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thatmeddlingkid's review against another edition
4.0
This book was awesome. The best Dalziel and Pascoe I've read so far. I was about to switch to another series and read a different title but I can't, I need more of my favorite detectives.
fictionfan's review
5.0
To thine own self be true...
When Sergeant Wield visits the mother of murder victim Brenda Sorby, he finds that Mrs Sorby has called in gypsy clairvoyant Rosetta Stanhope to try to contact her dead daughter. Politely, Wield listens in, but when the local press get hold of the story it is blown up as the police having called in a psychic because they’re baffled, and Superintendent Dalziel is not pleased! The press have a point, though – Brenda is the third apparent victim of the murderer the press have dubbed the Choker and the police are indeed baffled. There seems no obvious connection between the victims, and while the first two were carefully laid out by the murderer, poor Brenda was found dumped in the local canal. However, all three women were strangled, and after each murder the local paper received an anonymous phonecall quoting a line from Hamlet. Then, as Dalziel, Pascoe and Wield search for leads, a fourth murder takes place...
The thing I love about this series is how it evolves over time, both in terms of the recurring characters, and in the quality of the plotting. This one dates from 1980, a full decade after the first book and a decade that saw the beginning of lots of changes in social attitudes. Hill could have simply changed the characters of his two leads as many writers tried to do with varying degrees of success. But instead he allows them to grow and adapt. At this point, Dalziel remains the rude, boorish, foul-mouthed dinosaur, but Pascoe, now married to the feminist Ellie, has matured into a semi-decent bloke, who might still expect his dinner to be on the table when he gets home but isn’t too put out when it’s left for him in the oven instead, while Ellie is off out with her feminist friends. For the early ‘80s, this almost counted as being a New Man! Even Dalziel will gradually reveal that most of his boorishness is an act and that he might be even more advanced than Pascoe in his heart. Dalziel doesn’t care if his officers are male or female, gay or straight, white or black – he’s equally rude and offensive to them all, but they can count on his total support should anyone else try to mess with them.
Having brought Ellie in a few books earlier to counterbalance the sexism and boost the feminist angle, in this one Hill brings Wieldy to the fore. I can’t say definitively that Wield is the first sympathetic depiction of a gay policeman in mainstream British crime fiction, but he’s certainly the first I came across and it was pretty astounding at the time. Especially since the portrayal of him is so good – not in any way stereotyped, not suggesting that being gay makes him weak or feminine or “perverted” or any of the other negative characteristics that fictional gay people were so often given at that period. Wield is a normal guy who happens to be gay. For younger people used to that kind of portrayal of gay people, it’s hard to explain how revolutionary it seemed back in the day. And the joy is that Wieldy is so easy to like! Again, I have no evidence that Wield changed perceptions of homosexuality in Hill’s readership but I’d be amazed if he didn’t. He’s one example of the way Hill constantly pushed at the boundaries, but subtly and with warmth and humour, rather than beating the reader over the head with polemics and “messages”.
The plot in this one is excellent – probably the first in the series where I felt Hill got it completely right. It’s complex and convincing, and dark. While it involves the murder of young women, it avoids the salaciousness and voyeurism that often accompanies that, and the killer’s motivation is original. I’m desperately trying to avoid anything which could be a spoiler, so I’ll simply say that the motivation aspect gives the book the psychological depth that became a trademark of Hill’s work as the series developed. That’s what makes Dalziel and Pascoe such a good team – Dalziel knows how to bully evidence out of the unwilling, but Pascoe knows how to use empathy and understanding to tease out the reason for the crimes.
