Reginald Hill
Encyclopedia
Reginald Charles Hill is an English crime writer, and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association
Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement.
, Oxford University (1957–60) he worked as a teacher for many years, rising to Senior Lecturer at Doncaster
College of Education. In 1980 he retired from salaried work in order to devote himself full-time to writing.
Hill is best known for his more than 20 novels featuring the Yorkshire
detectives Andrew Dalziel , Peter Pascoe and Edgar Wield. The characters were used by the BBC in the Dalziel and Pascoe
series, in which Dalziel was played by Warren Clarke
, Pascoe by Colin Buchanan
, and Wield by David Royle. He has also written more than 30 other novels, including five featuring Joe Sixsmith, a black machine operator turned private detective in a fictional Luton
. Novels originally published under the pseudonyms of Patrick Ruell, Dick Morland, and Charles Underhill have now appeared under his own name. Hill is also a writer of short stories, and ghost tales.
Hill's novels employ various structural devices, such as presenting parts of the story in non-chronological order, or alternating with sections from a novel supposedly written by Peter's wife, Ellie Pascoe (née Soper). Clues may also be provided in such a way that readers sail past them, only realising at the end how their own assumptions have been exposed. He also frequently selects one writer or one oeuvre to use as a central organizing element of a given novel, such as one novel being a pastiche of Jane Austen's works, or another featuring elements of classical Greek myth. In a different kind of tease, the novella One Small Step (dedicated to "you, dear readers, without whom the writing would be in vain, and to you, still dearer purchasers, without whom the eating would be infrequent",) is set in the future, and deals with the EuroFed Police Commissioner Pascoe and retired Dalziel investigating the first murder on the moon. In another departure from the norm, the duo do not always "get their man", with at least one novel ending with the villain getting away and another strongly implying that while Dalziel and Pascoe are unable to convict anyone, a series of unrelated accidents actually included at least one unprovable instance of murder.
The unusual force of Hill's writing career is suggested by a comment he made in 1986:
Crime Writers' Association
The Crime Writers Association is a writers' association in the United Kingdom. Founded by John Creasey in 1953, it is currently chaired by Peter James and claims 450+ members....
Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement.
Biography
Hill was born to a "very ordinary" family—his father was a professional footballer long before sportsmen earned riches—but began reading young. His mother was a great fan of Golden-Age crime writers, and he discovered the genre while fetching her library-books. After National Service (1955–57) and reading English at St Catherine's CollegeSt Catherine's College, Oxford
St Catherine's College, often called Catz, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its motto is Nova et Vetera...
, Oxford University (1957–60) he worked as a teacher for many years, rising to Senior Lecturer at Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
College of Education. In 1980 he retired from salaried work in order to devote himself full-time to writing.
Hill is best known for his more than 20 novels featuring the Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
detectives Andrew Dalziel , Peter Pascoe and Edgar Wield. The characters were used by the BBC in the Dalziel and Pascoe
Dalziel and Pascoe (BBC TV series)
Dalziel and Pascoe is a popular British television crime drama based on the Dalziel and Pascoe books by Reginald Hill, which was first broadcast in March 1996. It is set in Yorkshire, and is about two detectives...
series, in which Dalziel was played by Warren Clarke
Warren Clarke
-Biography:Clarke was born in Oldham, Lancashire. His first television appearance was in the long running Granada soap opera Coronation Street, initially as Kenny Pickup in 1966 and then as Gary Bailey in 1968. His first major film appearance was in Stanley Kubrick's controversial A Clockwork...
, Pascoe by Colin Buchanan
Colin Buchanan (actor)
Colin Buchanan is a Scottish actor who is best known for playing Pascoe in Dalziel and Pascoe. He has also appeared in All Quiet on the Preston Front , The Bill, Between the Lines, Dangerfield, Heartbeat, Space Island One and Brief Encounters and A Touch of Frost...
, and Wield by David Royle. He has also written more than 30 other novels, including five featuring Joe Sixsmith, a black machine operator turned private detective in a fictional Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
. Novels originally published under the pseudonyms of Patrick Ruell, Dick Morland, and Charles Underhill have now appeared under his own name. Hill is also a writer of short stories, and ghost tales.
