Reviews

An April Shroud by Reginald Hill

jefftstevens's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I found this story quite strange, and with Pascoe only in the book at the very start and end, I felt it missed the chemistry of their partnership. 

It seemed a rather sad and tawdry tale too. 

iheartchickens's review against another edition

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1.0

Boring.

fictionfan's review against another edition

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5.0

In which Dalziel becomes human...

Following newly-minted-Inspector Peter Pascoe’s wedding to Elly Soper, Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel sets off on a little holiday. His plan is to drive around the countryside hoping to find enough of interest to keep him occupied, but in reality he’s feeling a little lost and even lonely. Peter’s wedding has brought home to him his own lack of family, and he’s reached as high as he’s likely to go in his career. But his plans are put on hold when April showers turn into a veritable flood and his car becomes waterlogged. Rescued by a family returning from a funeral, he goes with them to their home, Lake House, to dry off and phone a garage. But the combination of an intriguing death in the family and the friendly charms of the remarkably cheerful widow persuade him to prolong his visit...

One of the things that always kept this series fresh was that Hill regularly changed the focus among the various characters. In this one, Andy gets his first solo outing. Peter makes token appearances at the beginning and end but plays no real part in the story. This gives Hill the chance to let the reader get to know Andy from the inside – prior to this we’d really always seen him through someone else’s eyes, usually Peter’s.

Although I grew very fond of all the major characters – Pascoe, Elly, Wieldy, Novello – Dalziel was always the one I enjoyed most. He’s such an intriguing mix of brash, uncouth Yorkshireman – a big, loud, crude, bullying brute of a man – and well-hidden sensitivity: a man who might use blatantly offensive homophobic terms, but will defend his gay colleagues at a time when that was highly unusual; who can be hideously sexist in the language he uses to women, but who respects their intelligence and strength far more than many of his politically correct colleagues; who is no respecter of class, but who uses his own mostly artificial veneer of uncultured boorishness as a blunt weapon to dominate any company he’s in, from the rugby club to the manor house.

This is the book where we really begin to see him as more than a caricature. As he finds himself drawn towards the widow, Bonnie, he gets sucked into a moral quagmire largely of his own making. The police have investigated the death of Conrad Fielding and have reluctantly concluded it was an accident, despite the fact that the insurance claim on his death will come in very handy for the rest of the household. Lake House is costly to live in and too run-down to let, so the family have come up with a scheme to convert part of it into a mock-Medieval Banqueting Hall. But funding has run out and bankruptcy looms unless the insurance money comes through in time for them to finish the work on the place before the scheduled opening in a couple of weeks’ time. As Andy gets to know the family better, he has to decide whether to share what he learns about them with the local police or keep his suspicions to himself. It’s not as if he knows anything for sure...

Hill also has fun with the characters in the house, from the elderly poet Hereward, about to be given an award he feels he should have been given years ago when young enough to enjoy it, to the budding film-maker who augments his income by taking the kind of girlie photos that show up in the less respectable kind of magazine, to the Woosterish young man who wants nothing more than to punt on the lake, shooting ducks. The widow herself is a typically wonderful Hill woman – strong, intelligent, generous, quite possibly wicked, definitely ambiguous. A Yorkshire femme fatale. Is she attracted to Andy for his innate charm and manly physique? Even Andy is doubtful about that. Or is she using him as protection from the interest of the local police?

The mystery itself becomes more complicated when more bodies begin to show up in unexpected places. Accidents? Murders? Connected or coincidental? Andy will eventually work it all out, but then he’ll still have to decide what to do about it. And meantime, the inaugural Medieval Banquet grows ever closer...

Lots of humour as always, but in this one Hill gives us the first real indication of how the series will develop in terms of depth of characterisation and the complicated relationship between our two main players, Dalziel and Pascoe. And in this one, for the first time, we begin to see that Andy is human too, with all the vulnerabilities and sensitivities he so successfully hides from the world. As always, highly recommended – the best detective series of all time!

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ncrabb's review against another edition

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3.0

It's tough anywhere in literature to find 2 detectives more strangely paired than Andy Dalziel and Peter Pascoe. Peter Pascoe is A young well-built College graduate; Andy Dalziel Is extremely corpulent by every measure and very much aging. Pasco is generally optimistic and cheerful; Dalziel is pessimistic and grumpy, to say the least. If Dalziel solves cases at all, it is his almost-reptilian brain that gets the credit. Pascoe, on the other hand, applies real thought and deduction. Opposites they are, and yet, they work well together.

