Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book (UK 2015)

From the Publisher:
Reginald Hill's best-selling duo, Dalziel and Pascoe, return in this brilliant, complex and ultimately moving crime novel: "Reginald Hill is probably the best living crime writer in the English-speaking world" - Independent

Ex-convict and aspiring academic, Franny Roote, has started writing enigmatic letters to DCI Peter Pascoe who immediately smells a rat. DS Edgar Wield, intervening in a suspected kidnapping, takes a vulnerable rentboy under his wing, one who is hiding an earth-shattering secret. And young DC Bowler is looking forward to a weekend away with his girlfriend but her dreams are filled with a horror too terrifying to share.

Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Dalziel, lording it over his team, is famed for his omniscience. But even he is unable to foresee the disaster towards which they are all tumbling...

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book. A Dalziel and Pascoe Novel. Harper eBook, ISBN 9780007396351 (July, 2015), 3273 KB (ca. 706 p.), £4.99.

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book (UK 2009)

From the Publisher:
Three times DCI Pascoe has wrongly accused dead-pan joker Franny Roote. This time he's determined to leave no gravestone unturned as he tries to prove that the ex-con and aspiring academic is mad, bad and dangerous to know.

Meanwhile Edgar Wield rides to the rescue of a child in danger, only to find he's got a rent boy with a priceless secret under his wing. DC Bowler is looking forward to a blissful New Year with the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, her dreams are filled with a horror too terrible to tell...

And over all this activity broods the huge form of DS Andy Dalziel. As trouble builds, the Fat Man discovers (as many deities before him) that omniscience can be more trouble than it's worth.

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book. A Dalziel and Pascoe Novel. HarperCollins, ISBN 9780007313204 (June, 2009), 668 p., £7.99.

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book (USA 2004)

From the Publisher:
Sometimes a monster can hide behind a mask of civilized, urbane intelligence.
Sometimes the most terrible of crimes can go undetected and unpunished.
Sometimes Death has a wicked sense of humor...

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book. Avon, ISBN 0060528060 (August, 2004), 560 p., $7.99.

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book (UK 2003)

And over all this activity broods the huge form of DS Andy Dalziel. As trouble builds, the Fat Man discovers (as many deities before him) that omniscience can be more trouble than it's worth.

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book. A Dalziel and Pascoe Novel. HarperCollins, ISBN 0007123442 (March, 2003), 668 p., £6.99.

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book (USA 2003)

From the Publisher:
From the winner of Britain's most prestigious Diamond Dagger Award comes a beautifully written, multilayered psychological thriller.
Three times Yorkshire policeman Peter Pascoe has wrongly accused ex-con, aspiring academic, and inveterate joker Franny Roote of a crime, only to have Roote walk free. Now Roote is sending strange and threatening letters that connect back to a nineteenth-century poet-physician, and Pascoe fears there is worse to come. This time he's determined to prove Roote guilty as sin.

Meanwhile, Pascoe's colleague Edgar Wield rides to the rescue of a boy in danger, and in return, the boy tips him off about the heist of a priceless treasure. Soon Wield is torn between protecting the lad and doing his duty.

At least Detective Constable Bowler is looking forward to a blissful New Year with the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, her dreams are filled with a horror too terrible to tell...

Over all this activity broods Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel. As trouble builds, Dalziel discovers that omniscience can be more trouble than it's worth.

In this brilliant novel of suspense, complete with intricate plotting, sly humor, and deft wordplay, acclaimed author Reginald Hill sets up a battle of wills between determined cops and an ingenious villain. Hill has been praised by the New York Times Book Review as "ever the master of form and sorcerer of style," and with Death's Jest-Book, he delivers a tour de force not to be missed.

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book. HarperCollins, ISBN 0060528052 (October, 2003), 557 p., $25.95.

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book (UK 2002)

From the Publisher:
In T.L. Beddoes' play Death's Jest-Book, the dead won't lie still in the grave and the living often wish they could. And Reginald Hill's novel is much the same -- except perhaps for a few more jests.

The dead-pan joker, Franny Roote, is working on his dead friend's unfinished biography of Beddoes, and with unfinished business between himself and DCI Pascoe to deal with as well. Three times Pascoe has been wrong about Roote. This time he's determined to leave no grave-stone unturned as he tries to prove that the ex-con and aspiring academic is mad, bad and dangerous to know. Meanwhile, Edgar Wield, Quixote-like, rides to the rescue of a child in danger, and finds he's got a rent-boy under his wing. In return, the boy tips him off about the heist of a pricesless treasure, and soon Wieldy's torn between protecting the boy and doing his duty.

His superiors might have worries, but DC Hat Bowler's looking forward to a blissful New Year with the girl of his dreams. The trouble is that that girl is Rye Pomona and her dreams are filled with a horror too terrible to tell -- even though Charley Penn throws all his energies into trying to do exactly that.

And over all this activity broods the huge form of Mid-Yorkshire CID's First Mover, DS Andy Dalziel. As trouble builds, the Fat Man discovers (as many deities before him) that omniscience can be more trouble than its worth, and that sometimes all omnipotence means is that you can have any colour you like, as long as it's black.

Reginald Hill: Death's Jest-book. Featuring Dalziel and Pascoe. HarperCollins, ISBN 0007123396 (May, 2002), 558 p., £9.99.