On Beulah Height (Dalziel and Pascoe)

A few years ago I discovered Dalziel (pronounced "deal") and Pascoe on A & E. I became intrigued, and set out to read all Hill's many books on this infamous pair of "thinking" British cops. I am now almost caught up as "On Beulah Height" is the next to the last installment in Hill's series. I think the best way to read Hill's books is chronologically, but there are many of them. You can figure out the order by their publication dates. The stories are complex so even if you see them dramatized on A & E you can still enjoy the written text as much of it is interior monologue/thinking. Hill writes books that eschew the pounding action of many current mystery writers (who give me a headache). His plots move vigorously, but they are thinking reader's books--somewhat like those of Colin Dexter. DCI Peter Pascoe and his wife Ellie have to be one of the nicest, most down-to-earth, and likeable couples around. Hill has tracked their courtship, marriage, marital problems, and the birth of their child Rosie, though the various cases Dalziel and Pascoe have undertaken. This book continues their story, while simultaneously filling out the lives of other characters: Dalziel (the fat man from Yorkshire), Weild(y) (the "gay" cop who rides a motorcycle and has a kindly heart) and the female cop DC Novello. "On Beulah Height" is a tough book, as it involves the disappearance and supposed deaths of several small girls. Interwoven through the search for the abductor/killer is the tale of Rosie Pascoe's fight for her own life. Hill has used a the device of a children's story entitled "Nina and the Nix" to structure his plot. The characters are believable, from the singer Elizabeth Wulfson to the "retarded" Benny Lightfoot. I like Hill's inclination to describe the interaction between men and women, husbands and wives, fathers and daughters, and lovers of both sexes. Hill understands human behavior, and his characters are quite believable. In the end, the loose ends are tied up. You may find one angle a bit stretched, but I am willing to give Hill the suspension of disbelief.

I've just begun to read Reginald Hill in my constant search for new and exciting authors, and I seem to have hit the jackpot with this one. (I'm writing this review as I'm searching for the next Hill novel to put on my shopping list!) The characters are alive, the plot is intricate, the story is highly emotional, and the reader's involvement is intense until the last page has been turned. In my mind, a true masterpiece.

Quite possibly the strongest of Hill's novels, *On Beulah Height* evokes, with eerie intensity, every parent's visceral fear of losing their child. At the same time, it explores the multiple and complex strands of love: between parent and child, performer and vocation, person and place, man and woman (or man)... And there are some nifty thematic hooks, like Mahler's *Kindertotenlieder* and a folktale-children's story, "Nina and the Nix" (complete with illustration), both of which play important parts in the narrative's development. As always, Hill jumps gracefully between different times and points of view. There is some occasional humor to leaven what otherwise might be an unbearably grim novel. Readers new to this series should be aware that this really is a *series*; while Hill does some necessary retreading in spots, in several instances readers do need to know the previous novels in order to make sense of the action or character development (particularly in the case of Sgt. Wield). And be warned: the Yorkshire dialect can be heavy going if you are not yet accustomed to it.

I've been following Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe series for years; the only thing bad about this the author is his unfortunate tendency to go out-of-print here in the States. This is an author whose writing has undergone a noticeable improvement over the years. The first books in the series seem more formulaic and even a bit dated when held up to later entries. But this is only comparing a writer against himself: these books still stand out among the usual British procedurals; Hill's distinctive characterization is present from the first book. It's definitely worth reading the series in order, if you can find all the titles. Doing so, you can trace the development of all the characters, most notably Wield and Dalziel, who usually steal the show from the intellectual and prototypically 'heroic' Pascoe. These two are in no way side characters; this is ensemble work. 'On Beulah Height' is another great entry in the series, digging deep into the Yorkshire landscape and making a compelling story of local history. Buy, buy, buy, and tell your friends. I keep hoping that the more interest in raised in this series, the better our chances to see reissues of the earlier works.