Low Profile

June 16, 2014
Early in Oldham’s well-crafted 21st Henry Christie novel (after Judgment Call), the savvy Blackpool veteran arrives at the house of diamond merchant Percy Astley-Barnes just after a hit man fatally shot Percy and his girlfriend, Lotte Bowers. The man escapes after firing at Henry, who must figure out a motive for the gangland-style execution. Meanwhile, in Puerto Rico, Steve Flynn, a former Lancashire cop turned fishing-boat captain, becomes a suspect in another double killing. Oldham blends these two stories, which converge on the sinister Costain clan. Scott Costain’s illicit activities in Puerto Rico eventually lead Henry to patriarch Liam Costain in Blackpool. The core of the story is strong enough on its own, but Oldham adds some nifty twists as Flynn fights to get clear of dangerous thugs and Christie hunts a killer who is also hunting him. Oldham leavens the action with heart and humor.

August 15, 2014
A current and a former cop cross swords almost without crossing paths as they chase a gang of crooks who prefer to leave no witnesses.The Lancashire countryside doesn't offer DS Henry Christie (Judgement Call, 2014, etc.) a lot of bloody murders. So when his sister Lisa asks him to see what's got her old friend Percy Astley-Barnes' knickers in a knot, he doesn't expect to wander in on a hit man who's slowly and painfully executed Percy and his girlfriend, Lottie. Meanwhile, Steve Flynn had hoped Gran Canaria would be far enough for him to live down the disgrace of being booted off the Lancashire CID for corruption, along with his partner, Jack Hoyle. Now Flynn spends his days taking tourists out for marlin on the Lady Faye 2. But Scott Costain jawbones Flynn into taking him out to Gui Gui to spy on the pleasure boat Destiny. When shots fly off the Destiny's bow, Costain fires back, and the Faye is lucky to make it back to the dock in one piece. No wonder the Spanish police throw Flynn in jail when Costain and his girlfriend, Trish Mason, turn up dead. News of Flynn's plight filters back to Henry, whose inquiries about who'd want to snuff out old Percy focus increasingly on the Costains. Nor is Christie sorry to hear that Flynn's in the slammer. Flynn and Christie both need to find out what Costain was looking for aboard the Faye and how his quest in Gran Canaria is connected to the murder of a Lancaster businessman-and of course, each one wants to make sure he finds out before the other. If you don't mind graphic descriptions of grisly killings, Oldham offers a nicely tangled knot to unravel.

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December 16, 2013
British author Oldham’s entertaining 20th Henry Christie novel (after 2013’s Bad Tidings), a prequel set in 1982, finds the 23-year-old Lancashire police constable back in uniform in Rossendale after a too-brief temporary transfer to the Blackburn CID. Henry, who is eager to escape boredom and earn his way back to CID, sees a freed rapist and an ongoing spree of armed bank robberies as the opportunities he needs to make his mark. Instead, a series of missteps leads to a burglar’s escape, leaves Henry’s love life a shambles, and nearly costs him his life. When the bank robbers gun down a constable, Henry resolves to bring her killers to justice, but if misplaced confidence and naïveté don’t doom his career, a shotgun might. Henry’s education is often painful to watch, as enthusiasm proves no match for experience and cold-blooded maneuvering. A number of twists in the plot will catch even longtime series fans by surprise.

July 1, 2014
DCI Henry Christie returns in another action-packed, violence-filled police procedural that puts paid to the idea that police work is all dull and plodding. This time out, Henry's sister, Lisa, asks him to check on her ex-boyfriend, a local jeweler who's called Lisa to say he thinks his life is in danger. Grudgingly, Henry goes to the man's house, only to interrupt a gangland-style execution. Since Henry's seen the shooter, he's now become the killer's likely next target. Meanwhile, Henry's longtime nemesis, bent ex-cop Steve Flynn, now based in Gran Canaria, is caught in his own personal hell when a Mob figure from his past visits the island with a deadly mission. At first, the two diverse story lines seem to have nothing in common, but eventually Henry finds himself traveling to Gran Canaria, where he and Flynn must team up to stop a deadly game fueled by murder and greed. As usual, Oldham produces a page-turning adventure that's full of suspense and intriguingly complexand often mesmerizingly evilcharacters. Another winner from Oldham, but not a book for the faint of heart.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)