When Dalziel met Pascoe and other origins

Events have turned my mind to origins, not of species, but of crime-fiction characters and teams. First, as part of my cautious embrace of historical crime fiction, I borrowed a book of Ellis Peters stories that illuminate the origin of Brother Cadfael. Then a reader’s comment spurred me to recall “The Last National Service Man,” Reginald Hill's 1994 story of Peter Pascoe and “Fat Andy” Dalziel’s first meeting. The stories share at least one feature: Each was published when its series was well established, twenty-four years after the first book in Hill’s case.

And now, readers, what are your favorite crime-fiction origin stories? Why did you like them and, more generally, what are the attractions of such stories? Were your favorites the first in a series, or did the author go back years later to explore the origins of established characters, as Hill and Peters did?

© Peter Rozovsky 2007

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