Inspired by Jane Austen's Sanditon, Hill has written this clever crime novel in which Andy Dalziel is a convalescing patient in a Sandytown private nursing home. When a murder is committed Peter Pascoe leads the investigation without his superior Dalziel. At least, that's what Pascoe thinks, but Dalziel is difficult to keep under wraps. Terrific storyline, an innovative presentation style, and a cast of highly-developed characters keeps interest high. The differences between the two detectives are stunning: Pascoe, university educated, goes by the book; Dalziel is ribald, his speech littered with folksy Yorkshire phrases, and he is not averse to breaking rules. And although they work well as a pair, it would be tough getting Pascoe to admit it. This was fabulous entertainment even if Hill had omitted the criminal aspect. My favourite Reginald Hill so far.

One of my favourite quotes from Dalziel:
"You've been running your eyes over me like an Aberdeen undertaker wondering whether to charge by the inch or the ounce." ( )

While Superintendent Andy Dalziel is convalescing at a health resort in coastal Sandytown, DCI Peter Pascoe is in charge, and he’s finding that he likes that role quite a bit. When one of the primary movers and shakers in Sandytown is strangled and gruesomely roasted, Pascoe has the opportunity to shine; but Dalziel, starting to feel better, wants to get in on the action too, with potentially disastrous results…. I don’t want to say much about the plot of "A Cure for All Diseases," the 23rd entry in Mr. Hill’s series, but there are at least half a dozen suspects, all of whom have good reason to murder the victim, and each in turn gets a chance to confess, either to Dalziel or to Pascoe. In the end, I missed some of the regular characters who weren’t much in evidence this time around (Ellie, for example, is almost nowhere to be found, and DS Wield is very much in the background here), but enjoyed some of the new characters and was quite surprised at the return of an unexpected one. Probably best to read this series in order, though, to facilitate an understanding of the complicated relationships involved. Recommended. ( )

This was a slow starter and it is part of a series of books. It did get rather good toward the end as the pace picked up. HOWEVER, there were TOO many twists and turns of plot, prompting me to flip frantically back and forth between pages to see which character I had missed at a crucial placement. Turns out that three with the same last name was just too much, it all blurs at that bit. I may read another by this author, but not for a while. I enjoy a slower revelation, rather than everything all thrown in my face on the very last pages. The characters were likable and not too perfect, so as a series, I may visit these people again. ( )

A writer who has a long series with the same characters can go several ways with it. Agatha Christie, who supposedly got to despise Poirot, still kept writing the books more or less the same, varying the plots but without much change in Poirot's character. Margaret Maron, for one example, varies her series on Judge Deborah Knott by occasionally having the Judge sent to help out in other districts, but also by tracing changes in Deborah's personal life and character. Reginald Hill, who has been writing Dalziel and Pascoe novels since 1970, has certainly tracked changes in his characters' lives and growth in their personalities, but has also kept himself interested by varying the structure of his novels. Literary references abound, as for example in [b:Arms and the Women|1249956|Arms And The Women (Dalziel & Pascoe, #18)|Reginald Hill|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329961926s/1249956.jpg|3359651] and [b:Death's Jest-Book|671934|Death's Jest-Book (Dalziel & Pascoe, #20)|Reginald Hill|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176998588s/671934.jpg|1238701], and most recently in [b:The Price of Butcher's Meat|2911540|The Price Of Butcher's Meat (Dalziel & Pascoe, #23)|Reginald Hill|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267364174s/2911540.jpg|2938712], which is loosely based on [a:Jane Austen|1265|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1282032472p2/1265.jpg]'s unfinished novel Sanditon.

