Child's Play

Rating:
Summary: This is a really good read!
Review: I'm flabbergasted that nobody has chosen to review this book before. This is my first exposure to Mr. Hill's writing and I am impressed. Hill is an English writer of detective mystery fiction. This book is one in a series that revolves around the workings of a pair of policemen based in Northern England, one of whom is a Rabelaisian, dyed in the wool Yorkshireman, the other a University educated middle class everyman. Childs Play is a story that evolves around the entwined fates of two families and, of all things, a repressed homosexual cop. When a mystery man appears graveside to claim the heritance of a prodigal son, things quickly spin wildly out of control when he and another complete stranger are killed within a week of each other in apparently unrelated incidents. Complexity is added when an eager representative of a named party in the origingal deceased's will begins to cobble together an alliance in order to overturn the will, which makes any one of the interested parties a suspect in the murders. Dalziel and Pascoe work together to puzzle the pieces and solve this fine mystery in an ending that is sure to have you curling your toes in anticipation and suspense. I am giving this book five stars because it is truly well-written and the suspense becomes wonderfully excruciating as the author proceeds to weave a half-dozen seemingly disparate threads together into Gordian knot before cutting it. My only objections to Mr. Hill's story telling is his penchant for throwing in obscure high culture references that seem oddly out of place and his willingness to place extreme pressure upon his audience's suspension of disbelief. All in all though, this story will have you panting for more, I am quite sure.