An April Shroud

As "An April Shroud" begins, Detective Sergeant Peter Pascoe is celebrating his wedding to Ellie, and Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel decides to take himself off on a holiday, hoping that it will dispel the depression he has been experiencing. When his car is bogged down on a flooded road, he seeks help at a nearby house, which turns out to be full of very strange people indeed, all of whom are involved in a restaurant project that is attracting all the wrong attention: the attention of thieves, embezzlers and maybe a murderer, too…. I recently was feeling rather down on Reginald Hill’s books because of the inherent sexism of the times in which they were written, so I put off reading this fourth novel in the Dalziel and show more Pascoe series, but I found that I thoroughly enjoyed this outing, after all. It’s very funny, and there is a lot of pointed commentary on the British class system, which was a lot of fun. But wow, did people back then drink like fish! Recommended. show less

Dalziel in Love
Review of the Grafton Books paperback edition (1987) of the Collins Crime Club hardcover original (1975)

De'il and Dalziel begin with one letter
The de'il's nae guid and Dalziel's nae better.
- Old Galloway Saying used as an epigraph for An April Shroud

This fourth in the Dalziel (pronounced Dee-Ell) and Pascoe series is almost a solo venture for the Detective Chief Superintendent as he sends his colleague Pascoe off on his honeymoon with writer Ellie Soper (who was introduced in 1971's book #2 An Advancement of Learning) at the start of the novel.

Dalziel is at loose ends and takes his own first vacation in many years. Stuck in the middle of a torrential rain and flood his car breaks down and he is forced to take refuge show more with an eccentric family who have recently suffered the accidental death of their head of household. Dalziel is immediately attracted to the widow, who suspiciously is not averse to his attentions. All is not as it seems though, as the family is juggling with the investment of a feasting / banquet hall, attempting to collect insurance claims and a suspicious runaway son. Then more disappearances and deaths occur. Will Dalziel puzzle it all out on his own or will Pascoe have to come to the rescue in the end?

Although the case eventually turns serious, An April Shroud takes a lighter tone for the most part with its observance of Dalziel among the civilians where he is more restrained about his otherwise regular public belching and scratching. It had the additional revelation about Dalziel's reading habits which were unveiled as:

Meanwhile, as he had done for many years now, he set about postponing the moment of switching off his bedroom light until he was on the very brink of sleep. He poured himself a carefully measured dose of scotch and put it on the bedside table. Next, clad in pyjamas suitable in pattern and size for the fitting of three or four deckchairs, he climbed into bed, placed his reading spectacles gingerly on his still throbbing nose and picked up his book. It was Bulwer Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii, which he had stolen from the hotel where he spent his honeymoon and had been reading and re-reading off and on now for thirty years.

See book cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/AnAprilShroud.jpg
Cover image of the 1975 Collins Crime Club hardcover edition. Image sourced from Wikipedia.

I re-read An April Shroud due to a recent discovery of my old mystery paperbacks from the 1980s in a storage locker cleanout. I was especially curious about the precedents for Mick Herron's Jackson Lamb in the Slough House espionage series in the personality of Reginald Hill's Chief Inspector Andy Dalziel, which Herron has acknowledged.

See photograph at https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZkxI4CXkAAu2sG?format=jpg&name=large
Book haul of the early Dalziel and Pascoe paperbacks, mostly from Grafton Books in the 1980s. Image sourced from Twitter.

Trivia and No Link
An April Shroud was adapted for the long running TV series of Dalziel and Pascoe (1996-2007) as Episode 3 of Series 1 where it was renamed as An Autumn Shroud (1996). I could not find an online trailer or posting of the episode. show less

This book turned out to be somewhat timely from a meteorological standpoint, being set in a very waterlogged, flood-ridden part of Lincolnshire. Pascoe has gone on honeymoon and Dalziel is at a loose end. After getting his car stuck on a flooded road, Dalziel witnesses an unusual funeral procession moving by boat instead of by car, meets the family and ends up rather more closely enfolded into the group than he was expecting. In this way he ends up starting to investigate the death of the person who had been honoured with the funeral procession.

This is the fourth book in the Dalziel and Pascoe series and is a more sedate entry than some I recall. Hill takes his time setting up the family dynamic and allowing the members to become show more accustomed to and confide in Dalziel. I liked watching Dalziel work, but it was also good to see Pascoe again when he finally got back from honeymoon (and their reunion is quite memorable). I would recommend this one only if you've read another book in the series first. show less

Ironically, the TV series featuring Dalziel and Pascoe retitled this book “Autumn Shroud.” I hate it when they do that. I’m a huge fan of the Dalziel and Pascoe novels.

Following Pascoe’s wedding to Ellie, Andy is off on a two-week holiday but he has no idea what to do with himself other than drive around and when his car breaks down he finds himself intrigued by a family burying a father and husband in a singularly emotionless fashion. In his inimitable way, he insinuates himself into their house, not to mention the widow, and discovers a nice little mystery on which to work his magic. Pascoe hardly makes an appearance in this novel, so Andy’s personal foibles and detective talents are showcased.

In one scene, so unlike the show more protagonist hero-worship of most novels, Dalziel and Bonnie go to bed together and it’s really quite a funny scene, with Bonnie almost making fun of him. Then again, as he notes, his idea of foreplay, when he was married, was a six-pack.

First rate Hill novel. Very ably read by Colin Buchanan who plays Pascoe in the TV series. show less

Fourth in the Dalziel and Pascoe series. The previous book focused on Peter Pascoe and his involvement as a witness rather than a policeman, after finding his friends murdered. This one focuses on Andy Dalziel finding himself in a similar situation. The difference here is that Dalziel finds himself amongst strangers, and it's not entirely clear for some time whether there is a crime at all, and if so what it is.

Dalziel is supposed to be going on holiday after attending Pascoe's wedding, but finds himself stranded by a flood, and invites himself to stay with the funeral party who rescue him. The newly widowed Bonnie Fielding has more troubles on her mind than the loss of her husband -- their fledgling Banqueting Hall business needs to be show more up and running soon, or the business, and the family, will be bankrupt. Dalziel gets entangled in what at first seems like an entertaining diversion, but when more corpses appear, he has unpleasant choices to make.

A good read in its own right, but I found it even better when I read it in sequence. This book develops Dalziel as a character, showing him as off-duty as he gets, and telling us something about him as a person as well as a policeman. show less

Finally seeing some of Dalziel's personal side unfortunately with very little Pascoe in the mix. I found the numerous characters a bit confusing but I was reading multiple books at the same time so I can't put it all on the book. Overall I'm enjoying the series and look forward to further developments.

Couldn’t get beyond about a third of the way into the book. Too many pointlessly eccentric characters who weren’t appearing to pull together in the direction of any plot.