the case by a different force, but Dalziel wishes to protect the reputation of his friend and mentor and is also still convinced they got it right at the time.
Cue the adventure....
This one was really a page turner, flew through it.
March 6, 2017
At a private house party in 1963, a Royal diplomat, a CIA officer and a Tory minister, among others, play and hunt - until the wife of one of the party is found dead in the gun room. Was it a suicide, an accident or, possibly, murder? A very young Andrew Dalziel is part of the investigating team, which ends with a peer being hanged and an American nanny spending decades in a British jail. Fast forward 30 years and the case is being reopened, with a view toward blaming Dalziel’s former superior for a miscarriage of justice, something Dalziel cannot abide…. It took some time to locate a copy of "Recalled to Life," as it seems to be out of print generally, but my husband managed to track it down. It is the 13th novel in the long Dalziel and Pascoe series, and draws upon real British scandals while examining the justice system through a fictional scandal. Dalziel gets to America, which is a hoot, and all the literary tricks and scathing humour that we’ve come to expect in this series are on full display; recommended!
August 20, 2025
The first Reginald Hill novel I ever read, way back in the mid-90s on a visit to my grandparents, borrowed from their excellent town library, which always seemed to have better books that ours did. I was deep in my reading of Golden Age mysteries back then (Agatha Christie and Ngaio March gradually giving way to Dorothy Sayers and the odd Margery Allingham) and this slotted in quite well, albeit with very sharp elbows. It made quite an impression on me, though I didn’t manage to get back to Reginald Hill (except on TV) for another decade or so, and only now am I completing the quest.
A bit too clever for its own good, multiple rakings over the coals of a 30-year-old country house murder case turning up new stuff each time, very ingenious, very energetic, quite dark in places, but with a certain inevitability despite the many potential misdirections along the way.
Was it here in the series that the complacency with which Hill treats Dalziel went just slightly beyond affection and became wish-fulfilment?
A bit too clever for its own good, multiple rakings over the coals of a 30-year-old country house murder case turning up new stuff each time, very ingenious, very energetic, quite dark in places, but with a certain inevitability despite the many potential misdirections along the way.
Was it here in the series that the complacency with which Hill treats Dalziel went just slightly beyond affection and became wish-fulfilment?
January 12, 2017
In this murder mystery originally set in 1963, the detectives figure out what really happened amidst a web of lies and international intrigue. The book is well-written, although the plot is complex and sometimes confusing. The reader does not learn what really happened in 1963 until the very end of the book, which might be realistic, but is not very satisfying. I enjoyed this novel and recommend it to lovers of the genre. Although written in the early 1990s, it did not seem dated, and there are no editing errors.
February 20, 2013
“For any true-born Yorkshireman, after Sheffield it was Africa. Alright, there was the cordon sanitaire of the White Peak, whose open acres might cushion the shock for a while, but in no time at all you were unmistakably into that nowhere place called the Midlands, through whose squeezed-out diphthongs the Cockney cacophony could be clearly heard.” Confusing plot, unravelling an old locked room mystery, but who cares with writing as comic and non-PC as this?
June 15, 2018
A good story, but you sure have to concentrate in order to keep up with the characters and the multiple plot lines! Not easy beach reading, but again contains some delightfully esoteric language and regional expressions, some of which may have you heading for a Thesaurus or Mr Google!
August 11, 2020
A MOST ENJOYABLE BOOK
This book was fun to read. The storyline was full of twists and turns,. The characters were very interesting and mostly predictable.
This book was fun to read. The storyline was full of twists and turns,. The characters were very interesting and mostly predictable.
February 18, 2024
This is an unusual direction for this series to take. For those unaware of the series, it is a British police procedural featuring two detectives—the obese anachronistic Andy Dalziel and his younger almost-metrosexual seeming partner, Peter Pascoe. Pascoe is struggling through a troubled marriage to a far-left uber feminist and political activist as they existed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the two have a daughter. Dalziel is a kind of Archie Bunker-like guy who will bed any female who can push aside his large, loud unattractiveness. But here’s the thing: Dalziel is a detective’s detective. He connects clues and components while others are still struggling with the basics. He and Pascoe see things in each other that keep them working together despite what feels like unbridgeable chasms of differences.
