Hill is enjoying himself here, as ever. A summary of this book could easily make it sound as though it brings in just about every cliché of detective fiction (indeed, the TV version of this book did just that), but Hill cunningly interweaves the modern narrative with the First World War horror so that we are never quite sure when we start a new chapter whether what we are reading is part of the modern crime story, a document Pascoe has unearthed about the Great War, or a nightmare. There is humour here, but it is sardonic and sometimes quite deeply buried. We are cunningly misled into expecting propaganda about "Big Pharma" and animal experiments, but Hill outmanoeuvres us by never putting himself in a position where he has to take an ethical stand on this (though his aesthetic standpoint is made clear). The heavy ammunition, however, has all been kept in reserve for an attack on the cruelty and wastefulness of war. Writing in 1995, Hill gives his villains names lifted out of Mrs Thatcher's cabinets: no doubt there would have been a villain called Blair if he'd written this one a few years later... ( )

Mr Hill in sombre mood. There are not too many laughs in this convoluted story linking a WW I court martial and twentieth century skulduggery. It is, none the less, a good read and Hill makes the implausible sound believable by dint of his expert story telling technique.
The tale surrounds Pascoe's great grandfather being shot as a deserter and the death of a security guard at an animal testing laboratory.
Needless to say, the passing of the year's does not prevent Peter from proving his ancestor's innocence and tarnishing the good name of the guilty family is a less sweet reward when he finds that he is a bastard member of the clan. ( )

Police Inspector Peter Pascoe has stumbled upon the remains of an ancestor unjustly executed in wartime. As he delves into the mystery of his disgraced great-grandfather's death, his partner, Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel, is preoccupied with a shapely animal rights activist. Eight female protesters have discovered human bones on the grounds of a drug company's research headquarters, and the investigation has a shocking connection to Pascoe's own family case. ( )

Ach so: Die Handlung ist nicht so simpel, dass man Sie in zwei Sätzen zusammenfassen kann (auch das nur eine weitere Stärke von Hill), deswegen nur ein Satz dazu: Eine Gruppe von militanten Tierschützerinnen findet ein Skelett in einem Sicherheitsgürtel um ein Pharmalabor und nebenbei beschäftigt sich Peter Pascoe mit dem Tod seines Urgroßvaters im Ersten Weltkrieg. Hört sich das komisch an? Keine Angst: Ist ein Hill, da kann nichts schiefgehen, das macht einfach nur Spaß, vorausgesetzt man erwartet keinen 0815-Krimi. (amazon.de)