Singing the Sadness

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as D&P, but still enjoyable.
Review: Joe Sixsmith novels aren't quite as good as his Dalziel and Pascoe ones, but they are still very enjoyable.

There are much more overtly humorous than his other series, and at times that is refreshing. they are nice light reads. They don't take themselves very seriously. sometimes, this is great, but sometimes it doesn't work so well...

the plots are nicely complex and Joe is a really likeable character. I would reccomend them, but peppered with Dazliel And Pascoe.

Rating:
Summary: A fully entertaining and satisfyhing mystery.
Review: Private investigator Joe Sixsmith is in the Welsh town of Llanffugiol to take part of a church choir festival in Reginald Hill's Singing The Sadness. When a local cottage catches fire, Joe rushes in to rescue a young woman. Hailed as a hero, Joe considers the unanswered questions of how the fire started and the mysterious woman's identity. No less than three different people hire Joe to discover the answer to that questions -- but the answer could shatter this small Welsh village. Singing The Sadness is a superbly written, carefully constructed mystery that will fully entertain and satisfy fans of the mystery genre.

Rating:
Summary: Very well written, entertaining, but...
Review: Reginald Hill is a superb writer with an original, witty, poetic style that grows on you in a big way. I've enjoyed everything I've read by him, which till this book has been just the Dalziel/Pascoe mysteries. I'm happy that Hill has a new character, Joe Sixsmith, who's charming and likeable. But unfortunately, the slight whiff of a possibility of a stereotype kept me from total enjoyment. As a black character, does Joe have to be such a happy-go-lucky, act- and speak-before-you-think kind of guy? I hope I'm wrong and that I'm just being overly PC. At any rate, I'm looking forward to more from this writer.