I decided to investigate the Dalziel and Pascoe series after reading 'Good Morning, Midnight', and enjoying the light-hearted take on the mismatched pair of 'whodunnit' detectives. I read the first three books:
A Clubbable Woman: Mary Connon is clubbed to death in her armchair. Suspicion falls on her husband and the goings on in the Rugby Club and the clubhouse.
An Advancement of Learning: "Lecturers having it away with students, witches' sabbaths on the sand dunes, sit-ins, a body buried under a statue in the gardens... [...] So when Dalziel and that over-educated Sergeant of his, Pascoe, were sent to investigate a disinterred corpse at Holm Coultram College, he hadn't reckoned on a rash of fresh killings."
Dalziel also runs into his ex-girlfriend Ellie, with whom he again begins a tentative relationship.
Ruling Passion: "Peter Pascoe is in shock. A weekend in the country with [Ellie, his girlfiend and] 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. Superintendent Andy Dalziel wants him back in Yorkshire where a string of unsolved burglaries looks like turning nasty. Perhaps it's all a bit too much for Pascoe. As events unfold, the two cases are getting jumbled in his mind, when what he really needs is to keep a clear head..."
These first books were written in the early 70s and elements do seem dated, with some explicit sexism and racism which would not be acceptable now. The author is establishing the characters throughout - Dalziel doesn't yet have the endearing Yorkshire accent of the later books, and he seems altogether gruffer. I enjoyed these, but some of the later books might be better crafted still.
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