A story that takes place all in one day at a time when Dalziel is about to return to work following his convalescence when he was blown up by a terrorist bomb (in a previous book). Still a bit muddle-headed, he was visiting a church to confirm that it is Sunday and enjoying a Bach Fugue when he is approached by a woman. The music reference crops up often in the story and Dalziel's knowledge of Bach surprises and annoys the supercilious Pascoe. Maybe Pascoe thought Andy was on the scrap heap and he was in charge, only to have his ambition thwarted again. Hill has created a mystery with a clever plot combining musical allusion and humour. I've never been a fan of Pascoe, but Dalziel, even with his earthy language, is one of my favourite fictional characters. ( )

When Superintendent Dalziel receives a phone call from an old acquaintance, asking him to help the man’s fiancee find information about her long-missing and probably dead husband, Dalziel thinks it will take very little time or energy to honour that request. But the case has more elements to it than it seems, and many more people are involved than Dalziel realizes, with the result that his own team is threatened…. “Midnight Fugue” is the 24th, and last, book in the Pascoe and Dalziel series, although in this case there’s a lot less Pascoe than usual. The entire novel takes place in a day, and there are sub-plots that perhaps didn’t need to be included, but as usual the main character is both entertaining and crafty, and it’s nice to run into him one last time. Not one of the best novels in this series, but worth reading if you’ve read the previous 23 books; moderately recommended. ( )

Reg does 24! The ever-playful Reginald Hill comes up with yet another spin on the slightly surreal and delightful adventures of Fat Andy Dalziel and his unlikely sidekicks, know-all Pascoe who quotes Latin at him and granite-faced Wieldy who can break a suspect just by looking at him. This time we have a minute-by-minute account of an extraordinary Sunday in Mid-Yorkshire which begins with the improbable prospect of the Fat Man attending Morning Service in the Cathedral (the last time he was there he was playing God in the Mystery Plays) and experiencing a Bach fugue. The metaphor of the fugue is kept up through the day, with a string of bits of stories chasing each other until they disappear up their own arseholes, as Dalziel would probably put it. Or something like that anyway; to say more about those bits of stories would give too much away but of course they all collide in the end. As blackly funny as ever.
( )

Reg does 24! The ever-playful Reginald Hill comes up with yet another spin on the slightly surreal and delightful adventures of Fat Andy Dalziel and his unlikely sidekicks, know-all Pascoe who quotes Latin at him and granite-faced Wieldy who can break a suspect just by looking at him. This time we have a minute-by-minute account of an extraordinary Sunday in Mid-Yorkshire which begins with the improbable prospect of the Fat Man attending Morning Service in the Cathedral (the last time he was there he was playing God in the Mystery Plays) and experiencing a Bach fugue. The metaphor of the fugue is kept up through the day, with a string of bits of stories chasing each other until they disappear up their own arseholes, as Dalziel would probably put it. Or something like that anyway; to say more about those bits of stories would give too much away but of course they all collide in the end. As blackly funny as ever.
( )

Pretty Good- formula novel. ( )