There Are No Ghosts in the Soviet Union: A Novella and Five Stories
by Reginald Hill
Joe Sixsmith (Short Stories — short story)
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A superb collection of short stories from Reginald Hill, the award-winning author of the Dalziel and Pascoe novels and 'the best living male crime writer in the English-speaking world' (Independent) In suburban Luton, a private detective on his first case discovers that curiosity can kill more than just the cat... meanwhile, in wartime Boulogne, one officer will do anything to ensure that his men are ready to kill for their country... and in Stalinist Moscow, Inspector Chislenko must find show more out why three people have just witnessed a 50-year-old murder. From France to Russia, the 1830s to 1916 and the present day, Reginald Hill has crafted half a dozen tantalizing tales of the unexpected. He asks questions that will intrigue and gives answers that will astound. Featuring some of his best-loved characters, among them Joe Sixsmith and, of course, Dalziel and Pascoe, this is Reginald Hill at his devilish best. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
There Are No Ghosts in the Soviet Union consists of a novella and five stories by Reginald Hill, each of which are entirely different from the next. The title novella deals with Soviet bureaucracy and, well, a ghost that the authorities insist does not exist. Then there’s a Joe Sixsmith story which tells us how he came to own his cat, followed by a harrowing tale of a British boot camp during World War I. “Auteur Theory,” about actors making a movie from a Dalziel and Pascoe novel, is perhaps the most meta story I’ve ever read; not only are there actors playing those characters in a plot taken from a (real) D&P novel, but there’s a character called Reginald Hill in it, and he is the author of the original novel from which the show more screenplay was written! Honestly, this story alone is worth buying the whole book. But wait, there’s more: “Poor Emma” imagines what happens to Emma after Jane Austen’s novel of the same name ends, and the book is rounded out by a rather clever tale about murder. The book was published in 1987 and nothing in it indicates if any or all of these stories were previously published, but as an introduction to the amazing range of this fine author, it can’t be beat. Recommended! show less
Collection of half a dozen crime stories first published in 1987, which has some bearing on the tone of some of them. The collection is laced with a biting humour, and some superb if sardonic observations of human nature.
My favourite in the collection is the eponymous novella, in which Inspector Lev Chislenko arrives at the scene of an accident at a government building in Moscow, where the witnesses say they saw a man in old-fashioned clothes fall down a lift shaft - only there is no body. It's an embarrassing case to be involved with, especially as the higher-ups want the rumours of ghosts quashed as un-Soviet. There are no ghosts in the Soviet Union. But to his discomfort, Chislenko's investigation intended to prove the non-existence show more of ghosts by showing that no such accident happened even in the past leads him in a direction he hadn't expected to go.
Other stories include "Bring back the cat!", private detective Joe Sixsmith's first case; "The Bull Ring", a nasty little tale about brutal training methods used on Great War recruits; "Auteur theory", a nominally Dalziell and Pascoe story which turns out to be meta discussion on more than one level; "Poor Emma", which I can only describe as one of the odder pieces of literary fanfic gamesmanship I have encountered, probably as likely to infuriate Austen fans as please them; and "Crowded Hour", about a "take the wife hostage at home" armed robbery attempt that twists and turns.
I didn't like all of these stories, but they were all well-crafted pieces that made me think. Only half of them are ones I'd really want to read again, but I don't regret the time spent on any of them. show less
My favourite in the collection is the eponymous novella, in which Inspector Lev Chislenko arrives at the scene of an accident at a government building in Moscow, where the witnesses say they saw a man in old-fashioned clothes fall down a lift shaft - only there is no body. It's an embarrassing case to be involved with, especially as the higher-ups want the rumours of ghosts quashed as un-Soviet. There are no ghosts in the Soviet Union. But to his discomfort, Chislenko's investigation intended to prove the non-existence show more of ghosts by showing that no such accident happened even in the past leads him in a direction he hadn't expected to go.
Other stories include "Bring back the cat!", private detective Joe Sixsmith's first case; "The Bull Ring", a nasty little tale about brutal training methods used on Great War recruits; "Auteur theory", a nominally Dalziell and Pascoe story which turns out to be meta discussion on more than one level; "Poor Emma", which I can only describe as one of the odder pieces of literary fanfic gamesmanship I have encountered, probably as likely to infuriate Austen fans as please them; and "Crowded Hour", about a "take the wife hostage at home" armed robbery attempt that twists and turns.
I didn't like all of these stories, but they were all well-crafted pieces that made me think. Only half of them are ones I'd really want to read again, but I don't regret the time spent on any of them. show less
A rather quirky and patchy collection of six items: novellas and short stories, with no apparent connecting theme. The one thing that strikes me after reading this collection is that Reginald Hill is always writing with a purpose, playing with scenarios to see how they pan out.
There Are No Ghosts in the Soviet Union
This is really a novella. The original message from the Gorodok Building said that a man had fallen down a lift shaft, but what they didn't tell Inspector Lev Chislenko is that, firstly, he had gone through the floor of the lift, much to the horror of its occupants, and, secondly, he had been dead for decades. There is a simple explanation, but of course that is unacceptable, because there are no ghosts in the Soviet Union show more are there?
Bring Back the Cat!
This is a short story with a twist in the tail. Joe Sixsmith, the private investigator at the centre of a series by Reginald Hill, is asked to investigate the case of the cat who went out and didn't come back. As Joe pieces together the evidence from the family he becomes convinced that the cat has met with foul play in the woods that run behind the house.This is really well written, as each part of the investigation fills in a bit more of the picture.
The Bull Ring
A short story set in World War One, France, on the eve of the Somme. 18 year old Harry Bowden is a farm boy about to become cannon fodder. He's the bane of Corporal Banty Pierce who doesn't seem to be able to get Harry to understand that this is war.
