The New York Times has praised Reginald Hill for raising "the classical British mystery to new heights." Recalled to Life, a textured novel rich in psychological complexities and intricate narrative, brings Reginald Hill to still another level. Here, Detective Superintendent Dalziel and Inspector Pascoe must solve a murder rife with political scandal, but one that happened almost thirty years ago.
It was 1963, the year of the Kennedy assassination, the Profumo scandal, and the murder of a young American woman in a case that became known as the Mickledore Hall Murder. The guests at Mickledore Hall the weekend of the killing included a Tory minister, a "dirty tricks" CIA agent, the diplomat James Westropp, and Cissy Kohler, a young American nanny. Dalziel was the protege of the inspector in charge of the case, the man responsible for the arrest of Cissy Kohler and the master of Mickledore Hall in what now appears to have been a grave miscarriage of justice. The convenient scapegoat of the government's full-scale inquiry is Dalziel's late mentor. Determined to prove him right, the bullheaded Dalziel and the engaging Pascoe launch their own unofficial investigation. Dalziel, ordered "to take a vacation," goes to America to continue his probing while Pascoe pursues the investigation in England. Dalziel's certainties begin to erode as he moves from the old world to the new, while Pascoe's conclusions unravel as he moves between the worlds of then and now. Together their explorations carry them to the world of politics, diplomacy, and intrigue, where truths uncovered can be more dangerous than truths interred.