"Asking for the Moon" is a collection of four short stories/novellas from Reginald Hill, featuring Pascoe and Dalziel. These include “The Last National Service Man,” wherein the two meet each other for the first time; “Pascoe’s Ghost,” “Dalziel’s Ghost,” and “One Small Step,” set in the distant “future” of 2010 and featuring a murder on the Moon! Not really necessary with respect to the series as a whole, but tons of fun nevertheless. ( )

NOT A NOVEL - DESPITE THE COVER!
A mixed bag for the Dalziel & Pascoe fans. "The Last National Service Man" is the story of the duo's first reluctant encounter and is great fun and a necessity for any devoted Dalziel and Pascoe fan, " "Pascoe's Ghost", the longest story in the set is OK, but I found "Dalziel's Ghost", and "One Small Step" disappointing. ( )

I did not realize that this book was a collection of short stories when I first picked it up. But this is not your usual collection of short stories. These four stories are wonderful snapshots of the Dalziel and Pascoe partnership through their years working together. Dalziel is still at his sharpest here, even in the fanciful story "One Small Step" where Pascoe brings him out of retirement to solve the first murder on the moon. Yes, that's right, I said moon. As I said these stories are totally unique, and each one is a wonderful mystery in its own right. Now I will get back to reding the series, but I am glad that I took this little side trip to delve into Dalziel and Pascoe's world. ( )

Fans of Dalziel and Pascoe who might wonder how this unlikely pair ever got together will have their curiosity satisfied by reading “The Last National Service Man” in this collection of four stories. Dalziel is the fat detective who can “consume malt whiskey at a rate which had caused the waiter to summon his work-mates to view the spectacle,” and Pascoe his more intellectual and skeptical colleague. They make an odd couple that consistently amuse while solving crimes.

Dalziel reminds one of the wonderful Inspector Dover of Joyce Porter. They are both uncouth, fat, and lazy except that Dalziel is truly bright and manipulative. He actually solves crimes, unlike Dover, who stumbles on to the correct solution. Pascoe, his love/hate relationship Oxford­educated subordinate, who uses words like hydriotaphic and philopolemic.

My favorite story, if one can have favorites, is Ghost." There are three main causes of ghosts, relates Dalziel, our expert, at a dinner party: “One: bad cooking. Two: bad ventilation. Three: bad conscience." Since the air conditioning was just recently installed and the housewife is known for her good cooking, only one option was left and Dalziel, to Pascoe’s consternation, agrees to check out the ghost. Dalziel, as usual, has something else up his sleeve, which he has to hide from Pascoe, whom he sends on a wild cat chase.

Another story, uncharacteristically, takes place in the year 2010. An astronaut, stepping off his lunar module, falls to the surface uttering the unfinished phrase, Oh mer… There is rampant speculation in the press as to what he meant to say, the religious insisting it had to
be Oh mère de Dieu. A surprising exclamation for a lifetime member of the Société Athéiste et Humaniste de France. The French newspapers realized, of course, that he was merely exclaiming what any civilized frog would under the circumstances: Oh merde. The murder was accomplished in a shocking fashion.
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His TEC (Total Environment Costume) had been tampered with. “The mìcro­circuitry of the residual products unit of his TEC had been deliberately cross-linked with both the main and the reserve power systems in such a manner that it needed only the addition of a conductive element, in this case Iiquescent, to complete the circuit with unfortunate, that is, fatal, consequences." Heh, heh.
( )

So lovely to be reading Reginald Hill again. It's sad to be revisiting his works in the knowledge that there will be no more to come, but at the same time an absolute joy. I'm sure that makes sense somehow or other.

This collection of Dalziel & Pascoe short stories is reproduced in order of when the events in them take place rather than by publication date. Following the seemingly ill-matched partners from their first, discordant meeting to their reunion (again discordant) investigating the first murder on the moon, I was reminded once more of the intelligence, charm and humour of Reginald Hill's writing.

Rest in peace, Mr Hill. ( )