Dialogues of the Dead
Word games. Most leave me cold. Why?
Maybe it's because I have never mastered crosswords - is it heresy to say I can't see what the fuss is all about? - and maybe it's because I am the world's worst Scrabble player.
Maybe it's because in all my hospital stays over the years I never once made it past the first few pages of the puzzle books people bought me to help pass the time. In fact, games (what I would call the 'real thing') were much better at helping relieve the boredom. The old Avalon Hill baseball game Pennant Race has a permanent place in my heart because it got me through one dreadful hospital stay where everything that could go wrong medically, seemed to. And I have the scars to prove it.
But none of that background means I don't appreciate word games and I certainly respect the skill involved. Much in the same way that I used to have that respect but still tire sometimes of Colin Dexter showing off his word and grammar skills in the middle of his Morse books. But the respect for the clever word play antics of an author never quite made it to admiration. Until now.
Reginald Hill has become one of my favourite authors. He has written several books but two main series. One features his Private Eye: Joe Sixsmith. The other series will be better known because some of Dalziel and Pascoe's exploits have been on TV.
Dalziel and Pascoe are Mid Yorkshire policemen and at its lowest level, the series is standard police procedural. Except that there's not much about Dalziel and Pascoe that is standard.
Dalziel is the senior of the two; he's overweight, overbearing and over fond of Highland Park whisky. He is to political correctness what Microsoft is to Open Source Computing. Old style, old Yorkshire and old ways. But his bluff, boorish and bullying exterior is a front for a sharp mind and a swift tongue. Often the dreadful insult and the barbed comment are delivered with such precision of timing and hint of praise that the recipient struggles to know if he has been complimented or criticised.
Pascoe is the university educated foil. (Though some of the supporting characters join in, too.) Pascoe's liberal leaning tendencies are ruthlessly prodded and ridiculed by Dalziel's neverending commentary on a world gone mad. Yet there is mutual respect which probably only works because Hill has created such believable characters and works very hard at making their interplay (see there is some gaming in this!) logical and entertaining.
In short, there's a sense of fun in all the books even in the most awful of circumstances. The difference between Hill and Dexter is that I have the impression Dexter is making fun of the reader but Hill wants the reader to join in and laugh at the crazy world we live - and die - in.
Which brings me to Dialogues of the Dead.
The book begins with a story told - from the murderer's perspective - about the murder of an AA patrol man. But the story has been submitted to a literary competition. Is it fact or fiction? Then another death and another telling of the tale suggest there is no doubt; there's a serial killer in town.
The scene is set for Daziel and Pascoe to investigate along with their police colleagues. And what a scene it is. Hill has conjured up a panorama of small town politics. The councillor doesn't want to spend any money. The art community is split into factions. The library is home to a halfway famous author who spouts forth without thinking. The local television girl sees this as her big chance. The local newspaper crew - who are running the writing competition - see this as their big chance. The police hierarchy see this as big trouble! And still the killings come and still the tellings turn up as entries to the damn writing competition!
But in all of this there is a gaming interest and plenty of scope for fun. I am sure I missed half of the 'in' jokes but there's more than enough to be going on with. There's an invented word game ('Paronomania') that Hill makes a feature of the interaction between two of the characters. There are also oddles of literary clues and, of course, misdirections planted by the baddie. Hill lays it on thick. There are anagrams and puns and wordplay on almost every page. The riddles and the mysteries are not only clever but genuinely seem part of the fabric of the story.
You will not have to look far for Hill's mischevious tweaking of the literary world. But Hill does it with style. So much so that despite showing the reader what a clever chappie he is, Hill manages to keep the story racing along. The tension builds up to an outstanding climax and a cracking twist in the tale.
This is the type of book that will be ignored by literary lions but devoured by real readers. It is a crime book but it would be a real shame if that classification put anyone off. The observations about British society are sharp and timely. The writing is tight but evocative. Put it this way: if Dialogues of the Dead were on school reading lists we would stand a better chance of having a generation of book readers. And besides, it might just send people other than me back to look at word games again. Anyone for Scrabble?
Ellis Simpson
15 April 2002
