Constable Rhea writes of his experiences as he patrols an English village. Written in a rather unpolished, yet thorough enjoyable style, Constable on the Hill is humorous, down-to-earth, and displays accute sympathy with the villagersis and is well worth reading.
To be really blunt, this is not my normal reading fare, but I loved it. It's the story of a British policeman who moves to the village of Aidensfield in North Yorkshire to take the job as constable there and the immediate environs. It's a small village where everyone knows everyone, and although you wouldn't find (or at least, at the time of the writing of this book, at least) a lot of big-city type crime there, the author notes that there was enough going on to keep him quite busy. For example, take the case of the roaming pony; you might also enjoy the case of the woman wandering the streets naked; then there's the time Constable Nick staked out a pack of Canadian timber wolves at the train station.
What I liked most about this book was that it focused on people rather than events, and that Nick used his knowledge of the individuals involved in the pursuit of justice rather than just coming down hard with the full force of the letter of the law, with which he doesn't always agree. He even notes that
"Keen socialists are attempting to remove that valuable exercise of discretion from the policeman's armoury -- it will be a sad day when it has gone. When it does go, the feared police state will have arrived when all rules will be obeyed, down to the last cruel letter of the law. Human policemen will no longer exist." (29)
Nick (and his sergeant) really epitomize the meaning of "human policemen," and that's what makes this book special, along with the multiple personalities that populate this novel.
I would highly recommend this book, and I do believe I'll read more of the "Constable" series -- maybe even pick up the first episode of "Heartbeat," the British tv series based on Rhea's books. Constable on the Hill is a joy for everyone who likes small-town life or likes to read more upbeat kind of stories that often come from the heart.
What I liked most about this book was that it focused on people rather than events, and that Nick used his knowledge of the individuals involved in the pursuit of justice rather than just coming down hard with the full force of the letter of the law, with which he doesn't always agree. He even notes that
"Keen socialists are attempting to remove that valuable exercise of discretion from the policeman's armoury -- it will be a sad day when it has gone. When it does go, the feared police state will have arrived when all rules will be obeyed, down to the last cruel letter of the law. Human policemen will no longer exist." (29)
Nick (and his sergeant) really epitomize the meaning of "human policemen," and that's what makes this book special, along with the multiple personalities that populate this novel.
I would highly recommend this book, and I do believe I'll read more of the "Constable" series -- maybe even pick up the first episode of "Heartbeat," the British tv series based on Rhea's books. Constable on the Hill is a joy for everyone who likes small-town life or likes to read more upbeat kind of stories that often come from the heart.
