Ruling Passion (1973)

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 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. ( )

This third entry in the Dalziel and Pascoe series features a very personal case for Pascoe. He and Ellie are heading to a quiet English village for a reunion weekend with four friends, but when they arrive on Saturday morning they find three of the friends murdered and the fourth missing (and naturally being the most likely suspect). Pascoe must wrestle with his personal feelings and his professional detachment while helping the local police solve the case.

Overall this was a very good book. Even though we know what will happen to the friends (assuming we've read the dust jacket), the way Hill structures the first couple of scenes lends an air of suspense to the proceedings. The writing, as usual, is superb, and Dalziel's uncensored pronouncements always bring a smile to the face. The characters are quite engaging too, even when you disagree with them, as I did with Ellie. She was cross with Pascoe because they were supposed to be at their friends' place on Friday night, but his work prevented them from going. Her thinking is, if they had been there on Friday night, they might have prevented the carnage or at least managed to save one of the friends. I didn't see it that way, though -- it's very lucky that they weren't there, because they were still alive and could bring the murderer to justice. If they had been there they might just have been killed too, and where would that leave everyone? Vexingly, nobody else seemed to point that out.

Warning: the following paragraph may be a spoiler.

Like most D+P novels, this is a fairly timeless read, in that it's not filled with dated pop culture references, but I'd suggest taking the section about diabetes with a grain of salt. After all, this was published in 1973, and I'm pretty sure we don't refer to the types as Type A, Type B and Type AB anymore. Also "stress diabetes" is not really the term in use these days -- it's "stress hyperglycemia" and is a temporary elevation in blood glucose levels due to the stress of illness. If you're referring to three main types of diabetes these days it's usually Type I (insulin injections required), Type II (oral remedies), and gestational (during pregnancy). But that's just me being pedantic. Perhaps a newer edition of the book has different information? My copy is fairly old.

Okay, it's safe to look now.

But all in all this is another good read for Dalziel and Pascoe fans. Worth hunting up. ( )

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 ( )

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. ( )

Watching the development of the characters and their relationships is fun having read the latest novels. Moving to on the next although there are going to be gaps until I can find a used book store with copies of the early books my library doesn't have. ( )