Dalziel & Pascoe

25 primary works

A Clubbable Woman

by Reginald Hill

Published 28 September 1970

Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel investigates a murder close to home in this first crime novel featuring the much-loved detective team of Dalziel and Pascoe.

'So far out in front that he need not bother looking over his shoulder' Sunday Telegraph

Home from the rugby club after taking a nasty knock in a match, Sam Connon finds his wife more uncommunicative than usual. After passing out on his bed for a few hours, he comes downstairs to discover communication has been cut off forever - by a hole in the middle of her forehead.

Andy Dalziel, a long-standing member of the club, wants to run the murder investigation along his own lines. But DS Peter Pascoe's loyalties lie elsewhere and he has quite different ideas about how the case should proceed...

An Advancement of Learning

by Reginald Hill

Published 3 January 1972

All is not well at Holm Coultram College.

All is not well at Holm Coultram College: lecturers having affairs with students, witches' sabbaths, a body buried under a statue.

Detective Superintendent Dalziel, despite his cynical view of academics, doesn't feel murder fits in here - let alone a rash of killings. But when he and DS Pascoe are sent to investigate a disinterred corpse at Holm Coultram College, that's exactly what they find...

Ruling Passion

by Reginald Hill

Published April 1973

'One of the modern masters of the police procedural' Sunday Telegraph Peter Pascoe is in shock. A weekend in the country with old friends turns into a nightmare when he finds three of them dead and the missing fourth a prime suspect in the eyes of the local police. They want his cooperation. Superintendent Andy Dalziel wants him back in Yorkshire where a string of unsolved burglaries look like turning nasty. Perhaps it's all to much for Pascoe. As events unfold, the two cases are getting jumbled in his mind!

April Shroud

by Reginald Hill

Published 7 July 1975

Bluff Superintendent Dalziel falls for the recently bereaved Mrs Fielding's ample charms, and has to be rescued from a litter of fresh corpses by Inspector Pascoe.

Superintendent Andy Dalziel's holiday runs into trouble when he gets marooned by flood water. Rescued and taken to nearby Lake House, he discovers all is not well: the owner has just died tragically and the family fortunes are in decline. He also finds himself drawn to attractive widow, Bonnie Fielding.

But several more deaths are to follow. And by the time Pascoe gets involved, it looks like the normally hard-headed Dalziel might have compromised himself beyond redemption.

A Pinch of Snuff

by Reginald Hill

Published 1 January 1978

'Deplorably readable' Observer Everyone knew about the kind of films they showed at the Calliope Club -- once the Residents' Association and the local Women's Group had given them some free publicity. But when Peter Pascoe's dentist suggests that one film in particular is more than just good clean dirty fun, the inspector begins to make a few discreet inquiries. Before they bear fruit, though, the dentist has been accused of having sex with an underage patient, the cinema has been wrecked and its elderly owner murdered. Superintendent Dalziel expects no more from professional men who watch blue films. But Pascoe has a hunch that this time Dalziel is way off target!

A Killing Kindness

by Reginald Hill

Published 24 November 1980

'Altogether an enjoyable performance, one of Mr Hill's best' Financial Times When Mary Dinwoodie is found choked in a ditch following a night out with her boyfriend, a mysterious caller phones the local paper with a quotation from Hamlet. The career of the Yorkshire Choker is underway. If Superintendent Dalziel is unimpressed by the literary phone calls, he is downright angry when Sergeant Wield calls in a clairvoyant. Linguists, psychiatrists, mediums -- it's all a load of nonsense as far as he is concerned, designed to make a fool of him. And meanwhile the Choker strikes again -- and again!

Deadheads

by Reginald Hill

Published 7 November 1983

'Humour and topicality along a cold enigmatic trail of murder' Observer Life is a bed of roses for Patrick Aldermann when Great Aunt Florence collapses into her Madam Louis Laperrieres and he inherits Rosemont House with its splendid gardens. But when his boss, 'Dandy' Dick Elgood, suggests to Peter Pascoe that Aldermann is a murderer -- then retracts the accusation -- the inspector is left with a thorny problem. By then Police Cadet Singh, Mid-Yorkshire's first Asian copper, had dug up some very interesting information about Patrick's elegant wife Daphne. Superintendent Dalziel, meanwhile, is attempting to relive the days of Empire with Singh as his tea-wallah.

