Arms and the Women: A Dalziel/Pascoe Novel - Hardcover

Hill, Reginald

3.87

1,346 ratings by Goodreads

9780385259194: Arms and the Women: A Dalziel/Pascoe Novel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385259190 ISBN 13: 9780385259194

Publisher: Doubleday Canada, 1999

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Reginald Hill's last Dalziel/Pascoe novel, On Beulah Height, was a New York Times notable book, and drew acclaim from critics everywhere. With Arms and the Women, Hill has written the book that will secure his place alongside Ruth Rendell and P. D. James.

The New York Times Book Review called Reginald Hill "the master of form and sorcerer of style." His Dalziel/Pascoe series has already earned him both Britain's prestigious Golden Dagger Award and its most coveted mystery writers award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award. Back to weave more magic in Arms and the Women, Hill will keep readers heatedly turning pages from shocking start to unexpected finish.

In the space of a few days, a series of events will set Peter Pascoe and Andy Dalziel off on a case where the stakes have never been higher or more close to home. First, an attempt is made to abduct Peter Pascoe's wife, Ellie. Then Ellie's friend, Daphne Alderman, is assaulted by a man lurking around the Pascoes' house. Convinced that the crimes are somehow linked to one of Peter Pascoe's cases, either current or past, Dalziel and Pascoe race to find the culprit.

As the search goes on, Peter sends Ellie and their daughter, Rosie, with Daphne Alderman to their vacation home with Detective Constable Shirley Novello as a police escort. Soon Novello begins to wonder if the stalker drawn to the Pascoe family is connected not by Peter but, rather, by Ellie.

With Dalziel and Pascoe pursuing one set of leads, and Novello exploring her own, all roads eventually lead to a decaying mansion on the Yorkshire coast, where the deadly truth all seek is waiting to come to light.

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Review:

Although Yorkshire's Superintendent Andy Dalziel and Inspector Peter Pascoe are strong supporting characters in Hill's 18th entry in this enduring series, the real stars are an evocative array of women.

Deeply shaken by her 9-year-old daughter's close encounter with death in On Beulah Height, Peter's wife Ellie has taken to writing a novel for comfort. It's about the Greeks and the Trojans, but the odd thing is that her Odysseus looks and sounds a lot like Andy Dalziel. (After Aenas accuses him of being one of his sworn enemies, Odysseus replies, "Nay, lord ... I've sworn to nowt about you lot. I've never heard owt about you but good, nor do I wish you any harm, and I'll swear to that here and now, if you like."). Still, her happy days spent writing are soon cut short when she narrowly avoids being kidnapped by a slick couple who show up in a white Mercedes. Then her neighbor, Daphne Aldermann, has her stiff upper lip split when she goes after an intruder outside the Pascoe house and is badly beaten. Other compelling female characters include the tough and glamorous Constable Shirley Novello (who volunteers to guard Ellie despite an instinctive dislike between them), an elderly activist called Feenie Macallum, and a con woman, Kelly Cornelius (who is linked to some IRA gun runners and Colombian drug dealers). Between them, these women work out a beautiful, dangerous revenge on the villains who threaten them.

Once again, Reginald Hill has found a new way to get our attention and prove that--for him--the restraints of the mystery are nonexistent. --Dick Adler

From the Back Cover:

Praise for Reginald Hill:

"Hill remains one of the finest crime writers of this era." --Booklist (starred review)

"Hill's polished, sophisticated novels are intelligently written and permeated with his sly and delightful sense of humor. More than most other mystery novels, Hill's Dalziel/Pascoe novels are enjoyable as much for their characters as for their complicated, suspenseful mystery plots." --The Christian Science Monitor

"Reginald Hill has raised the classical British mystery to new heights." --The New York Times Book Review

"A lot of people write classic detective stories, but Reginald Hill is one of the elite few who write classy classics." --The Baltimore Sun

"The real joy of the Dalziel-Pascoe books is the writing and the characterizations. Mr. Hill has such disparate writers as Trollope, Beerbohm, Sayers and Shaw in his blood." --The New York Times

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