In this installment of the series, a woman convicted of murdering her employer’s wife in 1963 is released from prison based on once-suppressed evidence. The individual who apparently oppressed the evidence was a close friend and mentor of Dalziel’s, and he’d like nothing more than to put her back in prison out of a sense of loyalty to his former friend and boss.
As he reopens the old investigation, those once associated with that awful night when Pamela Westropp died from a gunshot wound while in a locked room begin dying themselves. The two juggle two separate investigations that tie together as one. Andy Dalziel jets of to the U.S. to run down leads, and Pascoe works the new deaths from a different angle back home.
This is not edge-of-the-seat action stuff. None of the books in the series fit that description. This is engaging while being sometimes slow and even plodding in a chapter or two. But by the time you expose the back cover, you’ve treated yourself to a solidly rewarding reading experience.
In this installment of the series, a woman convicted of murdering her employer’s wife in 1963 is released from prison based on once-suppressed evidence. The individual who apparently oppressed the evidence was a close friend and mentor of Dalziel’s, and he’d like nothing more than to put her back in prison out of a sense of loyalty to his former friend and boss.
As he reopens the old investigation, those once associated with that awful night when Pamela Westropp died from a gunshot wound while in a locked room begin dying themselves. The two juggle two separate investigations that tie together as one. Andy Dalziel jets of to the U.S. to run down leads, and Pascoe works the new deaths from a different angle back home.
This is not edge-of-the-seat action stuff. None of the books in the series fit that description. This is engaging while being sometimes slow and even plodding in a chapter or two. But by the time you expose the back cover, you’ve treated yourself to a solidly rewarding reading experience.
July 15, 2023
I used to watch Dalziel and Pascoe and quite liked it. I was housesitting a few days ago but failed to take my kindle charging lead with me and found myself with nothing to read for the day. My friend had a bookcase so I looked along for something to read, most of them were related to her work but I did find an old copy of Recalled to Life which is one book in the series I hadn't read. Settled down on a comfy sofa with a cup of tea, no cats, she doesn't have any pets, and read what turned out to be nearly 500 pages of Dalziel and Pascoe, whilst getting up and taking in the required parcels for the day. She certainly does have a lot of parcels.
I wasn't that enamoured with the story but other than self help, gardening and chic lit books there wasn't a lot there for me to choose from! The story was a bit confusing, it was set originally in 1963 with the death of a young woman guest in the gun cleaning room in an aristocrat's house. The owner of the house was arrested for her murder and was hanged. A young nanny was also arrested with the murder of a young girl soon after and jailed for decades. She is being released on licence and Dalziel understands she may have been innocent all along.
There are rather a lot of complicated characters in this book, what seems like tons of them all arriving at the same time. I had to re-read a few paragraphs just to figure who this character was in relation to some other characters. There was also the underlying subplots of conspiracy theories and the involvement of secret service agents. I won't give away the ending but it wasn't that surprising.
(Note to self tell friend she needs to try some new genres).
I wasn't that enamoured with the story but other than self help, gardening and chic lit books there wasn't a lot there for me to choose from! The story was a bit confusing, it was set originally in 1963 with the death of a young woman guest in the gun cleaning room in an aristocrat's house. The owner of the house was arrested for her murder and was hanged. A young nanny was also arrested with the murder of a young girl soon after and jailed for decades. She is being released on licence and Dalziel understands she may have been innocent all along.
There are rather a lot of complicated characters in this book, what seems like tons of them all arriving at the same time. I had to re-read a few paragraphs just to figure who this character was in relation to some other characters. There was also the underlying subplots of conspiracy theories and the involvement of secret service agents. I won't give away the ending but it wasn't that surprising.
(Note to self tell friend she needs to try some new genres).