Auteur Theory
This is really odd story. The author warns: Nothing in this story is what it seems. You should remember that. A film crew is making a film of one of Reginald Hill's early books AN ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. Peter Pascoe falls in love with Ellie Soper. The success of the production is under threat because of uneven acting and the film makers decide to play with the plot even though the author himself, who has actually signed away all his rights to the script, is hanging around like a ghost. Reginald Hill plays with the reader's mind so much in this short story that it hurts, and in the long run it all comes down to a case of murder. I was reminded a bit of "the play within the play" in Hamlet.
Poor Emma
Really a novella. I think this may have been written as a sort of tribute to Jane Austen. I recently became aware of Hill's respect for Austen through what he does in A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES. For me, as a story, this became rather tedious but then I am not a Janeite.
Crowded Hour
Daphne Davis is sitting quietly at home reading a murder mystery. Her husband Ted is out walking the dog. The doorbell rings. She answers the door and two men wielding a shot gun invade her home.In the hour that follows she learns the shocking truth about Ted.
My first inclination was to give a lower rating but writing the review has given me a better appreciation of just how clever some of the writing is. show less
There Are No Ghosts in the Soviet Union
This is really a novella. The original message from the Gorodok Building said that a man had fallen down a lift shaft, but what they didn't tell Inspector Lev Chislenko is that, firstly, he had gone through the floor of the lift, much to the horror of its occupants, and, secondly, he had been dead for decades. There is a simple explanation, but of course that is unacceptable, because there are no ghosts in the Soviet Union show more are there?
Bring Back the Cat!
This is a short story with a twist in the tail. Joe Sixsmith, the private investigator at the centre of a series by Reginald Hill, is asked to investigate the case of the cat who went out and didn't come back. As Joe pieces together the evidence from the family he becomes convinced that the cat has met with foul play in the woods that run behind the house.This is really well written, as each part of the investigation fills in a bit more of the picture.
The Bull Ring
A short story set in World War One, France, on the eve of the Somme. 18 year old Harry Bowden is a farm boy about to become cannon fodder. He's the bane of Corporal Banty Pierce who doesn't seem to be able to get Harry to understand that this is war.
Auteur Theory
This is really odd story. The author warns: Nothing in this story is what it seems. You should remember that. A film crew is making a film of one of Reginald Hill's early books AN ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. Peter Pascoe falls in love with Ellie Soper. The success of the production is under threat because of uneven acting and the film makers decide to play with the plot even though the author himself, who has actually signed away all his rights to the script, is hanging around like a ghost. Reginald Hill plays with the reader's mind so much in this short story that it hurts, and in the long run it all comes down to a case of murder. I was reminded a bit of "the play within the play" in Hamlet.
Poor Emma
Really a novella. I think this may have been written as a sort of tribute to Jane Austen. I recently became aware of Hill's respect for Austen through what he does in A CURE FOR ALL DISEASES. For me, as a story, this became rather tedious but then I am not a Janeite.
Crowded Hour
Daphne Davis is sitting quietly at home reading a murder mystery. Her husband Ted is out walking the dog. The doorbell rings. She answers the door and two men wielding a shot gun invade her home.In the hour that follows she learns the shocking truth about Ted.
My first inclination was to give a lower rating but writing the review has given me a better appreciation of just how clever some of the writing is. show less
Hill loves deviousness. Characters are drawn clearly but not with depth, all revelling in layers of deception. Nicely constructed tales, with an impressive range of settings and styles. From nomenklatura-era USSR to Austin-esque Georgian family dynasties
I'm a fan of Reginald Hill's, but this collection of stories, first published in 1987, didn't really work for me at all. I think I was probably just in the wrong mood for them. I'll concede that they're all very clever, possibly too clever, usually I like that, but here it just seemed to miss the mark with me all the time.
Wonderful as always
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Author Information
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Reginald Hill has received Britain's most coveted mystery writers award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award, as well as the Golden Dagger, for his Dalziel/Pascoe series. (Publisher Provided) Reginald Hill was born in Hartlepool, England on April 3, 1936. He received an English degree from St. Catherine's College, Oxford University and worked as a show more teacher until 1980, when he retired to become a full-time writer. His first novel, A Clubbable Woman, was published in 1970. During his lifetime, he wrote over 50 books that range from historical novels to science fiction including Fell of Dark, No Man's Land, The Spy's Wife, and The Woodcutter. He was best known for the Dalziel and Pascoe series and the Joe Sixsmith series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Patrick Ruell, Dick Morland, and Charles Underhill. He received the 1990 Golden Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year for Bones and Silence and the 1995 Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for lifetime achievement. He died from a brain tumor on January 12, 2012 at the age of 75. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- There Are No Ghosts in the Soviet Union: A Novella and Five Stories
- Original publication date
- 1987
- People/Characters
- Inspector Lev Chislenko; Joe Sixsmith; Harry Bowden; Corporal Pierce; Andy Dalziel; Peter Pascoe (show all 10); Emma Woodhouse; George Knightley; Frank Churchill; Daphne Davis
- First words
- there are no ghosts in the soviet union: For Inspector Lev Chislenko, the affair began on Friday, the thirteenth of July, in a graveyard, but he did not at first think this unlucky.
bring back the cat!: It was a cold, clear morning, shortly after ten, when Joe Sixsmith arrived at the house on Brock Wood Lane.
the bull ring: 'You horrible man!' shrieked the canary.
auteur theory: Nothing in this story is what it seems.
poor emma: Emma Knightley, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existance;and had lived nearly forty-one years in the world with little to di... (show all)stress or vex her.
crowded hour: At twelve noon there were three people in that house.
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- Reviews
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- Rating
- (3.36)
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- English
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- ISBNs
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