A Clubbable Woman (1970)
Blurb:
My review:
The author’s début novel, and an extremely promising one, although that promise would not be realised for two decades. Instead of the rather awkward immediate sequels, this straightforward, orthodox detective story is concerned with substance rather than with style. Supt. Dalziel is more literate and articulate than in later books, Pascoe younger and more naïve, the characters well-drawn (especially the horrible victim, whom we never meet alive) and the plot full of interest. Unfortunately it rather falls apart in the end: the crime turns out to be manslaughter, and the culprit lacks the inevitability of later books.