Love, or at least pornography, are for sale at the arty Calliope Kinema Club on posh, proper Wilkinson Square. According to Yorkshire police superintendent Dalziel, it's all legal. Detective Peter Pascoe, however, doesn't believe it. His dentist, who knows real broken teeth and blood when he sees them, insists that the pretty actress wasn't playing a part when it happened. But the action that puts Pascoe into the picture is homicide. The sudden death of the Calliope's proprietor soon turns a sleazy sex flick into serious police business. And now Dalziel and Pascoe are looking into the all-too-human desire for pain, pleasure...and murder.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- This item is eligible for our 4-for-3 promotion. Eligible products include select Books and Home & Garden items. Buy any 4 eligible items and get the lowest-priced item free. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Splitting a main character into two parts that compliment and confound each other has worked well for mystery writers from Conan Doyle to Rex Stout (and for non-mystery writers such as Patrick O'Brian in his Aubrey/Maturin sea stories). Reginald Hill's unique contributions to this form are his books about two policemen in an unnamed city in Northern England, Detectives Dalziel (pronounced "Dee-al" in the TV version) and Pascoe. Both get to show off their strengths and shortcomings in this wonderfully macabre second book in the series; Dalziel's brawn and instinct meets Pascoe's intellect as the two investigate pornographic "snuff" films in which the actors really wind up dead.
Review
"First-rate entertainment."
--The Sunday Times (London)
"Mr. Hill refines his own talent to the highest levels of mystery fiction."
--Dallas Morning News
"Reginald Hill has raised the classical British mystery to new heights."
--The New York Times Book Review
--The Sunday Times (London)
"Mr. Hill refines his own talent to the highest levels of mystery fiction."
--Dallas Morning News
"Reginald Hill has raised the classical British mystery to new heights."
--The New York Times Book Review
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Reginald Hill has been widely published both in England and the United States. He received Britain's most coveted mystery writers award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, as well as the Golden Dagger for his Dalziel/Pascoe series. He lives with his wife in Cumbria, England.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Detective Inspector Peter Pascoe's dentist, who is used to seeing broken jaws and broken teeth, tells Pascoe that a scene in an X-rated film where a women is beaten is real, not staged. This leads Peter and his wife Ellie to check out the Calliope Kinema Club, a trendy venue for soft-core porn in an otherwise proper and well-to-do neighborhood.
Sergeant Wield already has the place under surveillance, due to neighborhood complaints and scandalized locals, but Wield and Pascoe's Boss Superintendant Dalziel is skeptical that anyone is guilty of anything more than voyeurism until an indisputable murder turns up the heat.
The books are labeled the Dalziel and Pascoe books, but I always think of them as the Peter Pascoe / Ellie Pascoe / Edgar Wield / Andy Dalziel books, and all four characters get to shine in this one. Not as innovative as most of the later books in the series, but still an excellent police procedural, and well as showing much of the sly humor and characterization that makes Hill's books such a delight.
Sergeant Wield already has the place under surveillance, due to neighborhood complaints and scandalized locals, but Wield and Pascoe's Boss Superintendant Dalziel is skeptical that anyone is guilty of anything more than voyeurism until an indisputable murder turns up the heat.
The books are labeled the Dalziel and Pascoe books, but I always think of them as the Peter Pascoe / Ellie Pascoe / Edgar Wield / Andy Dalziel books, and all four characters get to shine in this one. Not as innovative as most of the later books in the series, but still an excellent police procedural, and well as showing much of the sly humor and characterization that makes Hill's books such a delight.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
My copy of A Pinch of Snuff is a 21st printing; this book must be really popular. Reginald Hill's long-running Dalziel/Pasco series never fails to deliver a fine story. Detective Inspector Dalziel allows Detective Sergeant Peter Pasco to look into a report that the beating of an actress in a porn film appears to have been the real thing. Another case's investigation begins to overlap this one, and through step-by-step detective work, the story unfolds.
I enjoyed the story; it's hard to find a better British police procedural than those of Reginald Hill. I don't normally like or read British police procedurals, but Hill's in a class by himself. Read this one and whatever you do, don't miss his later books in this series. On Beulah Height, for instance, is a true masterpiece.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
In the fifth book of the series, Dalziel and Pascoe have been working together long enough to have formed a good partnership. So Peter Pascoe is surprised when Dalziel dismisses a lead Pascoe is given on a porn film that may be more than it seems. Pascoe's dentist is convinced that one scene in the current offering at the local private film club was not achieved by special effects, but showed a genuine beating--one severe enough that the actress might well have died as a result.
