Facing Justice

October 10, 2011
Set in Lancashire, Oldham’s gritty 16th novel starring Det. Supt. Henry Christie (after 2010’s Hidden Witness) nicely sets up intersecting story lines. While on a walking holiday with his American friend, Karl Donaldson, an FBI legal attaché assigned to the U.S. embassy in London, Christie crosses paths with ex-cop Steve Flynn. Flynn, who runs a charter fishing boat in Puerto Rico, has returned to England after getting a desperate phone call from former lover Cathy James, a police officer who fears that her husband, also in law enforcement, is on the take. Casting a shadow over the main action is the horrifying first chapter, in which a man named Massey, having been savagely beaten, manages to escape his tormentors only to meet a gruesome end. Readers will find less depth than in Ian Rankin’s work, but those looking for a taut page-turner that doesn’t stint on bloodshed will be satisfied.

November 15, 2011
Three paths through the snow converge. Det. Supt. Henry Christie of the Lancashire Constabulary Force Major Investigation Team and his friend, FBI agent Karl Donaldson, working as a legal attaché out of the U.S. embassy in London, decide on a walking holiday on the moors. Steve Flynn, who left Christie's team under a cloud and relocated to the Caribbean as a fishing guide, heads back to Britain when his former lover Cathy calls for help, telling him she suspects that her husband Tom is a bent copper. Jonny Cain, a drug dealer ensconced in Mallowdale House, who fends off rivals by siccing a carnivorous cat on them if they trespass on his remote estate, knows a few underlings who must be taught a lesson. Donaldson falls ill, Henry finds a body, Steve can't locate Cathy and Jonny is hounded by an assassin. Snow incapacitates them all, and they can barely find their way to the Tawny Owl, a small pub that lets out rooms. As Donaldson retires to the WC to recuperate, Christie and Steve, despite their mistrust, work together to find out exactly what Cathy and Tom have been up to. They'll need to enlist the aid of pub regulars and Alison the proprietor to Medivac a victim or two, deflect roaming hit men from their target and deal with the snow that's isolated them. Suddenly, criminals are plentiful as snowflakes and lethal as falling icicles. And the local pastime of the village of Kendleton seems to be murder committed to the tune of a wild cat gnashing its teeth. Oldham (Seizure, 2010, etc.) carves out a new niche: the noir procedural with cozy trimmings. Bolt the door, warm up the teapot and settle in for a unique read.

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October 15, 2011
Lady-loving cop Henry Christiehated by many, liked by fewreturns in a new case that's a departure from the usual police procedural. Henry and his pal, FBI agent Karl Donaldson, off on a much-anticipated hike in the Lancashire moors, see their road trip derailed when Donaldson comes down with debilitating food poisoning and, in his weakened state, falls and badly twists his ankle. When a major blizzard blows up out of nowhere, the friends decide to seek shelter. By the time they reach the village of Kendleton, Karl is very ill, so it's with a great sigh of relief that they find a local inn. Little do they know their troubles are just beginning: they are soon to be caught up in a gang war and a brutal murder case that will make their disastrous walk across the moors seem like a stroll in the park. Oldham, a rising star in British crime fiction, deserves recognition for his skilled plotting and unusual charactersand, in this case, his ability to meld procedural detail with taut suspense and the mood of an adventure thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)