March 1, 2020
DCI Henry Christie's best attempts at retirement come to naught. Custody sergeant Bill Heaton is pretty well satisfied that Thomas Costain is the man who kicked Damian Medway to death on a quiet Lancaster street. And soon after the local constabulary puts Tommy under 72-hour arrest, Brendan O'Hara and Cillian Roche, a pair of killers hired by his gang-lord grandfather, Conrad Costain, break into the jail, kill Heaton, free Tommy from his cell, and run off. Detective Superintendent Rik Dean, his forces stretched to their limit by a fire that's claimed the lives of Andrea Greatrix and the child she held on her lap, wants Henry (Bad Cops, 2018, etc.) to help out DC Diane Daniels, of the Force Major Investigative Team--or, actually, to let Diane, who worked with Henry long ago and still admires him, to help him as he tries to make sense of this outbreak of violence. Henry, who's already been targeted by O'Hara and Roche for personal revenge ever since he asked them to stop vaping at The Tawny Owl, the pub he runs, holds out for the outrageous sum of 1,000 pounds a day. Once he gets it, he throws himself as wholeheartedly into the case as if he were 30 years younger. And a good thing too, for the killings, which have continued apace with the beheading of Isobel York and the dismembering of her husband, John, show no sign of abating. It's clear that the crime family run by the patriarch Conrad Costain is behind most of the mayhem, but a forgotten figure from Henry's past turns up to claim a share of the credit. Stouthearted police battle better-armed criminals to an outcome as implausible as it is inevitable.
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March 16, 2020
In Oldham’s intricately plotted 26th Henry Christie thriller (after 2018’s Bad Cops), the retired Lancaster policeman who runs “a pub and country house hotel out in the wilds of the Lune Valley” decides to check on John and Isobel York to make sure they’re safe from the wildfire that’s sweeping the countryside. At the couple’s house, Christie finds Isobel’s naked, decapitated body in the bathtub and John’s dismembered body arranged on the snooker table. When he calls Det. Constable Diane Daniels to report the deaths, he learns that Daniels has her hands full with a crime spree that includes murder, a machete attack, arson, and gang warfare. In fact, the local constabulary has so much on its plate that Christie is hired to help investigate the York murders. Oldham smoothly unfurls the fast and furious action and seamlessly stitches together the various threads to form a satisfying whole. Henry’s reflections on aging lend a nice touch. Fans of contemporary British police procedurals will be rewarded. Agent: Olav Wyper, SMA Talent (U.K.).
April 1, 2020
Fans of Oldham's popular Henry Christie police procedurals may have worried that, with Christie's retirement from the Lancashire, England, force, the series would end. Fortunately, that's not the case. Christie is now running a country pub and trying to recover from the brutal murder of his fianc�e. He's also working with the locals to combat a fast-burning brush fire on the moor. As unofficial fire warden, he's touring the surrounding countryside to ensure that everyone is safe when he makes a horrific discovery, which quickly leads to a murder investigation. Christie is promptly drafted as a special consultant to the police force to help find the killers. His involvement leads to a tense confrontation with his old nemesis, the Costain family. This is a fast-paced, suspenseful thriller that's packed with unexpected twists and brutal violence. As in the earlier series installments, it's Christie's talent as a copper, along with his sometimes foolhardy bravery in the face of danger, that makes this latest adventure a gripping page-turner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)