Bones and Silence

Rating:
Summary: Bloody Yorkshire
Review: A churned-out provincial English dreary type of mystery, with an artsy and distracting side-plot that could well have been omitted to the benefit of the novel. Pointless literary psychologizing seems deliberately designed to slow the pace down and prevent the book from having a satisfying ending.

Rating:
Summary: Hill, a wonderful writer, is at his best in this novel .
Review: A wonderful combination of mystery and philosophy, Bones and Silence presents Yorkshire detective inspector Andrew Dalziel with the opportunity to play God. In the community production of the York mystery cycle, a religious play from medieval times, the gargantuan detective is cast as the Deity; in real life he is receiving anonymous notes from someone threatening suicide. He knows that the writer of the letters is an acquaintance of his-- but which one? Reginald Hill is an excellent prose stylist. He deserves as wide a readership and as much acclaim as P.D. James, with whom he is often compared. This novel was a finalist for the Edgar in 1990, when I chaired the Best Novel committee, and it won the Golden Dagger in England. Reginald Hill is an extraordinary writer.-- Sharyn McCrumb

Rating:
Summary: Bloody Yorkshire
Review: First all, I will admit that this book moves a little slowly, especially compared to most mysteries written by American authors. However, what you get here that you don't get with 99% of American mysteries is complex, interesting characters, a great plot, plenty of humor, and a wonderfully literate style. I will definitely read more of this series. The ending of this book is particularly powerful and it stayed with me for a while after I had finished it; an affect few mysteries have ever had on me.

Rating:
Summary: Great plot, colorful characters and razor-sharp wit
Review: First all, I will admit that this book moves a little slowly, especially compared to most mysteries written by American authors. However, what you get here that you don't get with 99% of American mysteries is complex, interesting characters, a great plot, plenty of humor, and a wonderfully literate style. I will definitely read more of this series. The ending of this book is particularly powerful and it stayed with me for a while after I had finished it; an affect few mysteries have ever had on me.

Rating:
Summary: Meaty Bones
Review: Like the lead character, Dalziel, this book is fat, humorous and sometimes slow moving, but when necessary, surprisingly fast. A stylish mystery novel, Hill sustains a high writing level and keeps the story moving with plenty of twists and turns. As the story moves along you can't help but despise the villain more and more. All of the police are likeable and well developed characters.

Although it is a bit ponderous at times, the novel is never boring and you will not be able to put it down until the surprising ending. This was worthwhile reading.

Rating:
Summary: Meaty Bones
Review: Like the lead character, Dalziel, this book is fat, humorous and sometimes slow moving, but when necessary, surprisingly fast. A stylish mystery novel, Hill sustains a high writing level and keeps the story moving with plenty of twists and turns. As the story moves along you can't help but despise the villain more and more. All of the police are likeable and well developed characters.

Although it is a bit ponderous at times, the novel is never boring and you will not be able to put it down until the surprising ending. This was worthwhile reading.

Rating:
Summary: A1
Review: My first R. Hill read. I have now embarked on reading the rest of the Dalziel/Pascoe mysteries Very user friendly. Very funny british humor.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, with an ending I am still not sure about...
Review: Regardless of other reviewers and the difficulty of Hill's linguistic excursions sometimes, Hill is still one of the top producers of well-written mysteries of this current batch. This particular book had its good points and its bad points, but overall the book was a great read. I enjoyed the introductions that use the York Cycle of Mystery Plays. Apparently, like many other European countries such as Germany, theatricals explaining the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, and in this particular group of plays, the period of creation and Lucifer's involvement in free agency, was used because people at that time simply could not pick up the Bible and read it. It was written in Latin, and only the clergy (and some royalty) had the ability to read. I expect that these theatricals were an extremely popular change of pace from the daily grind and I look forward to learning more concerning them, now that Hill has brought them to my attention.

As usual Dalziel is his perturbing, acidic, and curmudgeonly self. He doesn't like it when he ends up on the other side as a witness to a crime, that he's having a heck of a time proving actually happened as a homicide and not an accident. Like most of us, we don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot, and Dalziel doesn't take well to being seen as wrong. In the end...well...that would ruin the story. Not going to give it away. Pascoe has his own set of problems to deal with. He's still recuperating from the last case that nearly killed him, and his more sensitive psyche has taken a beating. His wife gets him involved in some of her pet projects, which he is not crazy about...but it ends up being of some assistance to providing keys of understanding to Dalziel's witnessed crime, and to the person who is writing Dalziel letters about her future self-inflicted demise.

This side story confuses a few readers, but life is never so tidy as to give us one problem at a time. IF it were, I think more crimes and problems would be solved. Dalziel can't be bothered with figure out who the looney is who is writing him suicide notes (and the writer knows this). But as usual, Pascoe gets saddled with this annoying problem, and it weighs on him. I really am not sure what happened at the end...but it was certainly not what I expected.

A sign of a good writer for me is one where I deliberately go back and look for his other books, rather than just browsing through and picking up a mystery that 'looks' good. I did that for too long, and it ends up wasting my time. When I want a good writer with a good plot and decent characters, I know where to go look for one. Hill still has plenty I have not read yet. Time to go get another!

Karen Sadler,
University of Pittsburgh

Rating:
Summary: Mystery play come mystery novel
Review: This is one novel, I couldn't put down and finished in a little over a day. Hill has a great style. It was been sometime that I novel had me reaching for a dictionary to look up definitions. The Yorkshire dialect was just perfect.
The characters are well drawn and the plot winds in on itself just enough. I am looking forward to reading other Reginald Hill novels.