Hall, Patricia 1940-

views updated

HALL, Patricia 1940-

PERSONAL: Born 1940, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England; daughter of a teacher and school headmaster and of a homemaker; married; children: two sons. Education: Attended Birmingham University.

ADDRESSES: Home—Oxford, England. Agent—c/o Author Mail, St. Martin's Press, 175 5th Ave., Rm. 1715, New York, NY 10010. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Journalist and writer. Has held journalist positions with Yorkshire Post, Evening Standard, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the London Guardian.

WRITINGS:

MYSTERY NOVELS

The Poison Pool, Crime Club (London, England), 1991, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1993.

The Coldness of Killers, Crime Club (London, England), 1992.

Death by Election, Little, Brown (London, England), 1993, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1994.

Dying Fall, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1994.

In the Bleak Midwinter, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1997, published as Dead of Winter, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1997.

Dead on Arrival, Constable (London, England), 1999, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2001.

Perils of the Night, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1999.

The Italian Girl, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2000.

Skeleton at the Feast, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2002.

Deep Freeze, Allison and Busby (London, England), 2002, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2003.

Death in Dark Waters, Allison and Busby (London, England), 2002, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2004.

Dead Reckoning, Allison and Busby (London, England), 2003, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2005.

The Masks of Darkness, St. Martin's (New York, NY), 2004.

False Witness, Allison and Busby (London, England), 2004.

Sins of the Fathers, Allison and Busby (London, England), 2005.

ADAPTATIONS: Many of the author's books have been adapted for sound recordings, including Skeleton at the Feast, 2001, Deep Freeze, 2002, and Death in Dark Waters, 2003, all Soundings Audio Books.

SIDELIGHTS: One-time investigative reporter Patricia Hall draws on her journalistic experience to write mysteries known for their subtle characterizations and social realism. Hall complicates the conventions of a typical murder mystery by exploring social justice issues and the chasm between social classes. Her novels, including The Poison Pool, Death by Election, Dying Fall, and Dead of Winter, depict such problems as environmental pollution, political corruption, sexual molestation, and uneasy relations between the police and the people they are supposed to protect.

In Hall's novel The Poison Pool, a brain-damaged teenager named Joey Macready confesses to the murder of an elderly gentleman in Yorkshire, England. After his arrest and imprisonment, Macready dies in jail after an apparent suicide. Detective-Inspector Alex Sinclair and social worker Kate Weston both doubt that Macready's death is a suicide, though. They therefore work to expose a far-reaching cover-up involving influential people. Sybil S. Steinberg, writing in Publishers Weekly, called The Poison Pool, an "auspicious debut" and Weston and Sinclair "a pair readers will root for and hope to see again." In another review of the novel, Los Angeles Times Book Review contributor Charles Champlin praised the "crisp story" and the author's "ear for Yorkshire speech and her feeling for village life." New York Times Book Review contributor Marilyn Stasio wrote that The Poison Pool contains "an interesting setting, presentable characters, and a decent puzzle."

Hall's Death by Election is the first of a series of novels featuring Laura Ackroyd, a reporter for the Bradfield Gazette, and Chief Inspector Michael Thackeray, a recent transplant to the town of Bradfield, Yorkshire, England. Death by Election blends murder, blackmail, suicide, and sex in "a satisfyingly ugly study of English local politics," according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor. After a member of Parliament dies, sociology professor Richard Thurston decides to run for office as a candidate of the Labour Party. The death of Harvey Lingard, one of Richard's former students, threatens Richard's candidacy, however, because it appears that Lingard, who had AIDS, was murdered. The police believe that Thurston killed Harvey and a journalist. While Chief Inspector Thackeray is eager to arrest the professor, Laura Ackroyd, one of Thurston's former students, works to prove his innocence. In Death by Election, Hall "has planted the seeds of a complex, involving series," asserted Mary Carroll in Booklist.

Moving beyond parliamentary politics and university life, Hall's Dying Fall centers on the Heights, a grim housing project in Bradfield. Alleged police corruption aggravates an already troubled relationship between the police and Heights residents, and a new crime wave intensifies community anger about a murdered child. In the wake of a series of sexual assaults on the children who live in the Heights, producers of a television series ask Bradfield Gazette reporter Laura Ackroyd to research the homicide of young Tracy Miller. Although Miller's half brother, Stephen Webster, was convicted of this crime, others question his guilt. When Chief Inspector Michael Thackeray begins investigating Webster's conviction, he encounters Laura Ackroyd and helps with her own investigation. A riot, attacks on the elderly, death threats, and muggings all occur before the book's conclusion.

Reviewing Dying Fall in the Armchair Detective, Rick Mattos observed that "Hall shines in portraying the emotions of those who feel trapped in a decaying, unsafe environment." A Kirkus Reviews critic called the novel "an equally unsparing sequel to Death by Election," while Booklist contributor Mary Carroll applauded "Hall's vivid portrait of the witches' brew of troubles besetting the Heights' residents."

