EXIT LINES
by Reginald Hill
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.