There Are No Ghosts in the Soviet Union
And Other Stories
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3.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Dark humor . . . clever plotting . . . and a few fine shivers” in Hill’s collection of short fiction, including a Dalziel and Pascoe story (Kirkus Reviews).
Best known for his Dalziel and Pascoe novels, which were adapted into a hit BBC series, Reginald Hill proves himself to be a “master of . . . cerebral puzzle mysteries” in his stand-alone novels and short stories as well—now available as ebooks (The New York Times).
“With gleeful malice aforethought, Hill explodes the genre of the short murder tale and diverts it to his own wicked, original ends” in these five stories and one novella (Publishers Weekly).
In “Bring Back the Cat,” a missing feline leads British PI Joe Sixsmith to a shocking discovery in the suburbs. A freak death at a sadistic French military training camp ignites revenge in “The Bull Ring.” In “Auteur Theory,” a marvelous meta-fictional story, author Reginald Hill unleashes his rage when one of his Dalziel and Pascoe mysteries is made into a less-than-stellar movie. “Poor Emma” dashes the expectations of Jane Austen’s heroine after her marriage to Mr. Knightley. A home invasion takes an unexpected twist in “Crowded Hour.” And in the title tale, a Russian inspector turns ghost hunter to solve a puzzling fifty-year-old mystery.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With gleeful malice aforethought, Hill explodes the genre of the short murder tale and diverts it to his own wicked, original ends. These six stories by the creator of mysteries featuring Detective Dalziel and Sergeant Pascoe ( An Advancement of Learning ), are a rare pleasure, probing murder and mayhem with keen intellect and wit. In the title tale, witnesses to a seemingly paranormal event on an office elevator become prime suspects who cringe before a Soviet police inspector bent on explaining away the incident. ``Bring Back the Cat!'' parodies detective fiction as it introduces Joe Sixsmith, a sly West Indian PI who investigates a stray feline's disappearance. Murder is almost an afterthought in ``Poor Emma,'' a delicious send-up of Jane Austen's style and upper-class milieu, and in ``Auteur Theory,'' which spotlights the incestuous world of actors at each other's throats during a film shooting. There's no murder in ``The Bull Ring,'' set in a WW I French training camp where a soldier's freak death draws together an English recruit and the corporal who torments him. Hill also writes espionage tales under the name Patrick Ruell.