When I first read this series, it was around this book that I first joined in and I must say I’d recommend it as a good starting point to people coming to the series fresh. While all the books are readable, there’s no doubt the very early ones feel a little dated now, and not as polished, whereas this one stands up very well to modern eyes, I think. I found that I was more forgiving of the sexism in the earlier ones when I backtracked to them after learning to love the characters once they had become more developed, and from this point on the series just gets better and better. There are twenty-four of them in total, so if you haven’t already read them, you really ought to make a start soon – they get my highest recommendation!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
When Sergeant Wield visits the mother of murder victim Brenda Sorby, he finds that Mrs Sorby has called in gypsy clairvoyant Rosetta Stanhope to try to contact her dead daughter. Politely, Wield listens in, but when the local press get hold of the story it is blown up as the police having called in a psychic because they’re baffled, and Superintendent Dalziel is not pleased! The press have a point, though – Brenda is the third apparent victim of the murderer the press have dubbed the Choker and the police are indeed baffled. There seems no obvious connection between the victims, and while the first two were carefully laid out by the murderer, poor Brenda was found dumped in the local canal. However, all three women were strangled, and after each murder the local paper received an anonymous phonecall quoting a line from Hamlet. Then, as Dalziel, Pascoe and Wield search for leads, a fourth murder takes place...
The thing I love about this series is how it evolves over time, both in terms of the recurring characters, and in the quality of the plotting. This one dates from 1980, a full decade after the first book and a decade that saw the beginning of lots of changes in social attitudes. Hill could have simply changed the characters of his two leads as many writers tried to do with varying degrees of success. But instead he allows them to grow and adapt. At this point, Dalziel remains the rude, boorish, foul-mouthed dinosaur, but Pascoe, now married to the feminist Ellie, has matured into a semi-decent bloke, who might still expect his dinner to be on the table when he gets home but isn’t too put out when it’s left for him in the oven instead, while Ellie is off out with her feminist friends. For the early ‘80s, this almost counted as being a New Man! Even Dalziel will gradually reveal that most of his boorishness is an act and that he might be even more advanced than Pascoe in his heart. Dalziel doesn’t care if his officers are male or female, gay or straight, white or black – he’s equally rude and offensive to them all, but they can count on his total support should anyone else try to mess with them.
Having brought Ellie in a few books earlier to counterbalance the sexism and boost the feminist angle, in this one Hill brings Wieldy to the fore. I can’t say definitively that Wield is the first sympathetic depiction of a gay policeman in mainstream British crime fiction, but he’s certainly the first I came across and it was pretty astounding at the time. Especially since the portrayal of him is so good – not in any way stereotyped, not suggesting that being gay makes him weak or feminine or “perverted” or any of the other negative characteristics that fictional gay people were so often given at that period. Wield is a normal guy who happens to be gay. For younger people used to that kind of portrayal of gay people, it’s hard to explain how revolutionary it seemed back in the day. And the joy is that Wieldy is so easy to like! Again, I have no evidence that Wield changed perceptions of homosexuality in Hill’s readership but I’d be amazed if he didn’t. He’s one example of the way Hill constantly pushed at the boundaries, but subtly and with warmth and humour, rather than beating the reader over the head with polemics and “messages”.
The plot in this one is excellent – probably the first in the series where I felt Hill got it completely right. It’s complex and convincing, and dark. While it involves the murder of young women, it avoids the salaciousness and voyeurism that often accompanies that, and the killer’s motivation is original. I’m desperately trying to avoid anything which could be a spoiler, so I’ll simply say that the motivation aspect gives the book the psychological depth that became a trademark of Hill’s work as the series developed. That’s what makes Dalziel and Pascoe such a good team – Dalziel knows how to bully evidence out of the unwilling, but Pascoe knows how to use empathy and understanding to tease out the reason for the crimes.
When I first read this series, it was around this book that I first joined in and I must say I’d recommend it as a good starting point to people coming to the series fresh. While all the books are readable, there’s no doubt the very early ones feel a little dated now, and not as polished, whereas this one stands up very well to modern eyes, I think. I found that I was more forgiving of the sexism in the earlier ones when I backtracked to them after learning to love the characters once they had become more developed, and from this point on the series just gets better and better. There are twenty-four of them in total, so if you haven’t already read them, you really ought to make a start soon – they get my highest recommendation!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
cathy1665's review against another edition
3.0
My first in this series. Characters I’d be interested continuing to watch.
ncrabb's review
2.0
Someone is strangling Yorkshire women to death, then calling the local newspaper and quoting lines from “Hamlet.” The mother of one of the victims seeks help from a local gypsy psychic, and the press think the cops are the ones who reached out in desperation. The negative publicity aggravates Dalziel, but soon the investigation turns to the gypsy community.
As the cops search for a killer, more women die. And the Shakespeare quotes keep coming.
