It?s not so much Reginald Hill?s productivity that is amazing (although producing novels for nearly four decades is impressive enough); it?s the unassailable quality of his writing that takes the breath away. With barely a misstep over the years, Hill?s chronicling of the abrasive (but, of late, more accommodating) relationship between his mismatched coppers, the no-holds-barred Andy Dalziel and the more nuanced Peter Pascoe, has been non-pareil, with the author?s plotting every inch a match for his spot-on characterisation (and not just of his detective duo -- there have been many sharply observed players introduced into the dramatis personae over the years). Of course, a title like The Death of Dalziel will set alarm bells ringing (as much, one assumes, for Hill?s publishers as for dedicated readers), and there's no denying that putting the life of his corpulent copper on the line ratchets up the tension here considerably.