In the Bleak Midwinter, which was published in the United States as Dead of Winter, has Chief Inspector Thackeray investigating the death of Linda Wright, a sales agent for a successful real estate company. While Wright's death initially appears to be the result of a car accident, Thackeray and his colleague, Sergeant Kevin Mower, suspect that she was murdered. Thackeray and Mower immediately suspect Jimmy Townsend, Wright's companion and coworker. Townsend, under investigation for mortgage fraud, mysteriously vanishes, thus compounding the officers' suspicions. This is a difficult time for Thackeray on a personal level as well. Laura, who has become his sometime lover, is spending the winter in the town of Arnedale to work on the local weekly newspaper. Thackeray avoids Arnedale and its neighboring towns for personal reasons relating to his troubled past. Soon after Ackroyd arrives in Arnedale, a fatal truck crash reveals local hostilities toward an unpopular development scheme and serious corruption in the village. When a village woman who protested the development scheme is murdered, Thackeray travels to Arnedale to investigate whether this murder is related to the death of Linda Wright. Hall "once again delivers an insightful, well-paced tale of lives infected by greed and ambition," wrote a reviewer in Publishers Weekly, while a Kirkus Reviews contributor called Dead of Winter "psychologically acute" and "absorbing stuff."

In Perils of the Night Laura Ackroyd is investigating prostitution in Bradfield when a prostitute is murdered, setting Laura on the trail of a story that may also involve corruption. "Hall's expert character develop-ment lifts this dark tale about the murder of a prostitute several notches above the ordinary," wrote Jenny McLarin in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the novel "memorable particularly for its well-detailed setting, intelligent, vital lead characters and dark-hued plotting."

Ackroyd and Thackeray are at it again in The Italian Girl and Dead on Arrival. The former novel focuses on an investigation into the murder of popular girl who went missing in 1953 and whose body turns up at a construction site several decades later. While Thackeray tries to solve the case, Laura becomes enamored with an actor returned to his hometown of Bradfield only to learn that he may be hiding a dark secret. "Careful attention to psychology and skillful plotting distinguish Hall's contemporary police procedural set in Bronte country," commented a reviewer for Publishers Weekly. George Needham, writing in Booklist, wrote that "the book's undeniable strength is its depiction of the multifaceted relationship between Thackeray and Ackroyd." With Dead on Arrival Ackroyd, who is now estranged from Thackeray, is in London when she witnesses a murder of a Somali man by two skinheads. Soon, Ackroyd finds herself the target of death threats and a stabbing attempt. Thackeray is also on a murder case involving a Pakistani man and the disappearance of a Pakistani woman back in Bradfield. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that "this novel has what it takes to make the reader shiver." Writing in Booklist, Jenny McLarin called the book an "expert portrayal of aspects of British life that Americans rarely see."

Hall's books featuring Ackroyd and Thackeray both trying to solve cases and the difficulties of their own relationship have continued to receive favorable reviews. Skeleton at the Feast, for example, was noted by a Publishers Weekly contributor for its "excellent pacing and nicely textured characters." Booklist contributor GraceAnne A. DeCandido, wrote that Deep Freeze, which focuses on a case involving abortion, "teases out the various positions on abortion with an eye to their deeply polarizing nature." Death in Dark Waters reveals drug problems in Bradfield and was called an "intense, well-written procedural" by Rex E. Klett in the Library Journal. Finally, a Publishers Weekly contributor called Dead Reckoning "a compelling look at Muslim-Christian relations."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Armchair Detective, spring, 1996, Rick Mattos, review of Dying Fall, p. 229.

Booklist, September 1, 1994, Mary Carroll, review of Death by Election, pp. 26-27; September 1, 1995, Mary Carroll, review of Dying Fall, p. 45; February 1, 1997, Mary Carroll, review of The Dead of Winter, p. 928; November 15, 1998, Jenny McLarin, review of Perils of the Night, p. 572: April 1, 2000, George Needham, review of The Italian Girl, p. 1438; March 15, 2001, Jenny McLarin, review of Dead on Arrival, p. 1357; December 1, 2001, David Pitt, review of Skeleton at the Feast, p. 632; January 1, 2003, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Deep Freeze, p. 855; January 1, 2004, Emily Melton, review of Death in Dark Waters, p. 832.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 1994, review of Death by Election, p. 888; August 1, 1995, review of Dying Fall, p. 1062; January 1, 1997, review of Dead of Winter; November 1, 2001, review of Skeleton at the Feast, p. 1519; December 15, 2002, review of Deep Freeze, p. 1808; December 15, 2003, review of Death in Dark Waters, p. 1426; March 1, 2005, review of Dead Reckoning, p. 262.

Library Journal, February 1, 1999, Rex E. Klett, review of Perils of the Night, p. 125; May 1, 2000, Rex E. Klett, review of The Italian Girl, p. 158; December, 2001, Rex E. Klett, review of Skeleton at the Feast, p. 178; February 1, 2004, Rex E. Klett, review of Death in Dark Waters, p. 129.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, December 12, 1993, Charles Champlin, review of The Poison Pool, p. 11.

MBR Bookwatch, April, 2005, review of Dead Reckoning.

New York Times Book Review, December 26, 1993, Marilyn Stasio, review of The Poison Pool, p. 22.

Publishers Weekly, October 4, 1993, Sybil S. Steinberg, review of The Poison Pool, p. 66; January 6, 1997, review of Dead of Winter, p. 68; December 7, 1998, review of Perils of the Night, p. 54; March 27, 2000, review of The Italian Girl, p. 56; April 3, 2000, review of The Italian Girl, p. 65; March 5, 2001, review of Dead on Arrival, p. 65; December 24, 2001, review of Skeleton at the Feast, p. 46; April 4, 2005, review of Dead Reckoning, p. 46.