I thought this was a weak plot in a series that has been far better up to now with stronger plots and sometimes quirkier characters. However, things are evolving here. Fat, boorish Dalziel may not be quite as sexist and boorish as he seems. The author reveals a gay cop here, and the guy’s not a stereotype or some weird aberrant person. Even though Dalziel comes across as narrow and bigoted, he doesn’t mistreat his gay officer. This feels like a major evolution for the Dalziel character. So, despite the somewhat weak plot, I’ll read the seventh book in the series in a few months.
As the cops search for a killer, more women die. And the Shakespeare quotes keep coming.
I thought this was a weak plot in a series that has been far better up to now with stronger plots and sometimes quirkier characters. However, things are evolving here. Fat, boorish Dalziel may not be quite as sexist and boorish as he seems. The author reveals a gay cop here, and the guy’s not a stereotype or some weird aberrant person. Even though Dalziel comes across as narrow and bigoted, he doesn’t mistreat his gay officer. This feels like a major evolution for the Dalziel character. So, despite the somewhat weak plot, I’ll read the seventh book in the series in a few months.
nocto's review against another edition
As far as I can tell the Yorkshire Ripper came into being in 1975 (although I'd guess that the nickname didn't get invented until a while after that) and Peter Sutcliffe wasn't arrested until 1981. This fact is interesting because this book was published in 1980 and concerns the career of the fictional "Yorkshire Choker". Since the Yorkshire Ripper looms large in my childhood memories of the news (he gets equal billing with Ethiopian famines) I found there was something rather disturbing about reading a book which must have its origins in that case.
I wonder why Hill decided to create a fictional serial killer for his detective duo. Whilst the nicknames for the real life and fictional killers instantly demand a comparison I don't think that the killer in the book is particularly modelled on the real life version even given that background details needed in a book like this wouldn't have been available in 1980. I wonder if writing a book about Yorkshire police in 1980 and not having them dealing with a serial killer would have been a stranger thing than the kind of crossover between real life and fiction that I see reading this book twenty years later.
There's at least one rather clever device used in this book that I haven't come across in mystery fiction before and the home lives of the detectives fit in neatly with the plot. I have some reservations about the actual ending of this book but on the whole I thought it was pretty good and probably my second favourite of the series this far after A Pinch of Snuff.
[This is book 6 in the Dalziel and Pascoe series]
gretchenv's review against another edition
3.0
This is actually 3.5 but I rounded down. The mystery is good but the characters have not become less annoying. I may give up on the series!
5wamp_creature's review against another edition
3.0
Nicely done and very funny at parts. When the one guy said all that stuff it helped bring back a few of the bits I'd list earlier.
pgchuis's review
3.0
This is the only one I have read out of the whole series. I thought the characterization of the main police officers was well done, but there were so many characters, and I even kept getting the murdered women muddled up in my mind. The plot only really worked because the murderer spent pages explaining how and why he had done what he had done.
mandyla's review
4.0
My typical objection to these books is the prejudice shown by the main characters in terms of heavy sexism (usually). This time I was excited to see an unexpected bit of progress in the form of gay sergeant Wield, who's perspective we are shown and who's life is pretty normal - unusual for the time in a mainstream book (from the limited books I've read produced in this era).
Alas the slurs thrown at the Romany people cancel out any sense of progress overall... So if you're looking to read this book, and get mad about the assumptions and prejudices towards travellers and the like, perhaps give it a miss.
That aside (I seem to say that alot in reviews of detective fiction written pre-2000...) the plot was engaging and I hadn't figured it out ahead of when it all came together. Adding the new perspective of Sgt. Wield was great - although it had me worried he was going to be bumped off (he wasn't) - and I'm hoping we get more of him in the next few. Dalziel was a little harder to get my head around this time though, so perhaps we'll get more of his insights in the next book.
Alas the slurs thrown at the Romany people cancel out any sense of progress overall... So if you're looking to read this book, and get mad about the assumptions and prejudices towards travellers and the like, perhaps give it a miss.
That aside (I seem to say that alot in reviews of detective fiction written pre-2000...) the plot was engaging and I hadn't figured it out ahead of when it all came together. Adding the new perspective of Sgt. Wield was great -
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