Reginald Hill: A Clubbable Woman

Despite having regularly watched the adaptations of Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe novels on the BBC, this was the first time I've read one of his novels. Even that was mostly by chance, mainly because I needed a third book to make up a 3 for £5 offer in Bookworld and this caught my eye. If it hadn't been the first book in the series, I'd have probably returned it, of course.

Having read it, I'm genuinely glad I did pick it up. Obviously, from watching the adaptations of his books on TV, I was aware that Hill is an expert at creating intriguing situations and crafting plots around them. One of the things that sets Dalziel and Pascoe above most other detective series is that the murders that occur in them don't seem to have just occurred to give us our death for the week with a cast of likely suspects. Hill's characters exist in their milieu (in this case, a rugby club) and the murder is a natural consequence of actions, reactions and attitudes set in train long before the story starts, not just a convenient hook for the story.

One thing that surprised me about the book was that it was written in 1970, and I can't help wondering what the reaction to it was back then. I don't usually check the copyright dates on a book when I pick it up, and I'd assumed that it had been written sometime in the 80s. It was only several chapters in, with a reference to miniskirts of all things, that I got curious about when it was written as the style felt as though it was written much mor recently. Hill's a lot like Elmore Leonard in this respect - many of his books feel much less dated than they should, partly because they don't make any special effort to root themselves in the time they're from. It's a recognition that human nature, especially of the murderous kind, can be eternal, or at least recognisable despite any differences between eras.

Of course, one can't talk about this novel without mentioning the brooding presence that lurks at the heart of it - Dalziel himself. He's entirely believable and yet a hard character to describe, perhaps because he's such a fluid personality, a man capable of slipping swiftly from the hail-fellow-well-met Bruiser Dalziel of the Rugby Club to driven, probing Superintendent Dalziel to angry, tragic Andy. They're all parts of a whole, though, the man who all the stories run through. It's also clear why Pascoe is part of this partnership as well. Like Dalziel, he's a man out of place, a university graduate in a police force that still thinks 'too clever by half' is a valid criticism, and he gets to see all the parts of Dalziel, understanding his boss on a level that others can't attain.

In terms of mystery, this isn't a perfect book - many clues are only discovered by chance or coincidence and the final climaxes are wrapped up quite perfunctorily, but this is a detective story in quite a simple sense, in that it's a story about detectives. I'm looking forward to reading some of Hill's later novels, as he's started from a good base and there's clear territory for him to expand and improve into.