Singing the Sadness: Complete & Unabridged [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Reginald Hill (Author), Christian Rodska (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001

Few writers in the genre today have Hill's gifts: formidable intelligence, quick humour, compassion and a prose style that blends elegance and grace' Sunday Times' Joe Sixsmith, who, with the Boyling Corner Choir, is on his way to the Llanffugiol Choir Festival, finds his singing plans rudely interrupted by the discovery of a badly injured woman trapped in the shower room of a burning cottage. And not only that, but she's naked, too. Risking life, limb and vocal chords, Joe drags the woman from the burning building, but she remains in a critical condition, unable to speak, and even the arrival of the cottage's owners, Fran and Franny Haggard, a media couple from London, throws no light on her identity. Unable to sing because of the smoke damage to his throat, Joe is soon caught up in a tangled skein of local rivalries, scandals and politics. Commissioned by no less than three individuals to investigate the causes of the fire, he's embarrassed to discover that some of the local wild boys assume he must be as anti-English as they are. And when he's eventually roped in by an initially hostile police officer in charge of the case, Joe quickly realizes that the enquiries go much deeper than mere arson, and have their roots in a hushed-up child abuse case. The fourth in Reginald Hill's series featuring Joe Sixsmith, the serendipitous black PI from Luton, is perceptive and witty as ever, with a seriousness behind the hilarity that adds a greater depth to this delightful novel.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Hill is an instinctive and complete novelist who is blessed with a spontaneous storytelling gift' Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday 'Reginald Hill stands head and shoulders above any other writer of homebred crime fiction' Observer 'Their double act [Dalziel and Pascoe's] is one of the delights of English crime fiction' The Times 'So far out in front that he need not bother looking over his shoulder' Sunday Telegraph --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Reginald Hill was brought up in Cumbria, and has returned there after many years in Yorkshire. With his first crime novel, A Clubbable Woman, he was hailed as 'the crime novel's best hope' and twenty years on he has more than fulfilled that promise. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Chivers Audio Books (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0754054144
• ISBN-13: 978-0754054146
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fully entertaining and satisfyhing mystery., January 22, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Singing The Sadness (Worldwide Library Mysteries) (Paperback)

Private investigator Joe Sixsmith is in the Welsh town of Llanffugiol to take part of a church choir festival in Reginald Hill's Singing The Sadness. When a local cottage catches fire, Joe rushes in to rescue a young woman. Hailed as a hero, Joe considers the unanswered questions of how the fire started and the mysterious woman's identity. No less than three different people hire Joe to discover the answer to that questions -- but the answer could shatter this small Welsh village. Singing The Sadness is a superbly written, carefully constructed mystery that will fully entertain and satisfy fans of the mystery genre.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very well written, entertaining, but..., May 24, 2001

By 

Carol Mangis (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Singing The Sadness (Worldwide Library Mysteries) (Paperback)

Reginald Hill is a superb writer with an original, witty, poetic style that grows on you in a big way. I've enjoyed everything I've read by him, which till this book has been just the Dalziel/Pascoe mysteries. I'm happy that Hill has a new character, Joe Sixsmith, who's charming and likeable. But unfortunately, the slight whiff of a possibility of a stereotype kept me from total enjoyment. As a black character, does Joe have to be such a happy-go-lucky, act- and speak-before-you-think kind of guy? I hope I'm wrong and that I'm just being overly PC. At any rate, I'm looking forward to more from this writer.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as D&P, but still enjoyable., March 7, 2002

By 

RachelWalker "RachelW" (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Singing The Sadness (Worldwide Library Mysteries) (Paperback)

Joe Sixsmith novels aren't quite as good as his Dalziel and Pascoe ones, but they are still very enjoyable.

There are much more overtly humorous than his other series, and at times that is refreshing. they are nice light reads. They don't take themselves very seriously. sometimes, this is great, but sometimes it doesn't work so well...

the plots are nicely complex and Joe is a really likeable character. I would reccomend them, but peppered with Dazliel And Pascoe.