I first experienced Andy Dalziel and Peter Pascoe as played by Warren Clarke and Colin Buchanan on decade long television series produced by BBC One. (I’ve never read any of the novels, a condition I really should attend to.) In that series, Clarke is very much the dominant performer (at least at the beginning of the run) with Buchanan taking a while to grow into his role.
Dalziel is the Yorkshire born and raised senior copper (Detective Chief Inspector) who is way too fat, swears when he feels like it which is very often, smokes constantly, drinks too much, eats far too much, and though he’s very much part of the State being a DCI, distrusts authority in all forms; Pascoe is a London horn lad, Uni ( University) trained posted to Yorkshire who Dalziel dislikes on first sight. Oh and if Dalziel looks like a walking, talking and farting advertisement for the Seven Deadly Sins, Pascoe looks like an Angel, all blonde haired, blue eyed, quite handsome and dressed really well.
Crimes involving murder (of course), arson, and deviance of all sorts are the order of the story. Every story involving these two coppers. So it shouldn’t surprise you that this story is named after not after a pinch of snuff as in tobacco that causes one to sneeze, but snuff films where the deaths are all too real. Pascoe is alerted to a film being screened at the Calliope Club by a friend who thinks the damage inflicted on a woman is real. As he’s checking into that claim, one of the two co-owners of this members only porn film club is murdered in a deviant manner by being caned to death. Did I mention that he was the last Head Master of the School located where the Calliope Club is located?
And that’s all I’m going to tell you of this story as it’d be a pity to spoil it for you. Suffice it to say it’s a great story even by the stellar standards of this mystery series.
The narrator for this tasty if somewhat sordid affair is Colin Buchanan who does a snap job of both narrating the story and giving voice to the various characters. Obviously his voice for himself is perfect, his Sergeant Wield is fine too, and even his Ellie, Pascoe’s wife, is spot on. I’d like to say that his Dalziel is perfect but I just can’t just Clarke’s voice out of my head. It’s not a bad voice, not even a less than good voice that Buchanandoes here, but I just cannot quite get Clarke’s voice out of my head.
So if you just read the novels and want to listen to a crackling great listening experience, I really recommend . If you read contemporary British mysteries and listen to audiobooks, I really think you’ll love this. But if you’re imprinted by the series in the way I am, well, that’s going to be a tougher call. And one that you’ll need to make.
(Brilliance Audio, 2015)
