Bad Timing

September 15, 2020
The brutal consequences of white-collar crime in the wrong hands. A hit man drives north from London, savoring the delights that await him when he finds his victims. Perhaps raping the wife in front of her husband before killing them both? But his pleasure is cut short when he arrives to discover John and Isobel York already dead and the piles of money midlevel crook Brendan Quant gave them to launder nowhere to be found. Now Quant is dead, too, and his widow, Marcie, has partnered with his old bodyguard, Darren McCabe. McCabe needs to find the missing money fast because some of the loot Brendan placed with the Yorks actually belonged to crime boss Dunster Cosmo, and Dunster wants his dosh. Meanwhile, Henry Christie, mourning his lost love Alison Holt, wants to put police work behind him and spend his days helping Alison's daughter, Ginny, manage her pub, The Tawny Owl. But as his fling with police detective Diane Daniels turns more serious, Henry joins the chase for the Yorks' killer as a paid consultant, and soon the good guys are chasing the bad guys all over the Midlands, with both sides shooting at everything in sight. Oldham makes some pointed distinctions between the sadistic thrill-killing of the bad guys and the violence the police deem necessary to subdue them. Christie tears up, for example, when he and his team think they've located the loot and find instead a container truck full of dead refugees. But Oldham's detailed description of the cops imagining the last anguished gasps of the victims as they realize that their container's ventilation system has failed and they're going to suffocate makes you wonder: Isn't sadism the real point here? A little over the line.

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October 1, 2020
Fans of Oldham's Henry Christie series will already know to expect an action-packed, violence-filled, edge-of-the-seat thriller, while readers not yet familiar with this excellent series have a real treat in store. Henry is a retired cop who's seen his fair share of grueling cases. While he's relatively content with his retirement job of running a country pub, he misses the thrill and challenge of cop life. So when he's asked to consult on a particularly challenging quintuple murder, he can't say yes fast enough. John and Isobel York?money launderers for the Mob?were brutally killed by a person, or persons, unknown. Upon investigation, millions in cash and two men with their faces blown off were found walled up in the Yorks' garage, and the Yorks' daughter was also murdered. The cops still haven't found the killer, and it's up to Henry, with help from DC Diane Daniels and Henry's longtime pal Steve Flynn to crack the case. But when Daniels is shot, the case turns personal. A meaty plot full of white-knuckle suspense makes this a cracking-good read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

October 26, 2020
British author Oldham’s taut 27th outing for retired policeman Henry Christie (after Wildfire) finds Christie keeping a low profile as proprietor of the Tawny Owl restaurant and lodge in the Lancashire town of Kendleton. Though he’s trying to stay out of trouble, trouble catches up with him on a fly-fishing trip when he stumbles on the body of a young woman wedged in a rock cliff. Det. Sgt. Diane Daniels, a former colleague, investigates, and Henry is soon drawn into a shockingly brutal and violent case with multiple victims. Christie joins Daniels in pursuing a contract killer caught up in an international money-laundering scheme. As the duo careen from one lead to another, the suspects always seem to be a step ahead until an ambush derails Christie and Daniels’s hot pursuit. Eventually, Christie must face a crime spree that hits awfully close to home. Fully realized characters complement the well-crafted plot. Oldham shows no signs of losing steam. Agent: Olav Wyper, SMA Talent (U.K.).