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'One of the modern masters of the police procedural' Sunday Telegraph Peter Pascoe is in shock. A weekend in the country with old friends turns into a nightmare when he finds three of them dead and the missing fourth a prime suspect in the eyes of the local police. They want his cooperation, but Superintendent Dalziel needs him back in Yorkshire where a string of unsolved burglaries looks like turning nasty. As events unfold, though, the two cases seem to be getting entwined...
User reviews
LibraryThing member anglophile65
Loved the writing style - smart, funny and visual. This is the first of the series that I've read (#3 in the series) and will definitely read more from this author. FInally good writing, great character development and the perfect English countryside landscape. Terrific book
LibraryThing member LaurieRKing
Start with 'Ruling Passion' and work your way up through 'Pictures of Perfection', for a view of how characters take hold of an author, and grow into fully formed people.
LibraryThing member baswood
Not one of this authors better detective stories. After an attention grabbing opening the unravelling of the story is too contrived. Too much Pascoe not enough Dalziel
LibraryThing member JulesJones
Third of the Dalziel and Pascoe books. At the end of the last book Peter Pascoe had got back together with old flame Ellie, and now they're invited to spend a weekend with four of their old university friends. They're late because Peter's been tied up with a serial burglary case that looks as if
What they find when they finally arrive is a scene of carnage. Three people are dead, the fourth is missing in circumstances that lead the local police to make him chief suspect. Pascoe's involvement in the case is officially as a witness, but he can't help but get involved in the investigation, even if unofficially. These are his friends, after all, and he can't believe that one of them could really have changed so much as to commit murder. As the case progresses, Pascoe finds his ambiguous status of use to the official investigation, but an ever increasing source of frustration for himself. And Dalziel wants him back in Yorkshire, the more urgently because the burglary case has turned very nasty indeed.
The nature of the plot means that the book focuses strongly on Pascoe, with Dalziel largely present as a supporting role. It nevertheless shows the growth in the relationship between the two men, in a story that twists and turns until the various plot strands finally come together. This is a superb study of a policeman struggling and frequently failing to retain his professional detachment in the face of a crime that strikes only too close to home.
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it's escalating to violence. What they find when they finally arrive is a scene of carnage. Three people are dead, the fourth is missing in circumstances that lead the local police to make him chief suspect. Pascoe's involvement in the case is officially as a witness, but he can't help but get involved in the investigation, even if unofficially. These are his friends, after all, and he can't believe that one of them could really have changed so much as to commit murder. As the case progresses, Pascoe finds his ambiguous status of use to the official investigation, but an ever increasing source of frustration for himself. And Dalziel wants him back in Yorkshire, the more urgently because the burglary case has turned very nasty indeed.
The nature of the plot means that the book focuses strongly on Pascoe, with Dalziel largely present as a supporting role. It nevertheless shows the growth in the relationship between the two men, in a story that twists and turns until the various plot strands finally come together. This is a superb study of a policeman struggling and frequently failing to retain his professional detachment in the face of a crime that strikes only too close to home.
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LibraryThing member Darrol
Not the best D & P book.
LibraryThing member Laura400
Just okay, really. It started well, but then slowed down and grew muddled. Keeping the two main detectives separated didn't really help, either. Having read some later books in the series, I know better is coming.
LibraryThing member infjsarah
This was OK but it had too many characters who weren't differentiated enough. I lost track of who was who and who had done what.
LibraryThing member edwardsgt
One of the early D&P books where Pasco is still a sergeant and not yet married to Ellie and the main method of communication is a public telephone. Pasco and Ellie go away for the weekend to stay with old college friends and find several dead bodies. Meanwhile back in Yorkshire, a series of
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burglaries is baffling Dalziel and about to turn fatal. As usual amusing, if un-PC, dialogue as each suspect is analyzed, with enough red herrings to keep readers on their toes. Enjoyable retro crime fiction. Show Less