December 26, 2021
6 stars - Usually following the money leads to motive but all these people are rich. You need an anthropologist's kinship system to figure out the characters and they're all sleeping with each other while trying to avoid the tabloid press of the mid 1960s because several are British royalty. Sir Ralph Mickledore (without his fiancé) of Mickledore Hall (with 1 male and 3 female servants) invited 3 families and a single friend, Scott Rampley (CIA agent) for a weekend in the country. Distant cousin of the Queen, James Westropp, American wife Pamela, twin babies Phillip and Emily, and American nanny Cecily Kohler (5 year old John (James' stepson, Pam's son, was left in school that weekend). Right Honorable Thomas Partridge MP, wife Jessica, Tommy (12), Genevieve (9), Laeticia (7), Alison (3) and nanny Mavis Marsh. Wealthy industrialist Arthur Stamper, wife Marilou, William (8) and Wendy (7). Pamela Westropp is 'accidentally' killed in the gunroom (locked from the inside) so young Dalziel and his mentor and boss, Tallantire, investigate and Mickledore ends up hanged and Kohler ends up in prison. 27 years later, a mysterious American filmmaker, Jay Waggs, gets Kohler released and it looks like there was miscarriage of justice. Dalziel investigates on his own, because the British government may be covering up more than just a cold case. Excellent twist on the 'locked room murder' formula. All the witnesses are lying. Ripping yarn with hilarious social commentary. Great distraction from Covid-19 Omicron explosion across the US.
May 5, 2018
The decision by the narrator/publisher to have the Yorkshire accent feature so strongly in this audio book was a brave one, and, for this non-Yorkshire listener, a trying one. I kept wishing they would lapse into "proper" English.
The story begins with the release of Cissy Kohler from prison, her sentence quashed, but the reason for the release is not given. "New evidence at come to light" - at the instigation of an American TV host into whose care Cissy is released.
The conviction obtained 30 years before is under scrutiny, especially the role played by the now-dead Inspector Tallantire, Dalziel's old boss. If Cissy Kohler is innocent, what does that mean in the case of Mickledore who was hanged for the murder?
In the long run the plot was a very complex one with some historical roots. Listening to an audio version probably detracted from my ability to follow the plot, as it is very difficult to check on a point that you didn't quite get the significance of at first. This book also has little quotations at the beginning of each chapter, and their meaning often quite eluded me.
I was struck though by Reginald Hill's at times quirky sense of humour, interesting turn of phrase, an allusions to other literature.
The story begins with the release of Cissy Kohler from prison, her sentence quashed, but the reason for the release is not given. "New evidence at come to light" - at the instigation of an American TV host into whose care Cissy is released.
The conviction obtained 30 years before is under scrutiny, especially the role played by the now-dead Inspector Tallantire, Dalziel's old boss. If Cissy Kohler is innocent, what does that mean in the case of Mickledore who was hanged for the murder?
In the long run the plot was a very complex one with some historical roots. Listening to an audio version probably detracted from my ability to follow the plot, as it is very difficult to check on a point that you didn't quite get the significance of at first. This book also has little quotations at the beginning of each chapter, and their meaning often quite eluded me.
I was struck though by Reginald Hill's at times quirky sense of humour, interesting turn of phrase, an allusions to other literature.
March 1, 2024
Firstly this was a good cold case mystery, which despite being told to keep away from Andy very much pushes his way into. He was a young DC on the original case and doesn't want any scapegoating of his old (no deceased) boss by an old adversary who now an ACC has been bought from outside of the Yorkshire to investigate.
Cissy Kohler confessed and was convicted of a murder and her testimony gets her alleged accomplice hanged. She was also responsible for the death of a child whilst trying to escape and the murder of prison warder, but now she is out on licence pending an appeal and no one knows why. Assuming that the aim is to put the blame on an over zealous cop who now being dead cannot defend himself, he gets involved and naturally drags Peter into it. When he goes to far and is forced to take he heads of the States to try and interview Kohler and other key people who are based over there.
The book moves along at a good pace and keeps the reader interested and guessing. The only negative for me is that once again we have in a police procedural the key detectives, bending the law as far as it will go, disobeying direct orders from their superiors all without consequences. For once it would be good have someone simply follow the rules.
Cissy Kohler confessed and was convicted of a murder and her testimony gets her alleged accomplice hanged. She was also responsible for the death of a child whilst trying to escape and the murder of prison warder, but now she is out on licence pending an appeal and no one knows why. Assuming that the aim is to put the blame on an over zealous cop who now being dead cannot defend himself, he gets involved and naturally drags Peter into it. When he goes to far and is forced to take he heads of the States to try and interview Kohler and other key people who are based over there.
