Arms and the Women Book

Readers await each new Dalziel and Pascoe novel from Reginald Hill with great anticipation and fans will be pleased to find that Arms and the Women is absolutely vintage stuff: pungently witty dialogue coupled with Hill's highly intelligent plotting. And after the massive success of On Beulah Height, Hill took a risk by introducing an innovation--the new novel is written in the book-within-a-book format. Dalziel and Pascoe, however, are true to form. The former as blunt and bawdy as ever, while the university-educated Pascoe with his troubling conscience makes the perfect contrast.Ellie, a former campaigner for the hard left, is writing a book--the very book that readers have access to. So when Ellie's life is threatened, her friends assume it has to do with her marriage to a cop. But Ellie isn't so sure and enlists the help of the doughty duo, soon finding the death threats lead to packs of Irish Republicans, Colombian drug-dealers and bogus council officers. Interestingly enough, Ellie's problems are shared with a motley assortment of other women: her middle-class friend Daphne, a vivacious South American money-launderer and a pushy female copper. Is the target her husband Peter? Needless to say, the narrative has enough twists and turns to baffle the most astute reader, and each fresh revelation is both dramatic and unexpected.Even without the pyrotechnics of plot, Dalziel remains a highly entertaining, and Hill enthusiasts will feel that they are getting their money's worth. --Barry ForshawRead More