A Pinch of Snuff (Hill, 1978)

 Reginald Hill. A Pinch of Snuff (1978) Pascoe’s dentist Jack Shorter, who likes watching porn, tells Pascoe that he thinks a brutal attack on one of the characters in a blue movie was real. Pascoe can’t find evidence to corroborate, until Ellie (who’s being wooed by a feminist group) watches the same film and tells him that the scene in question involved two different actresses. Still no joy when he investigates. In the meantime, the dentist is accused of statutory rape. As you may surmise, the two cases eventually coalesce, and assorted baddies are arrested. But it leaves Pascoe with an even bleaker view of human nature. Even Dalziel is subdued by the way some of his friends are bent out of shape by betrayals of trust.

Well plotted, more complex than earlier novels in characterisation and the understanding of how evil grows like mold and rots everything it touches. The title is rather grisly pun. Recommended. *****

An Unkindness of Ravens (Rendell, 1985)

Ruth Rendell An Unkindness of Ravens (1985) Joy Williams, neighbour and acquaintance of Dora Wexford, tells her that “Rod is missing”. At first, it looks like Rodney Williams has done a bunk. He’s a sales manager for a paint company, and shortly after his disappearance a letter of resignation is sent to his boss. But then his car turns up abandoned and partly cannibalised.

The investigation is complicated by a group of militant feminists who believe in sexual apartheid. Mike and Jenny Burden are expecting their first child, which causes stresses that Mike doesn’t know how to handle. The Williamses are a dysfunctional family who keep secrets and bend facts. It’s one of Wexford’s most frustrating cases, taking several months to solve. But it’s one of Rendell’s better Wexford novels, with a nice repetition of a paint colour motif, and a well done placement of red herrings. Recommended. ****

Getting Away With Murder (Engel, 1995)

 Howard Engel. Getting Away With Murder (1995) Abram Wise, Grantham’s premier (and never charged) gangster summons Cooperman and engages him to discover who wants him dead. Cooperman has doubts, but Wise was right: he turns up dead a few days later. Cooperman’s failure to protect him doesn’t stop him from trying to find out whodunit. With a little help from his Grantham cop friends, he solves the case (of course). The roots of the crime lie far in the past. The solution explains why Wise has been untouchable.

Engel’s talent is for misdirection, amusing side-trips, and multiplication of characters and subplots. Cooperman is a likable private eye, with a realistic understanding of the perils he bumbles into. Engel has written a first class entertainment. ***