Pictures of Perfection

By Reginald Hill

For suspense, ingenuity and sheer comic effrontery this takes the absolute, appetizing biscuit’ Sunday Times

High in the Mid-Yorkshire Dales stands the traditional village of Enscombe, seemingly untouched by the modern world. But contemporary life is about to intrude when the disappearance of a policeman brings Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel and DCI Peter Pascoe to its doors.

As the detectives dig beneath the veneer of idyllic village life a new pattern emerges: of family feuds, ancient injuries, cheating and lies. And finally, as the community gathers for the traditional Squire’s Reckoning, it looks as if the simmering tensions will erupt in a bloody climax…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Jul 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9780007370313

Reginald Hill

Reginald Hill, acclaimed English crime writer, was a native of Cumbria and a former resident of Yorkshire, the setting for his novels featuring Superintendent Andy Dalziel and DCI Peter Pascoe. Their appearances won Hill numerous awards, including a CWA Golden Dagger and the Cartier Diamond Dagger Lifetime Achievement Award. The Dalziel and Pascoe stories were also adapted into a hugely popular BBC TV series. Hill died in 2012.

Reviews for Pictures of Perfection

[veracite · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Spends a bit too much time constructing a complicated plot but made up for by excellent fun and I deeply love DS Wield.

[oldflame_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I want this made into a movie. I've read it too many times to count and still giggle over it like it was the first time. I'm just a sucker for these kinds of romances.

[thorold_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a lovely, delicate, witty, ironic, character-driven subversion of the English village murder mystery genre. Probably only someone with Hill's skill and experience with the genuine article could pull off this kind of spoof with the required panache - by chance the book I read immediately before it was a Jasper Fforde, just as witty and original, but ever so much duller to read. You can really see what a difference being able to write lively, intelligent prose makes. Hill has had 25 years' start, though, so perhaps it's unfair to compare the two...

[dcnorm1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My first read of this British writer, and a splendid introduction. In some ways – and oddly for a mystery – the story line matters less than the way it is told and the people populating the story. The story line is at times confusing, very Tolstoy-like, in the multiplication of characters and their relationships, but what brings it to life is the hard-bitten and often quite wicked humor throughout, not to mention people sometimes being very beastly with one another. The central protagonists, if that's the right word, three detectives of varying ranks, serving in the Yorkshire police force, are wonderful creations (and indeed this may be the first mystery in which one of the detective "heroes" is gay).

[julesjones_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hill's Dalziel & Pascoe novels cover the range from light-hearted whimsy to dark and savage psychological studies. This one starts with what appears to be something straight out of the dark end of the range, but is actually one of the gentler books in the series, a true English village cosy -- though with Hill's own unique slant on things. It's a good book for fans of Detective Sargeant Wield, who not only gets to be the lead character for once, but has some interesting developments in his personal life by the end. No previous knowledge of the series is required, although you'll probably enjoy the book even more if you already know these characters.As always, the beautifully crafted language is a delight, and the sly humour had me laughing out loud much of the time. Jane Austen fans should love this homage to her dissection of English village life. This is a mystery book that is well worth reading for the sheer joy of the story, whether or not you can follow the plot the first time around -- and the plot is sufficiently convoluted that I didn't follow it in places. There's more than enough there to make for satisfying subsequent readings, even when the mystery is solved.

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If Jane Austen had been a male writer of crime fiction from the north of England, Pictures of Perfection would have been her type of novel. In fact, this outing of Dalziel and Pascoe is a definite nod to Austen, from the setting of 'Enscombe', the Yorkshire village where Frank Churchill lives in Emma, to the title and epigrams taken from Jane's letters. The story itself also has a more gentle, pastoral pacing than standard D+P mysteries, full of eccentric characters, secret romances and village life, rather than crime and corpses, despite the shocking opening chapter. The final twist is slightly far-fetched, I must admit, but the unanticipated transition from detective story to fairy tale is one of the reasons why I love Reginald Hill. Another is that he throws in words like 'thuriferously', and has a droll turn of phrase that imitates Austen in distinctive style and wit, if not language: 'The leather upholstery seemed to have been moulded by generations of men with more than the usual number of buttocks into something like a relief map of Cumberland'. Smashing, as Wield might say!

[laurierking · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.