Reginald Hill gets away with things I’d never imagine a mystery writer could and I really admire him for writing a different book every time and not sticking to the rules of detective stories.

I’ve probably said it after reading at least ten of his books but I think that this is the best so far. The book begins with a description of a bloody shootout in a small village in the Yorkshire Dales and introduces us to a range of local characters in a few pages. Then the book skips back a few days to when the local village policeman vanishes and we wait for time to catch up to the start of the book. Which makes it sound like the book is soem kind of suspense thriller but it doesn’t really work that way. Hill doesn’t build up the waiting for something to happen element and it’s the lack of obvious suspense that makes the book work really well.

Although this is billed, along with the rest of the series, as a “Dalziel and Pascoe” novel this particular episode is really all about Sergeant Wield who takes centre stage for much of the book. I’m a real fan of Wieldy’s so this is fine by me.

Another wonderful book from Hill, I’m going to be sorry when I’ve caught up to date on this series.