Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead (UK 2015)

From the Publisher:
New Dalziel and Pascoe novel from Britain's finest male crime writer: 'Reginald Hill stands head and shoulders above any other writer of homebred crime fiction' Tom Hiney, Observer

A man drowns. Another dies in a motorbike crash. Two accidents... yet in a pair of so-called Dialogues sent to the Mid-Yorkshire Gazette as entries in a short story competition, someone seems to be taking responsibility for the deaths.

In Mid-Yorkshire CID these claims are greeted with disbelief. But when the story is leaked to television and a third indisputable murder takes place, Dalziel and Pascoe find themselves playing a game no one knows the rules of against an opponent known only as the Wordman.

Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead. A Dalziel & Pascoe Novel. HarperCollins, ISBN 9780007396368 (July, 2015), eBook, 0.79 MB (ca. 578 p.), £6.49.

Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead (UK 2009)

From the Publisher:
In the Beginning was the Word...
A man drowns. Another dies in a motorbike crash. Two accidents - yet in a pair of so-called Dialogues sent to the Mid-Yorkshire Gazette as entries in a short story competition, someone seems to be claiming responsibility for the deaths. In Mid-Yorkshire CID the word is heard but not believed. But when the story is leaked to television and a third indisputable murder takes place, Dalziel and Pascoe find themselves playing a game no-one knows the rules of against an opponent known only as the Wordman.

Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead. A Dalziel & Pascoe Novel. HarperCollins, ISBN 9780007313198 (June, 2009), £7.99.

Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead (USA 2003)

From the Publisher:
Normally, there would be nothing sinister about a death by drowning and a motorcycle fatality -- had these tragic occurrences not been predicted before the fact in a pair of macabre "Dialogues" submitted to a Yorkshire short story competition. Yet the local police department is slow to act -- until the arrival of a third Dialogue... and another corpse. A darkness is settling over a terrorized community, brought on by a genius fiend who hides clues to his horrific acts in complex riddles and brilliant wordplay. Now two seasoned CID investigators, Peter Pascoe and "Fat Andy" Dalziel, are racing against a clock whose every tick signals more blood and outrage, caught in the twisted game of a diabolical killer who is turning their jurisdiction into a slaughterhouse.

Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead. Avon Books, ISBN: 0060528095 (October, 2003), 528 p., $7.50.

Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead (UK 2002)

From the Publisher:
In the Beginning was the Word...
A man drowns. Another dies in a motorbike crash. Two accidents - yet in a pair of so-called Dialogues sent to the Mid-Yorkshire Gazette, apparently as entries in a short story competition, someone seems to be claiming responsibility for the deaths. At Mid-Yorkshire CID the word is heard but not believed. Even Hat Bowler, the young DC who first gets hold of the story, only pretends to take it seriously in order to get closer to the girl of his dreams, librarian Raina Pomona. But when the story is leaked to television and a third indisputable murder takes place, Dalziel and Pascoe find themselves playing a game no-one knows the rules of, against an opponent known only as the Wordman, Gradually the hunt focuses on three main suspects. Still Dialogue follows Dialogue and funeral follows funeral, until finally Hat Bowler, who is at odds with his girlfriend over the direction of the police investigation, begins to fear that she may soon realize he's right in the worst possible way.

Reginald Hill's books are always full of word-games, but they have rarely been so important as they are here. There are clues enough to weave a tapestry, but just who is playing against whom? Is it the Wordman versus the police? The killer against his victims? Or is everyone drawn into the game - even the reader?

Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead. The New Dalziel & Pascoe Novel. HarperCollins, ISBN: 0006512887 (March, 2002), 558 p., £6.99.

Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead (USA 2002)

From the Publisher:
Acclaimed as "the master of form and the sorcerer of style," the Grand Master of British psychological suspense returns to weave wordplay and murder into a lethal tapestry that only Dalziel and Pascoe can unravel. With characteristic precision, insidious wit, and unparalleled insight into the serpentine criminal mind, Hill offers readers his most diabolical surprise to date.

Dialogues of the Dead
Paronomania [n. A clinical obsession with word games]
In the Beginning was the Word...
And the Word was Murder.

A motorist dies after plunging off a bridge... A motorcyclist is found dead after a fatal encounter with a tree. Two apparently innocuous tragedies... until two Dialogues are submitted to a local literary competition, claiming responsibility for the deaths. But has anybody heard the Word?

When a beautiful, unscrupulous journalist meets her Maker in fact, and then in fiction, as victim of The Third Dialogue, Dalziel and Pascoe take note and find themselves involved in a deadly duel of wits against an opponent known only as the Wordman: a brilliant sociopath who leaves literary clues in his wake... and who hides in plain sight. Contestants, are you ready?

Reginald Hill's books consistently combine wordplay and sleuthing, but the Master is in superb form in Dialogues of the Dead. There are enough clues to make a patchwork quilt, but in this test of wills just who is playing against whom?

Is it the Wordman versus the police? Or the killer against his victims? Or is the real game between you, dear reader, and Reginald Hill himself, at his most intriguing, most enticing, most elusive best? Just when you think you have your killer, guess again. Someone may have conceived the perfect crime.

Let the games begin...

Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead. Or, Paronomania!: A Word Game for Two Players. Delacorte Press, ISBN: 0385336004 (January, 2002), 424 p., $23.95.

Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead (UK 2001)

From the Publisher:
In the Beginning was the Word...
A man drowns. Another dies in a motorbike crash. Two accidents - yet in a pair of so-called Dialogues sent to the Mid-Yorkshire Gazette, apparently as entries in a short story competition, someone seems to be claiming responsibility for the deaths. At Mid-Yorkshire CID the word is heard but not believed. Even Hat Bowler, the young DC who first gets hold of the story, only pretends to take it seriously in order to get closer to the girl of his dreams, librarian Raina Pomona. But when the story is leaked to television and a third indisputable murder takes place, Dalziel and Pascoe find themselves playing a game no-one knows the rules of, against an opponent known only as the Wordman, Gradually the hunt focuses on three main suspects. Still Dialogue follows Dialogue and funeral follows funeral, until finally Hat Bowler, who is at odds with his girlfriend over the direction of the police investigation, begins to fear that she may soon realize he's right in the worst possible way.

Reginald Hill's books are always full of word-games, but they have rarely been so important as they are here. There are clues enough to weave a tapestry, but just who is playing against whom? Is it the Wordman versus the police? The killer against his victims? Or is everyone drawn into the game - even the reader?

Reginald Hill: Dialogues of the Dead. The New Dalziel & Pascoe Novel. HarperCollins, ISBN: 0002258463 (April, 2001), 435 p., £16.99.