Bones And Silence by Reginald Hill

 

When Inspector Andrew Dalziel witnesses a murder from his kitchen window of course the police believe him.  Except that the two men left in the room give a different story and it might have been an accident.  Except that Dalziel was drunk after a night out.  The victim was a woman; the wife of one of the men and the lover of the other.  

Dalziel's second in command, Peter Pascoe, has just returned from his time off after being seriously injured on the job.  He's not sure if Dalziel knows exactly what he saw but follows his lead investigating the case.  Plus he's been handed the job of investigating a series of anonymous letters that Dalziel has been receiving.  These are letters from someone, probably a woman, who states that she is planning to commit suicide and has picked Dalziel to tell because he won't bother to find her.

Add to this that Pascoe and his wife, Ellie, have been complicit in the choice of Dalziel to play God in the upcoming theatrics put on by the city and a mesmerizing director who convinces him to play the part.  Then bodies start showing up one by one and soon there's more work around than any force can be expected to cover successfully.

This is the eleventh book in the Dalziel/Pascoe series.  Fans of the series will delight in the interplay between the various police characters.  As always with Hill's novels, the plot is tight and the twists and turns surprising.  Dalziel is an easy character to write off but as always he proves that he sees more than anyone else and knows the criminal mind better than those around him.  Told with Hill's signature wit and humorous outlook, this book is recommended for readers of mystery novels.