Fighting for the Dead

November 5, 2012
In Oldham's fast-paced 18th Henry Christie novel (after 2012's Instinct), the Lancashire detective superintendent pursues two cases: the murder of an unidentified Eastern European teenage girl; and the disappearance of Jennifer Sunderland, a businessman's wife, who later turns up floating in the River Conder. Sunderland's death appears to be either suicide or simple misfortune, until two armed Russian thugs invade the mortuary to search Sunderland's effects. Faced with a conspiracy reaching from Cyprus to England and into the police force itself, a conspiracy willing to shed lives like dry leaves, Christie and his reluctant ex-copper ally, Steve Flynn, do well just to stay alive. While the bad guys' inability to finish off either Christie or Flynn can extend to silly lengths, at least their physical injuries don't vanish from scene to scene. For those who like a healthy dose of brutality in their crime fiction.

November 15, 2012
DS Henry Christie and ex-copper Steve Flynn almost become friends. When Joe Speakman unexpectedly retires from the force, his cases are distributed among the Lancashire constabulary. Henry Christie is assigned the brutal murder of an unidentified victim whose dental work marks her as an Eastern European. He's barely begun work on the case when he's called to the River Lune, where Canary Islands sport-fishing guide Steve Flynn, now in England to help a friend undergoing cancer treatment, has pulled a dead woman from the estuary. Immediately thereafter, two men in ski masks attack Christie, cracking his cheekbone, then have a go at Flynn, setting fire to the houseboat he's staying on. Both times, the goons are clearly intent on recovering some property the drowned woman may have had on her. But what is it? The chase will lead to Cyprus, cause the murder of a detective supervisor and his wife and daughter, and force Flynn to save Christie's life twice and Christie to watch while his love, Alison, her face so pummeled she'll need reconstructive work, is abducted on orders from a bent copper. Christie and Flynn, whose relationship's been strained ever since Flynn left the police service under a cloud and was later exacerbated by Christie's jealousy over Flynn's attentions to Alison (Facing Justice, 2011, etc.), grudgingly begin to respect each other and move toward accommodation, if not actual friendship. Oldham, who surely belongs in the pantheon of noir stylists, throws punches with the best of them. And there's not a woman alive who wouldn't want to romance Flynn now that Christie is off the market.

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January 1, 2013

D.S. Christie's 18th case (after Instinct) begins with a simple drowning and expands into a conspiracy that stretches from the UK to Eastern Europe. Henry has never felt more vulnerable.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2012
Detective Superintendent Henry Christie is not just a good cop; he's also a passionate advocate for victims of unsolved crimes. He's deep into investigating one such crime, the victim a teenage girl whose brutalized body has never been identified, when he's called to the scene of a drowning. The victim is the missing wife of a wealthy local businessman, but the person who discovered her body is Christie's longtime enemy, Steve Flynn, a former cop accused of raking off the proceeds of a drug deal. He fled the country despite being cleared of the crime but has come back to help a dying friend. Although Henry hoped never to set eyes on Flynn again, he realizes that his old enemy could prove useful. As Henry unravels the case clue by painstaking clue, he uncovers some very unpleasant facts, but nothing can prepare him for the discovery that some of his closest colleagues may be involved. As usual, Oldham offers up an action-filled, high-octane plot with plenty of crazy twists and turns, but it's his Henry Christie character who makes this series a real standout.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)