Projo Arts Blog

Gunther's girlfriend, Lyn Silva, is caught up in her own tale of a father and brother, Gloucester fishermen lost at sea, who may have been involved in drug smuggling. Joe dashes from one case to the other, trying to solve the mysteries as Mayor takes us beyond the "calendar art" of Vermont into three-deckers, the life of the working poor, and the dark side of marginal lives in Gloucester. Through it all Gunther remains steadfast, persistent, politically savvy and amiably reliable.

Reginald Hill's "Midnight Fugue" (HarperCollins, 362 pages, $25.99) brings back the Fat Man, Andy Dalziel, from the coma he's been in since being blown up in a terrorist's cottage in the last book. Chunky Andy confuses Sunday with Monday and winds up at lunch at the Keldale Hotel with a woman who thinks she's spotted her husband (who's been missing for seven years: a crooked cop?), amid a christening nearby, the opening of a community center by the Tory-MP son of a famous thug turned billionaire do-gooder, and a brother and sister who for some reason seem to be following everybody. Dalziel's stunned when he discovers his table's been bugged.

The sleights of hand that Hill manages to pull off are stunning, not to mention the sly, wry style of a rogue with a dry wit and a sharp eye. We see all the players at the beginning. We see the murder take place, but exactly who's who and why they are doing what they seem to be doing is deftly hidden from view until the last tumultuous violent pages that may involve fratricide, a huge fire, revenge, the shock of recognition, more crooked cops, and enough suspenseful surprises that make you see the book from an entirely different angle. It's a tour de force that Hill manages to pull off with ease.

The book's divided into five "musical" sections, built on the shape of a fugue, which feisty fat Dalziel defines as a "bit of a tune that chases itself round and round till it vanishes up its own (rectum)." The book doesn't. It delights in its craft.

Like these two series, Sam Coale (samcoale@cox.net) shows no signs of wear despite the years as a frequent reviewer, English professor, and now chairman of Wheaton's English department.