Yorkshire's unlikely cop-team, fat boor Dalziel and wry smoothie Pascoe, make a welcome return--though this time the two never work together and there are three separate cases involved. All three involve elderly folk: Robert Deeks, 73, has been murdered in his bathtub; "Tap" Parrinder, 71, is found dead on a muddy night road; and Philip Westerman, 70, is accidentally hit by a car--a car that might have been driven, it seems, by drunken Superintendent Dalziel himself! Furthermore, Dalziel has been seen in some shady company lately. So, while his boss is quasi-suspended, Pascoe oversees the multiple sleuthings: the Deeks case focuses on the murder-victim's edgy family; the Parrinder case involves the local old-folks' home and some bets on a horse race. And all three cases are brought to satisfactory (if uncompelling) conclusions--as Dalziel is cleared (of course) and the largely pathetic culprits are unmasked. The talented Mr. Hill (Deadheads, The Spy's Wife) in solid if not top form--with fine character-sketching throughout, a unifying theme of senility (Pascoe's father-in-law is also failing), and a wry, droll manner that never goes overboard.
