Arms and the Women (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Reginald Hill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 14, 1999 | Series: Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries

Reginald Hill's last Dalziel/Pascoe novel, On Beulah Height, was a New York Times notable book, and drew acclaim from critics everywhere. With Arms and the Women, Hill has written the book that will secure his place alongside Ruth Rendell and P. D. James.

The New York Times Book Review called Reginald Hill "the master of form and sorcerer of style." His Dalziel/Pascoe series has already earned him both Britain's prestigious Golden Dagger Award and its most coveted mystery writers award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award. Back to weave more magic in Arms and the Women, Hill will keep readers heatedly turning pages from shocking start to unexpected finish.

In the space of a few days, a series of events will set Peter Pascoe and Andy Dalziel off on a case where the stakes have never been higher or more close to home. First, an attempt is made to abduct Peter Pascoe's wife, Ellie. Then Ellie's friend, Daphne Alderman, is assaulted by a man lurking around the Pascoes' house. Convinced that the crimes are somehow linked to one of Peter Pascoe's cases, either current or past, Dalziel and Pascoe race to find the culprit.

As the search goes on, Peter sends Ellie and their daughter, Rosie, with Daphne Alderman to their vacation home with Detective Constable Shirley Novello as a police escort. Soon Novello begins to wonder if the stalker drawn to the Pascoe family is connected not by Peter but, rather, by Ellie.

With Dalziel and Pascoe pursuing one set of leads, and Novello exploring her own, all roads eventually lead to a decaying mansion on the Yorkshire coast, where the deadly truth all seek is waiting to come to light.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Although Yorkshire's Superintendent Andy Dalziel and Inspector Peter Pascoe are strong supporting characters in Hill's 18th entry in this enduring series, the real stars are an evocative array of women.

Deeply shaken by her 9-year-old daughter's close encounter with death in On Beulah Height, Peter's wife Ellie has taken to writing a novel for comfort. It's about the Greeks and the Trojans, but the odd thing is that her Odysseus looks and sounds a lot like Andy Dalziel. (After Aenas accuses him of being one of his sworn enemies, Odysseus replies, "Nay, lord ... I've sworn to nowt about you lot. I've never heard owt about you but good, nor do I wish you any harm, and I'll swear to that here and now, if you like."). Still, her happy days spent writing are soon cut short when she narrowly avoids being kidnapped by a slick couple who show up in a white Mercedes. Then her neighbor, Daphne Aldermann, has her stiff upper lip split when she goes after an intruder outside the Pascoe house and is badly beaten. Other compelling female characters include the tough and glamorous Constable Shirley Novello (who volunteers to guard Ellie despite an instinctive dislike between them), an elderly activist called Feenie Macallum, and a con woman, Kelly Cornelius (who is linked to some IRA gun runners and Colombian drug dealers). Between them, these women work out a beautiful, dangerous revenge on the villains who threaten them.

Once again, Reginald Hill has found a new way to get our attention and prove that--for him--the restraints of the mystery are nonexistent. --Dick Adler

