Death Comes for the Fat Man

Starred review from January 1, 2007
Hill, who has created and artfully guided the destinies of Yorkshire policemen Det. Supt. Andy Dalziel (aka "the Fat Man") and his DCI Peter Pascoe through 22 remarkable adventures, doesn't give anything away until the very last page of this excellent mystery (after 2004's Good Morning, Midnight
). Only then do we learn whether or not the bomb blast that starts the story marks the end of Dalziel's life. As the Fat Man lies comatose in his hospital bed, the shrewd and usually diplomatic Pascoe—who was also injured in the blast, but saved by his colleague's bulk—takes on some of Dalziel's troublesome tenacity (as well as a touch of his saltier language) as he forces his way onto the team of antiterrorism specialists looking into the incident. The terrorists appear to be linked to an obscure branch of the historic Knights Templar, and Hill's perfect pitch (especially for the short, pithy details of dialogue and character description) carries the story through all sorts of villains—some of whom are even directly connected to the cops.

February 1, 2007
Detective Peter Pascoe is on the trail of the Knights Templar, an antiterrorist vigilante group that bombed a video store and left Peter's mentor, Andy "Fat Man" Dalziel, in a coma. Peter comes into his own: without the help of the indomitable Fat Man, he sets out to track down those responsible for the bombing. When he is invited to join an antiterrorist team investigating the bombing, Peter must work to gain the trust of the group while remaining detached in order to ferret out the team member he suspects of feeding information to the Knights Templar. Cartier Diamond Dagger Award winner Hill's ("The Stranger House") book is timely in its examination of societal tensions in the wake of the London terrorist bombings. Followers of the Dalziel-Pascoe series will find it particularly suspenseful as they wait to see whether the inimitably crotchety Fat Man will come out of his coma. A satisfying, well-plotted entry in a popular series; recommended.Jane la Plante, Minot State Univ. Lib., ND

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