A Pinch of Snuff (Mass Market Paperback)

by Reginald Hill (Author) "All right. All right! gasped Pascoe in his agony..." (more)
Key Phrases: Sergeant Wield, Emma Shorter, Miss Alice (more...)

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 -- Review

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Dell (July 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440169127
• ISBN-13: 978-0440169123
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #276,523 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hill begins to hit his stride with Dalziel and Pascoe, January 26, 2003

By	"sdixonsf" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid, satisfying Dalziel/Pasco adventure, July 16, 1999

By A Customer

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The early books are good, but this is where it really takes off, April 4, 2006

By	Jules Jones "sf and romance author" - See all my reviews

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.