Exit Lines

by Reginald Hill

Published 16 July 1984

Another excellent Dalziel and Pascoe story from the master of the British crime novel Three old men die on a stormy November night: one by deliberate violence, one in a road accident and one by an unknown cause. Inspector Pascoe is called in to investigate the first death, but when the dying words of the accident victim suggest that a drunken Superintendent Dalziel had been behind the wheel, the integrity of the entire Mid-Yorkshire constabulary is called into question. Helped by the bright but wayward DC Seymour, hindered by 'Maggie's Moron', the half-witted Constable Hector, Peter Pascoe enters the twilight and vulnerable world of the senior citizen -- to discover that the beckoning darkness at the end of the tunnel holds few comforts.

Child’s Play

by Reginald Hill

Published 1 January 1987

Upcoming screening for this powerful novel in the third major BBC drama series featuring Dalziel and Pascoe, the best detective duo in British crime writing.

When Geraldine Lomas dies, her huge fortune is left to an animal rights organization, a fascist front and a services benevolent fund. But at her funeral a middle-aged man steps forward, claiming to be her long-lost son and rightful heir.

He is later found shot dead in the police car park, leaving behind a multitude of suspects. And Superintendent Dalziel and Peter Pascoe find themselves plunged into an investigation that makes most of their previous cases look like child’s play…

Under World

by Reginald Hill

Published 7 April 1988

'Hill is an instinctive and complete novelist who is blessed with a spontaneous storytelling gift' Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday When young Tracey Pedley vanished in the woods around Burrthorpe, the close-knit community had their own ideas about what had happened, but Deputy Chief Constable Watmough has it down as the work of a child-killer who has since committed suicide -- though others wondered about the last man to see her alive and his fatal plunge into the disused mine shaft. Returning to a town he left in anger, Colin Farr's homecoming is ready for trouble, and when a university course brings him into contact with Ellie Pascoe, trouble starts! Meanwhile Andy Daziel mutters imprecations on the sidelines, until a murder in Burrthorpe mine forces him to take action that brings him up against a hostile and frightened community!

Bones and Silence

by Reginald Hill

Published 22 March 1990

Winner of the Gold Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year!'Reginald Hill is on stunning form!the climax is devastating' Marcel Berlins, The Times When Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel witnesses a bizarre murder across the street from his own back garden, he is quite sure who the culprit is. After all, he's got to believe what he sees with his own eyes. But what exactly does he see? And is he mistaken? Peter Pascoe thinks so. Dalziel senses the doubters around him, which only strengthens his resolve. To make matters worse, he's being pestered by an anonymous letter-writer, threatening suicide. Worse still, Pascoe seems intent on reminding him of the fact. Meanwhile, the effervescent Eileen Chung is directing the Mystery Plays. And who does she have in mind for God? Daziel, of course. He shouldn't have too much difficulty acting the part!

Recalled to Life

by Reginald Hill

Published 1 May 1992

`The story is expertly told, skein by skein, with a new knot to be untied just when you think everything is clear’ Sunday Telegraph

1963. It was the year of the Profumo Scandal, the Great Train Robbery, the Kennedy Assassination – and the Mickeldore Hall Murder.

The guests at the Hall that weekend included a Tory minister, a CIA officer, a British diplomat – and Cissy Kohler, a young American nanny who had come to England for love. And love kept her in England for nearly thirty years. In jail. For murder.

Revisiting the case many years later, Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel finds his certainty over Cissy’s guilt is shaken – a rare state of affairs. And it looks as if not only is his old boss’s reputation at stake, but his own too…

Pictures of Perfection

by Reginald Hill

Published 24 February 1994

For suspense, ingenuity and sheer comic effrontery this takes the absolute, appetizing biscuit' Sunday Times High in the Mid-Yorkshire dales stand the pretty village of Enscombe, proud survivor of all that history has thrown at it. But now market forces mass at the gates and the old way of life seems to be changing fast. The Law can do little to stop the ever-growing crimes against tradition, but when a policeman goes missing DCI Pascoe gets worried. Andy Dalziel thinks he's overreacting until the normally phlegmatic Sergeant Wield shows signs of changing his first impressions of village life. Over two eventful days a new pattern emerges, of lust and lying, of family feuds and ancient injuries, of frustrated desires and unbalanced minds. Finally, inevitably, everything comes to a bloody climax at the Squire's Reckoning, when the villagers gather each Lady Day to feast and pay old debts!and not even the presence of the Mid-Yorkshire CID trio can change the course of history!

The Wood Beyond

by Reginald Hill

Published 1 February 1996

Police Inspector Peter Pascoe has stumbled upon the remains of an ancestor unjustly executed in wartime. As he delves into the mystery of his disgraced great-grandfather's death, his partner, Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel, is preoccupied with a shapely animal rights activist. Eight female protesters have discovered human bones on the grounds of a drug company's research headquarters, and the investigation has a shocking connection to Pascoe's own family case.