From Publishers Weekly

Few mystery authors know better than the prolific Hill (Singing the Sadness, Forecasts, Aug. 23) how to keep the delicate engine of a high-quality series running. After successfully mining the past for his last two books about Yorkshire coppers Andy Dalziel and Peter Pascoe (The Wood Beyond and On Beulah Height), he now takes an entirely new directionAcentering the series' action on Pascoe's wife, Ellie, and surrounding her with a captivating gallery of mostly female characters. The result is a delightfully quirky, literate, often explosively funny novel that actually extends the genre's range. Ellie PascoeAformer activist and deeply involved teacher, now recovering from the serious medical threat to her nine-year-old daughter, Rosie, that was detailed in On Beulah HeightAis a "pre-published" novelist working on a book about Odysseus (who in Ellie's hands sounds a lot like a Greek version of Fat Andy Dalziel, complete with Yorkshire vernacular). When a slick couple show up in an expensive car, claiming to be from the local education authority and offering to give her a lift to the spot where a bus carrying Rosie has broken down, Ellie almost goes alongAescaping an abduction attempt only because of the deeply implanted suspicions of a cop's wife. Pascoe, Dalziel, the wonderfully resourceful Sgt. Edgar Wield and the extremely sharp Constable Shirley Novello try to link the attempted snatch to some of Pascoe's past cases and enemies, especially to the gorgeous money launderer Kelly Cornelius. Hill soon lets us know better, however, introducing a shadowy figure who calls herself Sybil and a wheelchair-bound intelligence gatherer working for a high-ranking spook. And there's also the Colombian drug bandits and Irish arms-runners who somehow figure into the attack on EllieAand then in the assault on Ellie's marvelously acid, deceptively stiff-upper-lipped neighbor Daphne. Also vital to the plot is Feenie Macallum, the aged but doggedly energetic daughter of a legendary arms merchant, whose crumbling seaside estate provides the locale for the novel's amazing finaleAa rare, perfect blend of danger and hilarity. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1ST edition (September 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385332793
• ISBN-13: 978-0385332798
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #411,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth Wading Through, May 22, 2000

By 

Judith A. Brodnicki (Omaha, Nebraska) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Arms and the Women (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The opening chapters of Hill's latest Dalziel & Pascoe are an onslaught much like the storm at the close of the book. People and plots come howling in from all directions. I felt rather "gobsmacked" by all of it, but I kept on slogging through until it began to come together into a cohesive story.

Hill has the extraordinary ability to shift consciousness from one character to the next, and I suppose that's what kept me off balance. From Ellie Pascoe, to DC Novello, to the writer "Spelt from Sybil's Leaves," Hill proves that he understands the insides of people, the private side they keep to themselves. This novel is told primarily from the perspective of the women who drive it forward. Hill grasps the confusion of midlife, the roles of wife and mother, the longing for belonging of singlehood. After these things, the mystery plot itself is only a frame on which to project the people.

While Ellie Pascoe thwarts an attempted abduction, she leads the rest of the cast on an odyssey as she continues to seek comfort and meaning in her life. That we end up in a "cleansing" storm at the end of these Herculean labors is fitting.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dalziel/Pascoe series keeps getting better!, October 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Arms and the Women (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) (Hardcover)

The Dalziel/Pascoe series started out as typical of the British procedural: sharply drawn characters, intricate structure and plot, and most important, wonderful prose writing. In the past few installments, though, Hill has added a thematic twist to make things more interesting. For example, "Recalled To Life" uses "A Tale of Two Cities" as a leitmotif; "Bones and Silence" draws on the medieval mystery plays; and "On Beulah Height" uses Mahler's "Kindertodtenlieder". In this book, "The Odyssey", in a retelling by Pascoe's wife Ellie, provides a counterpoint to the main action involving high tech terrorism, South American drug smugglers, and a mysterious "Sybil" who watches over everyone through her computer. Hill once again demonstrates that he is the unsurpassed master of this genre, and is fully the equal of John Mortimer when it comes to pithy literary allusions. Afficionados of the more genteel and politically correct lady novelists. eg. P.D. James, Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine, will have a hard time relating to the unrestrained Dionysian character of Andy Dalziel, and will be put of by the frequent use of humor to ward off the stultifying seriousness which so often oppresses those authors' works. Fans of Inspector Frost and American procedurals will be right at home though.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Could not put it down; glad to see Ellie take center stage, October 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Arms and the Women (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Maybe I'm biased because I enjoy Mr. Hill's novels so much as a whole. What I like best about this series is the way the writing complements the characters' personalities (literary and academic, and very, very human and realistic). For me, the weaving of three novels was intriguing--even the title is evocative (refer to George Bernard Shaw's "Arms and the Man"). As for the characters, I found them believable. I also feel like I know more about the main characters' psyches with every novel Hill writes (in this series). I think the unexpected events in the main plot that may seem like coincidence help build excitement. I wouldn't recommend this book as an introduction to the Dalziel and Pascoe stories, but I highly recommend it to fans who have some familiarity with them.