The book moves along at a good pace and keeps the reader interested and guessing. The only negative for me is that once again we have in a police procedural the key detectives, bending the law as far as it will go, disobeying direct orders from their superiors all without consequences. For once it would be good have someone simply follow the rules.
August 8, 2021
A curate's egg of a Dalziel and Pascoe detective at times roman a clef. Wonderfully written in parts, favourite characters, D & P, and Wieldy as ever fully fleshed out, especially the fat man. Hyperbolic at other times, but also amusing. Some of the other characters less convincingly drawn than others, maybe American readers will appreciate it more as this edition has been americanised for them. Just one example, Wieldy stuck up one finger; 'appen in Yorkshire yon police sergeant would have stuck up two, don't thou?
Will certainly read more, and will try to appreciate the author's Joe Sixmith as much though D & P are a very tough couple to outdo.
Will certainly read more, and will try to appreciate the author's Joe Sixmith as much though D & P are a very tough couple to outdo.
June 26, 2023
The wife of a diplomat was killed by a rifle shot in the gun room of a British estate in 1963. Cissy Kohler, the young American nanny working for the couple pleads guilty to participating in the murder. More than 30 years later Cissy is released from prison based on the decision that she was wrongfully convicted.
The government blames the lead investigator in the case (long deceased) who was Dalziel's mentor. Dalziel worked on the investigation as a young detective. Dalziel decides to do his own investigation out of loyalty to his mentor, while the official investigation proceeds led by a man Dalziel hates. He gets Pascoe involved as well.
The government blames the lead investigator in the case (long deceased) who was Dalziel's mentor. Dalziel worked on the investigation as a young detective. Dalziel decides to do his own investigation out of loyalty to his mentor, while the official investigation proceeds led by a man Dalziel hates. He gets Pascoe involved as well.
September 7, 2017
An oldie but goodie. A good memory of how good writing and clever plots and clever and amusing dialogue can keep you entertained. Reginald Hill,a U.K. Author writes the Dalziel and Pascoe series. Of course for
Years they were televised on knowledge network or PBS OR BBS. the tv series were good and they try to represent the writers work but the books are far better.
I just finished mystery novel "Recalled to Life"
I scored it 4.5/5
Years they were televised on knowledge network or PBS OR BBS. the tv series were good and they try to represent the writers work but the books are far better.
I just finished mystery novel "Recalled to Life"
I scored it 4.5/5
March 19, 2018
Andy Dalziel off on his own is marvelous - I love how he rides his luck, sure he'll find his footing wherever it may be.
The core mystery of the story in this one is very clever too. It is complicated and even at the end we are still learning how many actors have hidden motives.
Possibly one of the best plots in Dalziel and Pascoe books so far... though I did miss Wield's perspective (of course), and Ellie's absence was felt as well.
The core mystery of the story in this one is very clever too. It is complicated and even at the end we are still learning how many actors have hidden motives.
Possibly one of the best plots in Dalziel and Pascoe books so far... though I did miss Wield's perspective (of course), and Ellie's absence was felt as well.
December 16, 2020
I started this book on the Dec.12 ans finished on Dec 14: iMac t seem to enter that at the appropriate place.
Reginald Hill is now dead, but he wrote the Dalziel and Pasco books. This one was the result of a three times murderess getting parole. Dalziel is very loyal to his old Governor. He does not want him tainted in any way. He goes all the way to America to help solve the ‘mystery’. Sad it seems the upper crust got the better of the deal again. Dalziel is quite funny...
Reginald Hill is now dead, but he wrote the Dalziel and Pasco books. This one was the result of a three times murderess getting parole. Dalziel is very loyal to his old Governor. He does not want him tainted in any way. He goes all the way to America to help solve the ‘mystery’. Sad it seems the upper crust got the better of the deal again. Dalziel is quite funny...
July 10, 2021
A very good introduction to this unusual pair. Very well written, with complex shading of the characters - they're sort of what we'd expect, but even more - and the "bad guy" they have to work with is made real with good points and complicated history. All in all a great bunch of characters in a complex story that kept my interest and left me wanting more of their adventures. Another series I'd recommend.
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