As this book opens, it's Pascoe's wedding day. The guests have gathered and presented their toasts and wished the young couple well. Dalziel is there, too. He begrudges Pascoe’s wife, Elly, and you can safely say he seems to openly dislike her. This wedding has poor Dalziel off balance. He’s going to do something unheard of after the wedding; he’s going on a bit of a vacation himself.

But his car breaks down during a nasty rainstorm, and he never quite makes it to his destination. Instead, he finds himself at a large and somewhat dilapidated house operated by a family who is utterly bizarre any way you want to measure them. As he arrives at their house hoping to obtain lodging, he realizes that one of the women is a new widow. Her husband fell from a ladder with an electric drill in his hand, and the drill was in the on position. It literally drilled holes through the man's ribs and heart as he landed on it. At least that's the story the widow tells Andy Dalziel.

The family is in the midst of setting up a medieval banquet house to pay their bills. But someone is trying to convince the insurance company to hold out on its payment. As a result, the financial status of the bizarre family is precarious at best.

To his credit, Andy Dalziel goes a long way towards solving the case. While doing so, he manages to bed the new widow. She is a large woman of approximately Andy's age.

I feel a lot of ambivalence toward this series. I keep threatening to give it up. But something keeps me coming back. I keep threatening to walk away from the books in the middle, and yet there's something that draws me to them and gives me the impetus I need to finish. I suspect the day will come when I will review book 5 in the series, but probably not for a while. These are not fast-action mysteries. They tend to be more cerebral; naturally, they are very British. But that somehow adds to their peculiar charm. Is this series worth reading? On balance, I'd say it is.

nonna7's review against another edition

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1.0

I usually love Reginald Hill, but I couldn't get into this one at all. A little too silly.

nocto's review against another edition

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I'm up to Dalziel and Pascoe number four. It's being a bit disappointing so far. Pascoe has been packed off on his honeymoon and we're following Dalziel round on holiday. He's come across some interesting characters and a suspicious death of course, but so far the book is a bit lopsided without Pascoe for balance.

In the end the book evened out and Dalziel unsurprisingly filled the void created by his partner's absence. This was a country house murder without the murder and a book that develops Dalziel's character but I still think that it was the weakest book of the series so far.

(this is book 4 in the dalziel and pascoe series)

falconerreader's review against another edition

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3.0

Good, but not yet great. More Pascoe, please. (Something you will NEVER hear me say about the later books!)

angrygreycatreads's review against another edition

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4.0

I have watched and loved the whole Dalziel and Pascoe TV series and so now I am reading through the books. This is book 4 in the series and was mainly Dalziel focused as Pascoe and Ellie just got married. I really enjoyed the focus on Dalziel without the interplay with Pascoe. The “romantic” scene was particularly well done and so in character for Dalziel.

This plot revolves around Dalziel on holiday when a flood occurs, trapping him at a country house with a family who just experienced the patriarch’s death. The family is all at odds with one another and some of them with Dalziel. The circumstances surrounding the death and other incidents pique his curiosity and investigative nature. The more he digs about, the more twists, turns and deceptions he uncovers.

The books in this series have all been well written and this one is no exception. The pacing is spot on and there is nothing extraneous here. The characterization of Dalziel and the brief moments we see with Pascoe and even Ellie are very realistically done. They are all portrayed as human with strengths and flaws like anyone you might meet.

Highly recommended series for English mystery lovers.

ericwelch's review against another edition

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4.0

Ironically, the TV series featuring Dalziel and Pascoe retitled this book “Autumn Shroud.” I hate it when they do that. I’m a huge fan of the Dalziel and Pascoe novels.

Following Pascoe’s wedding to Ellie, Andy is off on a two-week holiday but he has no idea what to do with himself other than drive around and when his car breaks down he finds himself intrigued by a family burying a father and husband in a singularly emotionless fashion. In his inimitable way, he insinuates himself into their house, not to mention the widow, and discovers a nice little mystery on which to work his magic. Pascoe hardly makes an appearance in this novel, so Andy’s personal foibles and detective talents are showcased.

In one scene, so unlike the protagonist hero-worship of most novels, Dalziel and Bonnie go to bed together and it’s really quite a funny scene, with Bonnie almost making fun of him. Then again, as he notes, his idea of foreplay, when he was married, was a six-pack.

First rate Hill novel. Very ably read by Colin Buchanan who plays Pascoe in the TV series.

falconerreader's review

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3.0

Good, but not yet great. More Pascoe, please. (Something you will NEVER hear me say about the later books!)
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