Bones and Silence (Dalziel and Pascoe Series #11)

by Reginald Hill

Overview

One woman dead and one threatening to die set Yorkshire's police superintendent Dalziel and Inspector Pascoe on a chilling hunt for a killer and a potential suicide. A drunken Dalziel witnesses the murder that others insist is a tragic accident. Meanwhile the letters of an anonymous woman say she plans to kill herself in a spectacular way...unless Pascoe can find her first. Dalziel has been picked to play God in a local Mystery Play, but can he live up to his role by solving this puzzling psychological thriller...or unveiling the passions and perversions that lie hidden in the human heart?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780440209355
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/01/1991
Series:	Dalziel and Pascoe Series , #11
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	4.20(w) x 6.90(h) x 1.13(d)

About the Author

Reginald Hill was 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 died in 2012.

Table of Contents

Editorial Reviews

"Hill's most ambitious Dalziel and Pascoe novel yet—and one whose humor, keenness, and insight place him securely in the company of Ruth Rendell and P.D. James."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Hill is at his best here.... This latest mystery confirms his place among top British writers who produce solid stories of detection that succeed as first-rate novels exploring human character."
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

While one of a police duo follows up on a cache of suicidal letters, his partner is cast as God opposite a murder suspect playing Lucifer in a contemporized medieval mystery play. According to PW , this mystery ``confirms Hill's place among top British writers who produce solid stories of detection that succeed as first-rate novels exploring human character.'' (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

With language that ranges from the purposely vulgar to the awkwardly sublime, author Hill ( An April Shroud, LJ 4/1/86, Deadheads, LJ 5/1/84) traces progress in Detective Andy Dalziel's latest case. Two cases actually coexist, but the rude, callous, fat, and overbearing Dalziel virtually ignores a series of suicide letters from a woman while attempting to prove that a suicide he witnessed was murder. Village inhabitants, meanwhile, prepare for presentation of a cycle of medieval mystery plays in which director Eileen Chung, ironically, wishes Dalziel to play God. Dalziel harasses the suspects in the ``murder'' case, eventually uncovering everything from drug dealing to multiple murder, but he leaves the suicide letters to assistant Pasco. Crisp prose and dry wit add momentum, culminating in bizarre twists and a heartfelt thrust at the end. Recommended for most collections.

Library Journal