Wood Beyond (Dalziel & Pascoe Novel) [Paperback]

Reginald Hill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2003 | Series: Dalziel & Pascoe Novel

'Hill's wit is the constant, ironic foil to his vision, and to call this a mere crime novel is to say Everest is a nice little hill' Frances Hegarty, Mail on Sunday A ravaged wood, a man in uniform long dead -- this is not a World War One battlefield, but Wanwood House, a pharmaceutical research centre. Peter Pascoe attends his grandmother's funeral, and scattering her ashes leads him too into wartorn woods in search of his great-grandfather who fought and died in Passchendaele. Seeing the wood for the trees is the problem for Andy Dalziel when he finds himself fancying an animal rights activist, depite her possible complicity in a murderous assault and her appalling taste in whisky. A mind-bending puzzle leading us on the wild side of the pastoral.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The old trick of splitting a central character into two very different parts and using the tension to create literary sparks has worked for writers as diverse as Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin) and Patrick O'Brian (Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin). Nobody in the mystery field does it better these days than Hill, whose down-and-dirty Inspector Dalziel (pronounced Dah-eel in the A&E TV series) jigs and jousts wonderfully with his smart, sensitive sidekick Pascoe. Their latest outing is one of the best in the series, with Pascoe digging up some old bones and family secrets from his own past. (Other Dalziel/Pascoe books include Blood Sympathy, Exit Lines, Pictures of Perfection, A Pinch of Snuff, Ruling Passion.) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Chief Inspector Andy Dalziel and Peter Pascoe investigate the discovery of some old bones near a large pharmaceutical research laboratory in Yorkshire. As the case progresses, Pascoe unearths surprising facts about his own grandfather, a World War I soldier.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 500 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Publishers (March 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006479944
• ISBN-13: 978-0006479949
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,667,681 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

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's nowt better than a Dalziel/Pascoe mystery, August 20, 2000

By 

F. Kelly "wystan" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wood Beyond (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Reginald Hill brings serious talent to bear on the often-debased mystery genre. His stories never fail to compel the reader's attention and (often) emotion, and in "Fat Andy" Dalziel he has created a monumental (sorry) character. And that's not to downplay Pascoe or Wieldy -- but Dalziel's shadow is a hard one to get out of.

"The Wood Beyond" is a particular favorite of mine. I thought that the WWI and present-day plots were extraordinarily well tied together, not always the case in stories using "time-shift"techniques. It's further proof that Reginald Hill is one of the best writers -- not just mystery writers -- working today.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Killing fields, past and present, October 18, 2003

By 

Rick Darby - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wood Beyond (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

If you are already familiar with Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe series, recommending this one won't be a hard sell. If not, check it out and discover one of the contemporary masters of the crime novel.

This is an ambitious work; Hill clearly intends to transcend the police procedural genre, and includes a parallel story set in the ghastly killing fields of Passchendaele in the Great War that dovetails with the present-day murder case that is the nominal subject of the book. It must be said that the interwoven story of Pascoe's ancestor (who shares his name and is involved with ancestors of suspects in the killing that Pascoe and Dalziel are investigating), strains credulity; it's a literary construct that doesn't really come off.

But who cares? Hill as a writer is otherwise at the top of his game. It's full of witty dialogue (if only people in life -- myself included -- could set off such a string of verbal firecrackers, how much more entertaining our daily round would be!). Dalziel's Yorkshire dialect is a constant source of delight: I hope expressions like "nowt," "tha's," "lass," et al. aren't dying out. And as usual, the characters, especially the detectives and Pascoe's wife Ellie, are drawn in psychological depth.

The novel can be enjoyed as pure entertainment. But, notwithstanding the parallel story's unlikelihood, it offers a window into the ungodly horrors of trench warfare in 1917 and the savagery of military "justice" in the British army of the time.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love and War and Peace and a great murder mystery!, March 25, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Wood Beyond (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Hill's police officers are a complicated and entertaining bunch, whose business it is to ask questions. In "The Wood Beyond" they have to think seriously about how many questions to ask. Everyone has skeletons of one sort or another, Pascoe, his relatives, his wife Ellie, DS Dalziel, Sergeant Wield, their chance acquaintances, their lovers, their adversaries, and their government. Professionally, the police are after the truth come what may. Personally, they know the consequences could be uncomfortable. And their professional and personal lives are firmly knotted together, both in the present and in the past. Reginald Hill writes about weighty issues while pursuing more than one intriguing murder mystery. His language follows the characters and the mood, from bawdy to poetic. Above all, beyond the history, philosophy and politics, this is a story about people who live, love and work the best way they know how, and manage to laugh along the way. Japrisot's "A Very Long Engagemen