Customer Reviews

An April Shroud (Dalziel & Pascoe Novel)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a little different than most in this series because it focuses on Andy Dalziel on his own. It also shows a side of Andy that we have never seen before. We see him at his most vulnerable - in the middle of a love affair with a widow. It is also a story set in an old crumbling country house (a la Agatha Christie). But there the similarity ends. This book has more twists in it than a small English country road. It is filled with wonderful eccentric characters and Dalziel knows that at least one of them is a murderer. He sets out to find out, hoping that his paramour is not the one. The book is also very funny. This is a must-read for any Dalziel and Pascoe fans. It gives the best picture of Andy Dalziel that you'll find in any of these books. Hill is a master storyteller, and he has used his considerable skills to pen a nice country manor mystery that isn't like any English country manor mystery that you'll find anywhere else.

Ever seen a cortege of punts? From the truly bizarre scene at the river, through the Fat Man's unexpected romance, to the not quite satisfactory winding down of the tale, this book is one riveting read.

I would say that one of Reginald Hill's touchstones is the unflinching honesty of his two protagonists, Pascoe and Dalziel (read this book, by the way, to learn how to say the Fat Man's name; I haven't quite mastered it, but it's nice to have the phonetics at hand). He simply does not allow them to lie to themselves. And, when they are not quite up to deconstructing (or admitting) all that is to be known in the moment about their motives, he doesn't shirk from laying it out for the reader.

Hill refuses to blink, too, at his supporting cast. Even the characters who might be considered sympathetic (are ANY of Hill's characters people I'd like to know? I kind of doubt it, fascinated though I am by them) receive the full Hill treatment, i.e. any warts and sins well highlighted along with their wit and good grooming.

And then there's the superb writing. Beautiful sentences. Descriptions evocative, but never over-wrought. Dialog that sounds right in the reader's "ear".

The other books in the series I've read so far (I'm taking the series in order and am only a book or two beyond this one) show far less of Dalziel, the man. So if you've read later books without having yet picked up this one, this provides some back story you might find interesting. In fact, you might even go to the headwaters of this great series: A Clubbable Woman (Felony & Mayhem Mysteries)

From the truly bizarre scene at the river, through the Fat Man's unexpected romance, to the not quite satisfactory winding down of the tale, this book is one riveting read.

I would say that one of Reginald Hill's touchstones is the unflinching honesty of his two protagonists, Pascoe and Dalziel (read this book, by the way, to learn how to say the Fat Man's name; I haven't quite mastered it, but it's nice to have the phonetics at hand). He simply does not allow them to lie to themselves. And, when they are not quite up to deconstructing (or admitting) all that is to be known in the moment about their motives, he doesn't shirk from laying it out for the reader.

Hill refuses to blink, too, at his supporting cast. Even the characters who might be considered sympathetic (are ANY of Hill's characters people I'd like to know? I kind of doubt it, fascinated though I am by them) receive the full Hill treatment, i.e. any warts and sins well highlighted along with their wit and good grooming.

And then there's the superb writing. Beautiful sentences. Descriptions evocative, but never over-wrought. Dialog that sounds right in the reader's "ear".

The other books in the series I've read so far (I'm taking the series in order and am only a book or two beyond this one) show far less of Dalziel, the man. So if you've read later books without having yet picked up this one, this provides some back story you might find interesting.

If you read this book and love it as I did, no worries: there's plenty wonderful writing ahead in this grand series.

This is an early installment in the Dalziel and Pascoe series from 1987 with the majority of the story featuring the "Fatman " only.

This is very much like a Agatha Christie novel with all the events taking place at a country house where our hero finds himself stranded during flooding. Very much a 'who dunnit' and great fun.

The standard of dialogue and humour is of the usual high standard with a high body count and Dalziel managing to get the girl ,for a while anyway.

First Sentence: No one knew how it came about the Dalziel was making a speech.

With Pascoe off on his honeymoon, Dalziel (Dee-Ell) is taking a holiday of his own. Things quickly go awry when his car is swamped in a flooding road. He is rescued by a group of rather happy mourners and taken to a decrepit mansion to dry off. More seems wrong than just the state of the abode; there's a preserved rat in the freezer and the very appealing mistress of the manner twice widowed in suspicious circumstances.

When bodies become a fact of the present, rather than the past, Dalziel isn't leaving until the murderer is found.

It was nice to see Dalziel on his own for most of this book. He is fat, crass, rude, politically incorrect and altogether repulsive. And he's wonderful. He is the type of character you'd rather not know, or even be around, but you can't help like him and would always want him on your side. Aside from Pascoe, who is absent from most of this book, none of the characters are appealing.

In addition to Hill creating a very vivid cast of characters is the writing. Hill is an amazing author. He lovingly created a masterful and complex plot, with plenty of twists and an element of suspense. It was a wonderful version of the "country manor" mystery.

Hill's descriptions and dialogue with delightful sharp humor kept me engaged from first page to last. He truly demonstrated that one can tell a complete, compelling story in 187 pages (in my edition).

I am having a delightful time working my way through this series. I highly recommend Dalziel and Pascoe to all.

AN APRIL SHROUD (Pol. Proc-Dalziel and Pascoe-England-Cont) - VG+

Hill, Reginald - 4th in series

Foul Play Press, 1975, US Hardcopy

"An April Shroud" is one of Felony & Mayhem Publishing's reprints of excellent (mostly) mysteries from the 70s and before. In this very well written Reginald Hill story, Dalziel and Pascoe have become the formidable detective team they will be for years to come, but Pascoe marries Ellie in the first chapter and leaves on a honeymoon, leaving Dalziel to take some time off on his own after the wedding. Big Andy is soon embroiled with a bizaare menage that generates dead bodies on a regular basis.

As always, the best part of "An April Shroud" are the highly original characters and witty dialogue that are hallmarks of author Hill (and pretty much unequalled by any other mystery or other genre writer in 20 years). The book's plot is unusually serpentine and the denouement both funny and a bit opaque. In any event, it's a fine piece of writing that any reader will enjoy. Recommended.

Boring is far too nice a word for this misadventure by author Hill. The plot is so convoluted, the development so slow, the logic so absent, that the publishers should issue a recall on this, collect all remaining volumes, and burn them. Someof the Dalziel stories are quite catching, but this one, as another reviewer has said, can put you to sleep no matter how inflicted with insomnia you are. Skip it.

This is one of the earlier Dalziel/Pascoe books and is devoted largely to Andy Dalziel's exploits while he is "on holiday" at the same time Peter and Ellie Pascoe are on their honeymoon. Reginald Hill's series does an excellent job both in plotting and in character development, and if you are intrigued by Fat Andy, then you really need to read this to see a side of his character you may not have seen before.

Any early Hill effort which develops so slowly it is better as a sleep aid than a thriller.

Good Service from seller. Arrived in time frame promised, in the condition as stated.