Hill's novels employ various structural devices, such as presenting parts of the story in non-chronological order, or alternating with sections from a novel supposedly written by Peter's wife, Ellie Pascoe (née Soper). Clues may also be provided in such a way that readers sail past them, only realising at the end how their own assumptions have been exposed. He also frequently selects one writer or one oeuvre to use as a central organizing element of a given novel, such as one novel being a pastiche of Jane Austen's works, or another featuring elements of classical Greek myth. In a different kind of tease, the novella One Small Step (dedicated to "you, dear readers, without whom the writing would be in vain, and to you, still dearer purchasers, without whom the eating would be infrequent",) is set in the future, and deals with the EuroFed Police Commissioner Pascoe and retired Dalziel investigating the first murder on the moon. In another departure from the norm, the duo do not always "get their man", with at least one novel ending with the villain getting away and another strongly implying that while Dalziel and Pascoe are unable to convict anyone, a series of unrelated accidents actually included at least one unprovable instance of murder.
The unusual force of Hill's writing career is suggested by a comment he made in 1986:
I still recall with delight as a teen-ager making the earth-shaking discovery that many of the great “serious novelists,” classical and modern, were as entertaining and interesting as the crime-writers I already loved. But it took another decade of maturation to reverse the equation and understand that many of the crime writers I had decided to grow out of were still as interesting and entertaining as the “serious novelists” I now revered.
Dalziel and Pascoe
- A Clubbable WomanA Clubbable WomanA Clubbable Woman is a crime novel by Reginald Hill, the first novel in the Dalziel and Pascoe series.-Publication history:*1970, London: Collins Crime Club ISBN 0-00-231120-8, Pub date 28 September 1970, Hardback...
(1970) - An Advancement of LearningAn Advancement of LearningAn Advancement of Learning is a crime novel by Reginald Hill, the second novel in the Dalziel and Pascoe series.In this novel, the detectives investigate a murder at the fictional Holm Coultram College. More bodies are found after their arrival on campus...
(1971) - Ruling PassionRuling PassionRuling Passion is a crime novel by Reginald Hill, the third novel in the Dalziel and Pascoe series. The novel opens with Detective Peter Pascoe arriving at what should have been a reunion of old friends. Instead he walks in on the scene of a grisly triple-murder...
(1973) - An April ShroudAn April ShroudAn April Shroud is a crime novel by Reginald Hill, the fourth novel in the Dalziel and Pascoe series.The novel is mainly Dalziel's, as Peter and Ellie Pascoe marry and go on honeymoon...
(1975) - A Pinch of SnuffA Pinch of SnuffA Pinch of Snuff is a crime novel by Reginald Hill, the fifth novel in the Dalziel and Pascoe series.-Plot summary:Receiving a tip from his dentist Jack Shorter, Inspector Peter Pascoe takes a closer look at the Calliope Kinema Club, a film club notorious for showing adult entertainment movies...
(1978) - A Killing KindnessA Killing KindnessA Killing Kindness is a crime novel by Reginald Hill, the sixth novel in the Dalziel and Pascoe series.-Publication history:*1980, London: Collins Crime Club ISBN 0-00-231406-1, Pub date 24 November 1980, Hardback...
(1980) - Deadheads (1983)
- Exit Lines (1984)
- Child's Play (1987)
- Under World (1988)
- Bones and SilenceBones and SilenceBones and Silence is a crime novel by Reginald Hill, the eleventh novel in the Dalziel and Pascoe series. The novel received the Gold Dagger Award in 1990.-Publication history:...
(1990) - One Small Step (1990), novella
- Recalled to LifeRecalled to Life (novel)Recalled to Life is a 1992 crime novel by Reginald Hill, and part of the Dalziel and Pascoe series.The novel tells the story of Dalziel's re-investigation of the 1963 murder at a local manor, Mickledore Hall, and the crime is billed as the last of the golden age murders...
(1992) - Pictures of Perfection (1994)
- The Wood Beyond (1995)
- Asking for the Moon (1996), short stories
- "The Last National Service Man"
- "Pascoe's Ghost"
- "Dalziel's Ghost"
- "One Small Step"
- On Beulah Height (1998)
- Arms and the Women (1999)
- Dialogues of the Dead (2002)
- Death's Jest-Book (2003)
- Good Morning MidnightGood Morning MidnightGood Morning Midnight is a 2004 crime novel by Reginald Hill, and part of the Dalziel and Pascoe series. The title takes its name from Good Morning -- Midnight, a poem by Emily Dickinson which is quoted throughout the story.-Plot summary:...