Asking for the Moon

by Reginald Hill

Published 14 November 1994

`Hill is an instinctive and complete novelist who is blessed with a spontaneous storytelling gift’ Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday

If you’ve already met Dalziel and Pascoe, you’re in for a treat. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, you’re in for a revelation! Here in four stories we track their partnership from curtain-up to last act; from the mean streets of Mid-Yorkshire to the mountains of the moon.

The Last National Service Man reveals the truth, hitherto buried in police files, of their momentous first encounter, while Pascoe’s Ghost is a chilling tale taking us deep into Poe country. Dalziel’s Ghost, meanwhile, finds the man who normally wouldn’t be seen dead in a graveyard expressing a surprising interest in the `other side’. And finally, One Small Step takes a giant leap forward to the first murder on the moon.

Arms and the Women

by Reginald Hill

Published 14 September 1999

‘Luminously written, thrilling, unexpectedly erudite, and beautifully structured’ Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail

When Ellie Pascoe finds herself under threat, her husband DCI Peter Pascoe and Superintendent Andy Dalziel assume it’s because she’s married to a cop.

While they hunt down the source of the danger, Ellie heads out of town in search of a haven… only to get tangled up in a conspiracy involving Irish arms, Colombian drugs and men who will stop at nothing to achieve their ends.

Dalziel eventually concludes the security services are involved, but by then it is too late. Ellie’s on her own – and must dig deep down into her reserves to survive…

Dialogues of the Dead

by Julia Hill and Reginald Hill

Published 2 April 2001

In the Beginning was the Word A man drowns. Another dies in a motorbike crash. Two accidents yet in a pair of so-called Dialogues sent to the Mid-Yorkshire Gazette apparently as entries in a short story competition, someone seems to be claiming responsibility for the deaths. In Mid-Yorkshire CID the word is heard but not believed. Even Hat Bowler, the young DC who first gets a hold of the story only pretends to take it seriously in order to get closer to the girl of his dreams, librarian Raina Pomona. But when the story is leaked to television and a third indisputable murder takes place, Dalziel and Pascoe find themselves playing a game no-one knows the rules of against an opponent known only as the Wordman. Gradually the hunt focuses on three main suspects. Still Dialogue follows Dialogue and funeral follows funeral, till finally Hat Bowler, who is at odds with his girlfriend over the direction of the police investigation, begins to fear that she may be about to find out he's right in the worst possible way. Reginald Hill's books are always full of word-games, but they have rarely been so important as they are here.
There are enough clues to weave a tapestry, but in this game just who is playing against whom? Is it the Wordman versus the police? Or the killer against his victims? Or is the real game between you, dear reader, and Reginald Hill himself, at his most intriguing, most enticing, most elusive best?

On Beulah Height

by Reginald Hill

Published 16 February 1998

‘These novels last, like a grand malt whisky – rounded, rich, intoxicating … Here is an author at his formidable best’ Frances Hegarty, Mail on Sunday

Fifteen years ago they moved everyone out of Dendale. They needed a new reservoir and an old community seemed a cheap price to pay. But four inhabitants of the valley could not be moved, for nobody knew where they were: three little girls who had gone missing, and the prime suspect in their disappearance, Benny Lightfoot.

This was Andy Dalziel’s worst case and now he looks set to relive it. Another child goes missing in the next valley, and old fears arise as someone sprays the deadly message on Danby bridge: BENNY’S BACK!

Death’s Jest-Book

by Reginald Hill

Published 7 May 2002

Reginald Hill’s best-selling duo, Dalziel and Pascoe, return in this brilliant, complex and ultimately moving crime novel: `Reginald Hill is probably the best living crime writer in the English-speaking world’ – Independent

Ex-convict and aspiring academic, Franny Roote, has started writing enigmatic letters to DCI Peter Pascoe who immediately smells a rat. DS Edgar Wield, intervening in a suspected kidnapping, takes a vulnerable rentboy under his wing, one who is hiding an earth-shattering secret. And young DC Bowler is looking forward to a weekend away with his girlfriend – but her dreams are filled with a horror too terrifying to share.

Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Dalziel, lording it over his team, is famed for his omniscience. But even he is unable to foresee the disaster towards which they are all tumbling…

Good Morning, Midnight

by Reginald Hill

Published 2 February 2004

Latest in ever-popular and consistently acclaimed Dalziel & Pascoe series: 'Reginald Hill stands head and shoulders above any other writer of homebred crime fiction' Tom Hiney, Observer Fat Andy, Peter Pascoe, Wieldy and the others tackle another Mid-Yorkshire mystery in this, their latest outing.