Pascoe pursues the matter in spite of Dalziel's disinterest, and won't drop it even when the dentist is accused of molesting an underage patient. When the elderly owner of the film club is found beaten to death, Pascoe suspects a link with his investigation of the possible snuff film. As he digs deeper it becomes clear that there's something very nasty going on. But there are a good many threads to untangle before he uncovers the full story.
As usual with this series, this book is a well-crafted police procedure with stylish writing and a good deal of humour, though Hill never trivializes the crimes he describes. The book is self-contained and can be read without having first read any of the previous books. There's some development of the long term story of the main characters, with the introduction of Sergeant Wield, and a look at the early months of Peter and Ellie's marriage. Ideally the series should be read in order, but this entertaining and thoughtful book makes a good startng point if the earlier books aren't available.
Pascoe pursues the matter in spite of Dalziel's disinterest, and won't drop it even when the dentist is accused of molesting an underage patient. When the elderly owner of the film club is found beaten to death, Pascoe suspects a link with his investigation of the possible snuff film. As he digs deeper it becomes clear that there's something very nasty going on. But there are a good many threads to untangle before he uncovers the full story.
As usual with this series, this book is a well-crafted police procedure with stylish writing and a good deal of humour, though Hill never trivializes the crimes he describes. The book is self-contained and can be read without having first read any of the previous books. There's some development of the long term story of the main characters, with the introduction of Sergeant Wield, and a look at the early months of Peter and Ellie's marriage. Ideally the series should be read in order, but this entertaining and thoughtful book makes a good startng point if the earlier books aren't available.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
How can you have scandal in an age that has abolished responsibility?
One of the questions served up in this Pascoe and Dalziel yarn that revolves around murder in a British porn theater. Read more
Published on July 26, 2009 by Blue in Washington
Not Vintage Hill At All
In a snuff film a killing or torture is shown and instead of it being a piece of acting, it is the real thing--an actual filmed killing. Read more
Published on January 31, 2009 by John F. Rooney
Chilly view of a very sad business
Reginald Hill has a moral view, even though he delivers his characters without much comment: make up your own mind, Dalziel and Pascoe will tell you. Read more
Published on August 9, 2008 by Patricia Tryon
Another page turner
The Dalziel and Pascoe series is humming along nicely by the time you get to this, the fifth book in the series. Read more
Published on September 29, 2006 by S. Schwartz
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
All right. All right! gasped Pascoe in his agony. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sergeant Wield, Emma Shorter, Miss Alice, Charlie Heppelwhite, Droit de Seigneur, Jack Shorter, Linda Abbott, Miss Annabelle, Hay Hall, Maurice Arany, Deirdre Burkill, Johnny Hope, Miss Andover, Penelope Latimer, Brian Burkill, Godfrey Blengdale, Sandra Burkill, Calliope Kinema Club, Gerry Toms, Inspector Pascoe, Penny Latimer, Wilkinson Square, Alice Andover, Wilkinson House, Black Bull New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
All right. All right! gasped Pascoe in his agony. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sergeant Wield, Emma Shorter, Miss Alice, Charlie Heppelwhite, Droit de Seigneur, Jack Shorter, Linda Abbott, Miss Annabelle, Hay Hall, Maurice Arany, Deirdre Burkill, Johnny Hope, Miss Andover, Penelope Latimer, Brian Burkill, Godfrey Blengdale, Sandra Burkill, Calliope Kinema Club, Gerry Toms, Inspector Pascoe, Penny Latimer, Wilkinson Square, Alice Andover, Wilkinson House, Black Bull New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 9
books:
See all 9 books this book cites
11
books
cite this book:
See all 11 books citing this book
- The Wood Beyond (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) by Reginald Hill in Front Matter
- 'wuthering Heights' By Emily Bronte (Critical Reading S) by Mary Bailey on page 157
- Recalled to Life (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) by Reginald Hill in Front Matter
- Ruling Passion by Reginald Hill in Front Matter
- Christian Science (Skeptic's Bookshelf) by Mark Twain in Front Matter
See all 9 books this book cites
- Recalled to Life (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) by Reginald Hill in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- The Wood Beyond (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) by Reginald Hill in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- On Beulah Height (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) by Reginald Hill in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Bones and Silence (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) by Reginald Hill in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Arms and the Women (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) by Reginald Hill in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
See all 11 books citing this book
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
