An Advancement of Learning is a crime novel by Reginald Hill, the second novel in the Dalziel and Pascoe series.In this novel, the detectives investigate a murder at the fictional Holm Coultram College. More bodies are found after their arrival on campus. In this novel, Pascoe's future wife joins the action as a faculty member whom he knew from years past.The book's title is an homage to Francis Bacon's (1561–1626) philosophical tome, The Advancement of Learning.