On Beulah Height

Dalziel and Pascoe, Book 17

By: Reginald Hill

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

They moved everyone that long hot summer fifteen years ago. They needed a new reservoir and an old community seemed a cheap price to pay. They even dug up the dead and moved them too.

But four inhabitants of the valley they couldn't move, for nobody knew where they were. Three little girls had gone missing, and the prime suspect in their disappearance, Benny Lightfoot. This was Andy Dalziel's worst case and now fifteen years on he looks set to relive it.

It's another long hot summer. A child goes missing in the next valley, and old fears arise as someone sprays the deadly message on the wall of Danby: BENNY'S BACK!

Music and myth mingle as the Mid-Yorkshire team delve into their pasts and into their own reserves of experience and endurance in search of answers which threaten to bring more pain than they resolve.

©1998 Reginald Hill (P)2015 Audible, Ltd.

Critic Reviews

"Hill is an instinctive and complete novelist who is blessed with a spontaneous storytelling gift" (Frances Fyfield, Mail on Sunday)

Splendid, griping, poignant

One needs to be as talented as Hill to praise it high enough. A marvel

Great story - brilliant reader

This was a terrific novel and Jonathan Keeble was absolutely brilliant. Keeble brought each character to life. It was like a one man show where he played all the parts and it was fantastic. Truly one of the great narrators. We will listen to anything he reads.

Very good book

Truly enjoyable, if a bit disturbing. Another score for Reginald Hill, one of the best out there.

Intriguing story beautifully told

Wonderful reader one of Hills best his use of fantasy and dream along with language make great literature as well as a great mystery

Great book—narration a little overwrought

Another engaging book by RH, several storylines that are skillfully united by a single theme. The narrator becomes increasingly dramatic as the story nears it’s denouement—but in a way that approaches parody rather than exemplifies the emotion in the story.

Beautifully written and plotted

The richness of the character and Hill’s excellent storytelling skills made me wish that the book would never end. I actually started trying to read the book but reading the Yorkshire dialect on the page was a little challenging at times. Keeble performs this well.

Splendid.

Classic Andy and Pascoe with the always clever Wield and the up and coming Novello make this a winner.

Excellent narration by one of the great voice actors. Really enjoyed it.

A mystery written like literature.

It is so difficult these days to find a good mystery with great characters that is also well written and a pleasure to the English language ear. Beulah Height kept me caught up in its characters and story for many days.

I must be an alien from another planet

Am I listening to the same book as other reviewers? This is my seventh book in the D&P series and I'm going to dnf and return it after only a couple hours. The first six were read by Colin Buchanan and I enjoyed them a lot. I don't quite know what Jonathan Keeble is aiming for in his narration, but he sounds at times like he's reading poetry, or a bedtime story for children, or some kind of old-fashioned melodrama. I mean, Dalziel just sounds pontifical here, and it ain't pretty, especially after the rude, crude guy I've enjoyed from Buchanan. And two hours without a speck of humor, sheesh. This one is not for me.

"Wickedness is a strong swimmer."

I first read this Dalziel and Pascoe book years ago as a paperback but decided to renew my aquaintances with it in audio, remembering it as the best Reginald Hill book that I had read. And I was not disappointed. From the dark descriptions of both countryside and drowned village, of the pain of loss, parental grief and the fat man's curious hold over his associates, and a plot to hold the reader close, trying to anticipate and interpret the outcome, to the superb narration of Jonathan Keeble, pace perfect with fine dramatic but gentle interpretation and individual character voicings, this is still as absorbing as it was first time around

Most enjoyable book to listen to.

Reginald Hill was a great writer but Jonathon Keeble made this book even better with his narration. He can do a 'reet Yorkshire' accent brilliantly. Despite the difficult subject matter I smiled a lot throughout this book at Daziel's quips and observations and Keeble's delivery of them. Very good book, good story line, brilliant narrator.

What a brilliant read

Where does On Beulah Height rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Its in the top ten for sure, I was captured from the first chapter

What does Jonathan Keeble bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Jonathan Keeble is one of the top three narrators in the audible selections. He can portray all the characters as I believe the author would want

Any additional comments?

This was my first D&P book and will not be my last. I was originally put off because of the TV show, but the writing style plu the narration by Jonathan Keeble were superb.

How high can Hill go?

Great to have some new Dalziel and Pascoe books read by a proper narrator. Whoever has influence should get Jonathan Keeble to redo all the books butchered by Brian Glover

Kept me guessing until the end

i eeally enjoyed. good plot and kept my interest but found some of narrators accents irritating. will be buying others in series now!

Good read, perfectly narrated

Usual laugh a minute retorts from Fat Andy and company overlayed on credible yet unpredictable plot.

Fantastic story read by a fantastic voice actor

A fantastic story made all the better by the many voices of Jonathan Keeble thank you

Excellent again.

I do wonder how Reginald Hill continually produces such good stories of such amazing length.
Well done Reggie, on to the next one for me.

Fantastic read

I would highly recommend this book. The story was plausible, engaging and kept me guessing until the very end. The narration was first-class too. A great listen all-round.

Too many literary references

I thought I'd enjoyed Dalziel and Pascoe in the past but surely I was confusing book & TV detective series.
This story, good enough, is soaked in literary references and odd asides of local lore both of which really detract from the story.
Not enjoyable.

hidden gem

Hill should be regarded alongside the icons of the genre. Humour, humanity and masterful prose.