Many detective stories feature a duo, probably the most famous being Holmes and Watson, Poirot and Hastings, with perhaps Alleyn and Fox coming along behind. Lord Peter Wimsey mainly detects alone though we tend to think of him with Harriet Vane although only four of DL Sayers books feature the two of them in conjunction. In the Inspector Lynley stories we have Lynley and his sidekick Barbara Havers, who is much more interesting than he is though I don't suppose Elizabeth George set out to make this character cleverer and less naval gazing than the pale imitation of Wimsey which Lynley turns out to be. I know Margery Allingham also has a sidekick who works with Campion whose name momentarily escapes me, but I remember I found him fairly charmless. Allingham has yet to capture my interest though I tried a few last year though I daresay I will get there in the end.
But back to Andy Dalziel and Peter Pascoe, an ill assorted pair on the face of it: Pascoe, university educated and just the sort of fast track copper that the blunt, fat Yorkshireman Dalziel despises and their partnership was not too promising at first with Pascoe being dominated by his boss. I came to these marvellous books by Reginald HIll rather late, the first one I read being Death's Jest Book, intricately plotted and written with such a command of language that I had to keep a dictionary near me to look up the meaning of many of the unknown (to me anyway) words that popped up unexpectedly on every page. I then started to go backwards and read all of Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe books from the very first and was surprised to find myself disappointed in them. They were OK but rather predictable and the characterisation painted with broad brush strokes and any liking I had felt for Andy disappeared as I felt for Pascoe having to put up with such an obnoxious boss. However, as the books progressed the relationship changed and matured and by the time Dalziel is seriously injured in a bombing incident in The Death of Dalziel, their partnership is founded on respect and affection.
I now look forward to each book as the story line of this relationship follows consecutively in each novel and in Midnight Fugue, the balance of power is very much in Pascoe's hands as Andy returns to work, perhaps sooner than he should have done, and finds that he will need to reassert his authority and regain his position.
I am not going to give too much detail of Midnight Fugue as I have no desire to give away the plot. Just to say it takes place over a single day and begins with the introduction of Gina Wolfe who has come to Yorkshire in search of her missing husband, believed dead. She has seen a picture of him in a magazine where he has been caught unaware and needs to reassure herself that she is not imagining things - the photo turns out to be a fake so who has sent her this in order to set her off on her husband's trail, and who wants to track him down?
Throw in an ambitious MP whose father has a shady past well hidden from his new found respectability, two hit men roaming the Dales and a tabloid journalist hot on the trail of a story he has been chasing for years and you have a pretty good mixture. The twists and turns of who is doing what, Dalziel getting involved on the quiet by the fiance of Gina Wolfe, Commander Mick Purdy of the Met, a friend of Andy and the disastrous consequences all make for a riveting read.
And, yes, as always there are two surprises at the end of the book, one I did not guess, the other I did though it was a vague suspicion throughout the story, but the identity of other protagonists, peripheral or otherwise also catch the reader off balance and left me thinking 'Blimey he's done it again'.
Terrific book and well up to standard and a treat for all Dalziel and Pascoe aficionados. Anybody out there who has not read any of these and have only seen the TV series of the same name, please ignore the story line taken up by the BBC, as with the Lynley Mysteries, they deviate wildly from the events in the books. The characters are beautifully played in the dramatisation, is a different ball game altogether and can be enjoyed on its own merits, but you really need to read the books.....
