En plus des bonnes intrigues et de l’écriture excellente de la série, j’aime les personnages. Dalziel est assez original dans le genre. Il n’est pas du genre à traîner son mal-être et ses questionnements sur la vie, l’univers et le reste comme la plupart des héros policiers. Il n’est pas du genre à se demander pourquoi sa femme est partie (il aurait d’ailleurs été plus surprenant qu’une femme puisse rester avec lui). Il est odieux, il passe son temps à gratter certaines parties de son anatomie en public, il engueule tout le monde en jurant comme un charretier, bref c’est un gros con vulgaire et il fonce dans le tas mais c’est un bon vivant. Et on finit par s’attacher à lui parce que c’est un type réglo et loyal qui a parfois des élans de sensibilité inattendus. En fait, il se fait un malin plaisir à ne jamais agir comme les gens s’y attendent. Son subordonné Pascoe est un nouveau type de policier. Il a fait des études, il est moins corporatiste que la plupart des policiers, il fait confiance aux méthodes modernes. Bref, c'est un objet de moquerie constant pour son supérieur. La série a d’autres personnages récurrents, le sergent Wield, policier imperturbable et Ellie Pascoe, gauchiste, féministe, toujours prête à fustiger les brutalités policières mais aussi femme de Peter. Les joutes verbales entre elle et Dalziel sont toujours savoureuses même si, elle le reconnaît elle-même, gagner contre lui, c’est comme vouloir « tuer un grizzli en le chatouillant ». La série met aussi en scène le Yorkshire, région industrielle et ses communautés. Le premier de la série, « Une femme trop sociable » (publié au Masque) se passait dans un club de rugby, le deuxième, « Leçons de meurtre », dans une université. J’ai lu tous ceux qui ont été traduits en poche et je me suis arrêtée faute de combattants. Je reprends ma lecture après quelques années avec la suite en anglais, « Under World », le dixième de la série, qui se passe dans un village de mineurs dans les années 80. Il est un peu long à démarrer. On y découvre une histoire complexe où sont mêlés disparition d’enfant, conflits sociaux, ambitions politiques et journalistiques. Le début se concentre surtout sur Colin Farr, un mineur qui suit des cours universitaires avec Ellie Pascoe et l’enquête d’un journaliste sur une ancienne affaire à laquelle était mêlé le père de Colin. En plus, les tensions sociales sont beaucoup mises en avant. Un policier résume les relations entre la police et la population locale : « -You’re not really expecting trouble, are you ? said Pascoe. The man shrugged. - You weren’t here during the Strike, sir. Ever see that film, Zulu ? Well, that’s what it were like in here that night we had the bother. Except that in the film the redcoats stood their ground. We had more sense. We ran ! Since that night, I’ve been ready for anything. A mob’s like a dog. Once it’s bitten, it can always do it again. » C’est, malgré ce démarrage un peu long, un bon cru qui se dévore (même si j’ai dû m’habituer au parler populaire du Yorkshire et des mineurs en anglais), l'intrigue se tient parfaitement et Dalziel est égal à lui-même.
This is number ten in the wonderful Dalziel & Pascoe series, written in 1988 with a setting centred on a small mining community in Burrthorpe in Yorkshire. This is in the aftermath of the strikes of the 80’s and the miners now have sponsored day release for educational purposes. Ellie Pascoe is roped in to take some classes which provides her from a break writing her feminist novel which isn’t proceeding as planned. Her class includes an angry young man, Colin Farr whose father was the last person to see young Tracey Pedley alive before she was murdered. A local man who committed suicide was widely believed to be the culprit but that hasn’t completely stemmed the whispers and rumours.Under World creates the atmosphere of a small closed community perfectly, a place where old secrets are kept and ruminated upon away from outside eyes so when a murder occurs in Burrthorpe mine means that the police are called in to investigate it takes Dalziel and Pascoe a while to get to the truth. It doesn’t help that Colin Farr is one of the chief suspects not least because Ellie obviously is attracted to the dark brooding young man who hates the locality but is unable to leave until he works out the truth of what his father did the day little Tracey went missing. Ellie is drawn to the young man’s mind, as well as his physical attributes, as she struggles to balance her feminist and leftist ideals against her role as wife and mother, most particularly her role as wife to a Police officer in a place where the wounds from the strike have not yet healed.Most of us won’t have worked under ground yet Hill manages to recreate the atmosphere both from multiple points of view, from the seasoned miner to a sightseeing trip for the educators and an investigative perspective for the police. All add a different facet to build up a picture of what this way of life would have meant for those toiling unseen in the depths of the earth and given the lack of alternative employment in the locality, let alone one that would provide the same sense of mutual dependency on those who worked alongside you, why the downfall of this industry had the power to change these communities for ever.I love Reginald Hill’s writing, he is one of the few writers whose strong political messages I enjoy rather than dismiss, probably because he weaves this carefully into the story-line without ever invoking a ‘preachy tone’. The black-humour that is present in the rest of the series also threads its way throughout this book, raising a wry smile from time to time, usually provoked by one of Dalziel’s proclamations. None of this gets in the way of a really good story though, the plot is as convoluted as expected, the tension kept taut as the investigation is sent hither and thither and the set of characters entirely believable. Although the absence of modern technology was noticeable, especially the use of phone boxes to summon help, apart from that, despite having been written so long ago this book didn’t feel dated, it easily stands up to the more modern police procedurals from one of the masters of this genre.
What do You think about Under World (1989)?
Yet another loved one from my boy Hill. If Child's Play was Wieldy's spotlight, this one belongs to Ellie. She gets herself mixed up with golden boy Colin Farr, a student of hers. From the prologue we know that at some point Peter ends up trapped underground in a collapsed mine shaft with Dalziel trying to dig him out. We get a surprise or two along the way, but for the most part, Hill keeps the reader one step ahead of the characters. After all of the build up to circle back to the beginning, it would have been good if we could have lingered there just a bit longer. For this it gets a 9 & a half.
—Ibis3
Review I wrote in 2005: "Under World is the 3rd book in the Inspector Pascoe and Superintendent Dalziel series. I won't bother to review it because, while there are at least 8 more in the series, I think I've had enough. I read mystery series because I like the characters. I spent much of Under World hating one of the main characters in it, and strongly disliking one of the potential villains. While I might try one more just for utter fairness (one of my distinguishing characteristics and utter failings in life is a willingness to give far too many chances), I think I'll be taking Mr. Hill off of my reading list." Note: I was apparently confused about the order of the series.
—Mya
