One Small Step (novella)
{{short description|1990 novella by Reginald Hill}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book |
| name = One Small Step
| image = File:OneSmallStepHill.jpg
| caption = First edition cover
| author = Reginald Hill
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| series = Dalziel and Pascoe series #12
| genre = Crime novella
| publisher = Collins Crime Club
| pub_date = 1 September 1990
| media_type = Print (Hardcover)
| pages = 109 pp.
| isbn = 0002322927
| oclc = 21520047
| preceded_by = Bones and Silence
| followed_by = Recalled to Life
}}
One Small Step is a 1990 novella written by British writer Reginald Hill featuring the detective characters Dalziel and Pascoe. It is set in 2010, many years after the other Dalziel and Pascoe stories, and involves the detectives investigating the first murder on the Moon.
One Small Step was originally published separately in 1990. In 1996, it was included, along with three other Dalziel and Pascoe stories, in the collection Asking for the Moon.{{cite book|last=Hill|first=Reginald|authorlink=Reginald Hill|title=Asking for the Moon|location=New York, London|publisher=Foul Play Press (W. W. Norton & Company)|year=1996|isbn=0-88150-382-7}}
Summary
In May 2010, Emile Lemarque, a French astronaut, is killed by a short circuit in his urine collection device at the moment he steps onto the surface of the Moon. Retired Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel and his former colleague Peter Pascoe, now the UK Commissioner in the Eurofed Department of Justice, fly to the Moon to investigate Lemarque's death as a murder.
Reception
Reviewing the American edition of Asking for the Moon in 1996, Publishers Weekly called One Small Step "an almost absurd swansong for the mismatched twosome".{{cite journal|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-88150-382-1|title=Fiction Book Review: Asking for the Moon: Four Dalziel and Pascoe Adventures by Reginald Hill|date=4 November 1996|journal=Publishers Weekly|access-date=5 May 2021}} Reviewing Asking for the Moon for Booklist, Emily Melton called One Small Step "an intriguing but somewhat hokey piece of futuristic folderol".Emily Melton, Booklist, cited in {{cite web|url=http://www.syndetics.com/index.php?isbn=0881503827/blreview.html&client=minuteman&type=rn12|title=Syndetic Solutions - BookList Review for ISBN 0881503827|access-date=5 May 2021}} Crime novelist and critic Martin Edwards described One Small Step as "a slight disappointment".{{cite web|url=http://www.twbooks.co.uk/crimescene/rhillme.html|title=Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe Series|last=Edwards|first=Martin|author-link=Martin Edwards (author)|publisher=Tangled Web UK|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905124458/http://www.twbooks.co.uk/crimescene/rhillme.html|archive-date=5 September 2015|date=3 March 2003|access-date=5 May 2021}}
Publication history
- One Small Step, 1990, London: Collins Crime Club {{ISBN|0002322927}}, Pub date 1 September 1990, Hardback
- Asking for the Moon, 1996, London: HarperCollins {{ISBN|0002325128}}, Pub date 19 September 1996, Hardback
- Asking for the Moon, 1996, New York, London: Foul Play Press (W. W. Norton & Company) {{ISBN|0-88150-382-7}}, Pub date 1 November 1996, Hardback
- Asking for the Moon, 1998, New York: Dell Publishing {{ISBN|0440225833}}, Pub date 6 April 1998, Paperback
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Dalziel and Pascoe}}
Category:Novels set on the Moon
Category:Novels by Reginald Hill
Category:Collins Crime Club books
Category:Speculative crime and thriller fiction
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