(2004) - The Death of Dalziel (2007), Canada and US Title: Death Comes for the Fat Man
- A Cure for All Diseases (Canada and US Title:The Price of Butcher's Meat) (2008) Shortlisted for Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2009.
- Midnight Fugue (2009)
Joe Sixsmith
- Blood Sympathy (1993)
- Born Guilty (1995)
- Killing the Lawyers (1997)
- Singing the Sadness (1999)
- The Roar of the Butterflies (2008)
Other
- Fell of Dark (1971)
- The Castle of the Demon (1971) (As Patrick Ruell) (apa The Turning of the Tide)
- A Fairly Dangerous Thing (1972)
- Red Christmas (1972) (As Patrick Ruell)
- Heart Clock (1973) (As Dick Morland) (apa Matlock's System as Reginald Hill)
- Death Takes a Low Road (1974) (As Patrick Ruell) (apa The Low Road)
- A Very Good Hater (1974)
- Albion! Albion! (1974) (As Dick Morland) (apa Singleton's Law as Reginald Hill)
- Beyond the Bone (1975) (apa Urn Burial ) (As Patrick Ruell)
- Another Death in Venice (1976)
- Captain Fantom (1978) (As Charles Underhill)
- The Forging of Fantom (1979)
- Pascoe's Ghost and Other Brief Chronicles of Crime [SS] (1979)
- "Pascoe's Ghost" # (A Dalziel and Pascoe story)
- "The Trunk in the Attic"
- "The Rio de Janeiro Paper"
- "Threatened Species"
- "Snowball"
- "Exit Line"
- "Dalziel's Ghost" (A Dalziel and Pascoe story)
- Captain Fantom (1978) (As Charles Underhill)
- The Forging of Fantom (1978) (As Charles Underhill)
- The Spy's WifeThe Spy's WifeThe Spy's Wife is a 1972 British short crime film directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Julian Holloway, Dorothy Tutin and Tom Bell....
(1980) - Who Guards a Prince?Who Guards a Prince?Who Guards a Prince? is a 1982 novel by Reginald Hill, the author best known for his Dalziel and Pascoe series of crime novels.The plot of this suspense novel revolves around central character, Doug McHarg, and involves an international conspiracy of Freemasons, Scotland Yard, and extends as far as...
(1982) - Traitor's BloodTraitor's BloodTraitor's Blood is a novel by Reginald Hill, the author best known for his Dalziel and Pascoe series of crime novels.The novel, originally published in the UK in 1983, moves between Venezuela, England and Moscow and involves a disgraced peer, Lemuel Stanhope-Swift, sixth Viscount Bessacarr, and his...
(1983) - Guardians of the Prince (1983)
- No Man's Land (1985)
- The Long Kill (1986) (As Patrick Ruell)
- There Are No Ghosts in the Soviet Union and Other Stories [SS](1987)
- "There Are No Ghosts in the Soviet Union" (Novella)
- "Bring Back the Cat!" (A Joe Sixsmith story)
- "Poor Emma"
- "Auteur Theory" (A Dalziel and Pascoe story)
- "The Bull Ring"
- "Crowded Hour"
- The Collaborators (1987)
- Death of a Dormouse (1987) (As Patrick Ruell)
- Dream of Darkness (1989) (As Patrick Ruell)
- Brother's Keeper (1992)
- The Only Game (1993) (As Patrick Ruell)
- The Stranger House (2005)
- The Woodcutter (2010)
Further reading
- Binyon, T. J., ‘Murder Will Out’: The Detective in Fiction (Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 1989).
- Herbert, Rosemary, ‘Reginald Hill’, in The Fatal Art of Entertainment: Interviews with Mystery Writers (New York: G. K. Hall, Toronto: Maxwell Macmillan Canada, & Oxford: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1994), pp. 194–223.
- Ling, Peter J. "Identity, Allusions, and Agency in Reginald Hill's Good Morning, Midnight." CLUES: A Journal of Detection 24.4 (Summer 2006): 59–71.
- Salo-Oja, Mari, Lost in Translation? Translating allusions in two of Reginald Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe novels http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/hum/engla/pg/salo-oja/lostintr.pdf.