Joe Sixsmith

Series · 5 books · 1993-2008

By Reginald Hill

Books in series

Blood Sympathy

1993

The author of Recalled to Life introduces a new series that features the balding, middle-aged, African-American Joe Sixsmith, a laid-off lathe operator who becomes a private eye against his Aunt Mirabelle's better judgement.

Born Guilty

1995

Hurrying out of St Monkey’s church one day, Joe Sixsmith stumbles across a boy’s corpse in a cardboard box and into more trouble than he’s ever known. His casebook is full to bursting: retired colonial Mrs C. demands to know how the boy got there; Gallie, the Mutant from Outer Space, urges him to find the stranger nosing into her granddad’s past; while Butcher, that briefest of briefs, is hellbent on digging the dirt on a deputy head’s out-of-school activities. Joe threads his way through the mean streets of Luton, fighting off cops, druggies and the matchmaking machinations of his Auntie Mirabelle. But there’s little joy to be found in the truth: that kids grow up fast, and that even the luckiest ones are born guilty.

Killing the Lawyers

1997

A Diamond Dagger Award winner. Just because lawyers are rude and expensive doesn't mean P.I. Joe Sixsmith killed two of them. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Meanwhile, a young track star is being threatened with all sorts of nasty things if she shows up at the right place—a new sports complex—at the right time. Somehow, Joe has to clear up both cases before they all run "out" of time. Martin's Press.

Singing the Sadness

1999

'Few writers in the genre today have Hill's formidable intelligence, quick humour, compassion and a prose style that blends elegance and grace' Sunday Times Joe Sixsmith is going west. But only as far as Wales where they keep a welcome in the hillside and the Boyling Corner Choir has been invited to the Llanffugiol Choral Festival. Trouble is, no one seems to have heard of Llanffugiol, and all they find on the hillside is a burning house with a mysterious woman trapped inside. Soon Joe is surrounded by a whole bevy of suspicious characters, not to mention the kind of criminous confusion that turns into utter chaos when confronted with the famous Sixsmith detection technique. Joe is no quitter, though. Doggedly, aided by little more than that instinct for truth which is his unique talent, he moves forward over the space of a single weekend to uncover crimes which have been buried for years.

The Roar of the Butterflies

2008

Luton in the grip of a sweltering summer is a pretty sedentary place–which is bad for the private detective business. Thieves, fraudsters and philanderers take the month off and the only swingers in town are the ones to be found on the 19th hole of the Royal Hoo Golf Course. The civilized reputation of the “Hoo” is in trouble, however. Shocking allegations of cheating have been directed at one of its leading members, Chris Porphyry. When Chris turns to Joe Sixsmith, PI, he’s more than willing to help. . .well, he hasn’t got any other clients…only Joe hadn’t counted on being charmed, kissed and then dangled out of a window all in the same day! Before long, though, Joe is on the trail of a conspiracy that starts with missing balls, and ends with murder. . .

Author

Reginald Hill

Author · 51 books

Reginald Charles Hill was a contemporary English crime writer, and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. After National Service (1955-57) and studying English at St Catherine's College, Oxford University (1957-60) he worked as a teacher for many years, rising to Senior Lecturer at Doncaster College of Education. In 1980 he retired from salaried work in order to devote himself full-time to writing. Hill is best known for his more than 20 novels featuring the Yorkshire detectives Andrew Dalziel, Peter Pascoe and Edgar Wield. He has also written more than 30 other novels, including five featuring Joe Sixsmith, a black machine operator turned private detective in a fictional Luton. Novels originally published under the pseudonyms of Patrick Ruell, Dick Morland, and Charles Underhill have now appeared under his own name. Hill is also a writer of short stories, and ghost tales.