Reginald Hill

A Ruling Passion (1973)
Third in the series of Yorkshire detective novels, starring Andrew Dalziel and Peter Pascoe. English country murder (three!) with a twist. Very nicely written, smart and interesting.

An April Shroud (1975)
Fourth in the series of Dalziel and Pascoe. The fat detective Dalziel in charge and alone, marooned at an English countryside house, typical spoiled family. Very Iris Murdoch, but without the number of strange and shocking scenes. A watery landscape adds to the atmosphere.

On Beulah Height (1998)
A large lumbering novel, a town inundated to make a reservoir, and the deaths of three (and later a fourth) young girls. The place is very well done, as are some of the characters. Doesn't work as well as Arms and the Women. The Seventeenth in the series

Arms and the Women (1999)
Very elegantly written and designed, an epic of sorts. Most of the characters women and strong ones. Pascoe's wife Ellie takes the lead here. Interspersed is her version of the Aenid. Great Book. Controversially disliked by many. A fat one, but without the fat one. The Eighteenth