It took me a long time to read this book, partly because of other activities, but also because it's a long book, about twice the size of the usual mystery. Points of view change throughout the book -- it opens as a modern epistolary novel, or at least we get to read emails from a young woman who is the outsider character; we also "hear" Dalziel's musings into a digital recorder provided to him during his convalescence from the events of [b:Death Comes for the Fat Man|221679|Death Comes For The Fat Man (Dalziel & Pascoe, #22)|Reginald Hill|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172842722s/221679.jpg|331751], and then there are chapters told in more common third-person omniscient. I didn't feel that it was quite as successful as the earlier books mentioned, but even a not-as-good Reginald Hill is still pretty darn good. If fancies such as this will keep Hill writing Dalziel and Pascoe (as appears to be the case since Wikipedia lists a new book in the series for this year), I'm all for them. ( )

After barely surviving a terrorist blast Superintendent Andy Dalziel is convalescing at a swanky private clinic in the seaside resort of Sandytown in Yorkshire. He befriends another young visitor to the town, Charlotte (Charley) Heywood, who is the daughter of an old Rugby mate of Dalziel’s and a psychologist reviewing the benefits of alternative therapies. They are both keen observers of the people and happenings in the town and record their observations: Andy using a digital audio recorder provided by his doctor and Charley via a series of emails to her sister. As with all fairly closed communities there are a couple of prominent families whose lives seem to impact everyone in the town directly or indirectly and the same is true of Sandytown which is the setting for a soon to be opened alternative healing centre. When one of the town’s most prominent citizens is killed in a gruesome way a full police investigation, headed by Dalziel’s old partner Peter Pascoe, gears up but Andy and Charley’s continuing observations play a key role in the solving of the murder.

This is, more than usually, a review specifically of the audio version of A Cure For All Diseases narrated by Jonathan Keeble. Because, regardless of how good the original content is, Keeble added a truly wonderful element that I don’t think could exist in the print version. His portrayal of the two main narrators of the story, ageing male Dalziel and young, somewhat excitable female Charley is truly magnificent and he rounds out the reading with an entire cast of minor players that are equally beautifully depicted. Coming back to my iPod each day became a real treat over the past week or so and I now have a sense of the anticipation people used to get as they ‘gathered round the wireless’ to hear the latest radio play in the days before television.

The format and, to some extent, the content of this story is actually Hill’s homage to Jane Austen but I don’t think it matters all that much if you’re an Austen fan and can recognise what he’s done or not. Far more important is that it provides an interesting, different approach to the standard police procedural. As someone who has lamented the formulaic writing by other well-known authors of late I applaud both the decision to do try something new and the successful execution of that decision. About half of the story is told via the recorded observations of Charley and Dalziel and I thoroughly enjoyed their dual points of view, especially the brave inclusion of a significant narrative voice that wasn’t Dalziel or Pascoe. The rest of the story is told via a more traditional narrative but the two forms are pretty seamlessly integrated.

There’s a strong undertone of humour through this book that I haven’t noticed in the series before (although I’ve not read a large number of them so maybe it has been present). Both Dalziel and Charley’s epistles are full of humour that suits their respective characters: Dalziel’s is coarse and reminiscent of a 1970’s comedian dripping with barely concealed sexual innuendo while Charley’s is full of the biting observations that a modern young woman might share with her friends in an online chat room. I found this added a very natural component to the characterisations and, particularly in the case of Dalziel, provided a layer of credibility to a character that I’ve struggled to believe in previously. He’s still all-seeing, all-knowing Fat Andy that nearly everyone is instantly afraid of, but the humorous monologue provides an insight into what makes him tick and because of it I cringed less and saw him as a more well-rounded character.

The book isn’t the fastest paced story you’ll find, especially where the two narrative voices overlap and recount the same events from their different perspectives, but the relatively slow revelation of events allowed the myriad of characters to be more fully developed than would otherwise have been the case. Rather than being ‘filler’ content of the ‘a book must have 500 pages’ variety this was a highly nuanced building up of a picture of the town and its inhabitants and I was completely captivated. I have to admit the final conclusion bordered on contrived but I forgave this minor lapse in what was otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Hill is to be congratulated for maintaining interest in his long-running series by trying something innovative with this book. I also admire the fact you don’t need to be a die hard fan of Dalziel and Pascoe to enjoy the book (although I doubt it hurts if you are). If you’re at all keen on audio books I’d highly recommend you relax and let Keeble’s narration spirit you away to Yorkshire for a few hours. ( )