is to feature books I read 20 years ago - in 1993- from the records I
have in my "little green book", which I started in 1975.In 1993 I read 111 books and was pretty well addicted to crime fiction by then.
I read NO MAN'S LAND, published in 1985, at about this time in October 1993.It is one of Reginald Hill's historical stand-alone novels, not a Dalziel and Pascoe for which he is better known.
For me it would have had the twin marks of history and thriller.
Synopsis (Amazon)
Set in the aftermath of the Battle of Somme, 1916, this offbeat, intriguing tale is based upon the legend of armed and dangerous Allied deserters who supposedly roamed the ruined countryside, "no man's land," that existed between the British and German lines.
Known to the British as Viney's Volunteers, the deserters are commanded by Arthur Aloysius Viney, an Australian army sergeant gone mad. Viney's chief British nemesis is Captain Jack Denial, commander of the military police and peacetime Scotland Yard detective.
Viney, it seems, is responsible for the death of Denial's lover, an Army nurse. By the author of several well-received mystery novels, this present work is carefully researched and thoughtfully written. Its strengths include vivid background detail, an intricate but believable plot, and solid development of innumerable major and minor characters.
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