Midnight Fugue

Hill is one of the best crime writers around, as he proves in the latest installment in his Dalziel/Pascoe procedurals. What makes it an outstanding listen is Jonathan Keeble's ability to portrait Dalziel as a complete hedonist while somehow keeping him lovable. And while Pascoe has mellowed through the years, Keeble allows just a hint of his priggish personality to sneak through in this fine performance. Hill delivers his usual assortment of fleshed-out villains, this time including a diminutive mastermind and her psychopathic brother. Keeble keeps it all sailing smoothly along at a lively pace while never missing a chance to milk all the humor out of Dalziel's famous bons mots. D.G. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine