An April Shroud (Paperback)

by Reginald Hill (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
'Few writers in the genre today have Hill's gifts: formidable intelligence, quick humour, compassion and a prose style that blends elegance and grace' Donna Leon, Sunday Times 'The finest male English contemporary crime writer' Val McDermid 'Reginald Hill's novels are really dances to the music of time, his heroes and villains interconnecting, their stories intertwining' Ian Rankin 'One of Britain's most consistently excellent crime novelists' The Times 'These novels last, like a grand malt whisky -- rounded, rich, intoxicating! Here is an author at his formidable best' Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday 'So far out in front that he need not bother looking over his shoulder' Sunday Telegraph 'He is probably the best living male crime writer in the English-speaking world' Andrew Taylor, Independent 'Reginald Hill stands head and shoulders above any other writer of homebred crime fiction' Tom Hiney, Observer

Product Description
After seeing inspector Pascoe off for his honeymoon with a few ill-chosen words, Superintendent Andy Dalziel soon runs into trouble and water on his own solitary holiday. Rescued by a bunch of somewhat cheerful mourners, he accompanies them back to their rundown mansion to dry off.

The owner of Lake House, Bonnie Fielding, seems less troubled by her husbands tragic death than by the problem of finishing the half completed Banqueting Hall which is to save her family fortunes. Prompted not only by a professional curiosity - why for instance would anyone want to keep a dead rat in a freezer? - but also by a more personal interest in Mrs Fielding's ample charms, Dalziel stay on.

By the time Pascoe reappears, there have been several more deaths and it looks as if his normally hard-headed boss might have compromised himself beyond redemption.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (1987)
• ISBN-10: 0586072616
• ISBN-13: 978-0586072615
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #202,139 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The Dalziel and Pascoe Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Genesis of Fat Andy, January 26, 2001

By	Mary L. Hutson "pollexcl" (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An offbeat story featuring fat Andy Dalziel., September 11, 2006

By	S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A flood of great writing, August 10, 2008

By	Patricia Tryon (Longmont, CO United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: An April Shroud (Dalziel & Pascoe Novel) (Paperback)

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)