CANR
WORK TITLE: Death at Dead Man’s Stake
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Preston
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
LAST VOLUME: CANR 323
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born April 26, 1956, in Belthorn, Lancashire, England; partner’s name Belinda; children: one son.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Worked briefly at a British bank, prior to 1975; Lancashire Constabulary, Preston, England, career police officer, achieved rank of inspector, 1975-2005.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
British crime novelist Nick Oldham became a police officer at the age of nineteen and remained one for nearly thirty years. His experiences, all within the county of Lancashire, provided him with the background for his popular and long-running “Henry Christie” series of crime novels. As J. Sydney Jones noted on his blog, Scene of the Crime, “Oldham follows the old dictum of writing what you know.” Oldham told Jones in his interview: “Most of my crime novels are set in the famous seaside resort of Blackpool, on the Lancashire coast in the northwest of England. … Even before I started writing—although the idea of being a writer was with me probably since I was a teenager—I thought that using Blackpool would be a good setting for thrillers and my time as a cop only served to confirm this.”
"Henry Christie" Series
Oldham’s second “Henry Christie” book, Nightmare City, takes place in Blackpool, where Detective Inspector Henry Christie is caught up in the investigations of several seemingly unrelated crimes, including the murder of a prostitute, the shooting of a policewoman, and the killing of Boris, the gorilla at the local zoo; all, it turns out, are actually linked.
At the opening of another novel, Backlash, Christie is recently recovered from a nervous breakdown and is demoted to the rank of uniformed inspector. He is faced with several explosive situations: a race riot, a drug addict with a knife, a neo-Nazi militia group, and a serial killer with unusual abilities. A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that “a fast-paced, old-fashioned shoot-’em-up is hard to find. Fortunately we have Oldham’s latest novel to remind us what it’s all about.”
In Substantial Threat Christie has been promoted to detective chief inspector and is based in Lancashire, but before the story ends, he is suspended from the force for poor judgment. The plot of this novel includes the murders of drug dealers and others involved in secret alliances, including an American undercover agent attempting to infiltrate a Spanish gang. Throughout, Christie’s plans at reconciliation with his former wife are hindered by his involvement with Detective Inspector Jane Roscoe. Reviewing the novel, a Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote: “Oldham, whose writing career … dovetails nicely with his twenty-five-year stint in police operations, believes in a bloody good time … and several dandy plot twists.”
The novel Dead Heat begins as Christie, home on suspension and fighting boredom, decides to accept the offer of a temporary job from a wealthy local woman who wants him to investigate the mutilation of her beloved horse. He soon discovers that the woman’s husband, one of the richest men in town, owes money to the local mob, and that was the reason behind the recent attack on her pet. Emily Melton, in a review for Booklist, singled out this installment in Oldham’s series for the “skillful writing, a tautly woven plot, [and] plenty of unexpected twists.”
In Big City Jacks, Christie is back on the job, but things are not going well. His superior officer is not sure that the inspector should be back, and a few other detectives—including his former lover—are earnestly hoping he will do something to get suspended again, maybe even for good. Not surprisingly, all of the most boring, unchallenging cases are passed in his direction. Then, a person who appears to be a fairly routine burn victim turns out to be a small-time hoodlum and courier for a much larger figure, though no one is quite sure who that might be. A writer for Kirkus Reviews commented: “The plot will take major twists before all ends in a blood bath.” Melton observed in her Booklist review that “Oldham … offers a story full of dark menace, gritty realism, and graphic violence.”
In Critical Threat, Christie is once again on the outs with his supervisors, this time stinging from a recent demotion to a desk job after failing to solve a murder six months earlier. When the beautiful Deputy Chief Constable Angela Cranlow seems to be taking a romantic interest in him, Christie is alternatively intrigued and cautious. When she assigns him to find the killer of a dubious former cop turned private investigator, however, he hopes that the case will be solid enough to convince his bosses to put him back on the streets. Oldham’s police experience, combined with his writing and plotting excellence, resulting a “book—and indeed a series—that’s a gripping, hugely entertaining success,” remarked Melton in another Booklist review.
The novel Screen of Deceit revolves around the death of a young girl, Beth Carter, from a drug overdose. Her fourteen-year-old brother Mark is determined to avenge her death, blaming the local drug dealer, Jonny Sparks, who was her supplier. Christie, however, believes that Sparks is only a minor character in the case. He is intent on finding the supplier who sells drugs to Jonny—a dealer who goes by the name of the Crackman. Christie knows that Mark has information that can help him and that the boy is in danger in his solo, amateur investigation. In an effort to watch over the boy and arrest the Crackman—thereby improving his own status with his boss—Christie tries to convince Mark to act as a police informer and help to entrap the Crackman so that Christie can make an arrest. Reviewing for Booklist, Melton noted that this volume “offers the same taut suspense and gritty authenticity that we have come to expect from this fine series.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews commented that “if you’re in the mood for dysfunctional Brits, this is your cuppa.”
Christie begins to face the inevitable passage of time in Crunch Time. Here, recognizing that his days as a robust street cop and wide-ranging investigator are growing fewer, Christie seizes on one last chance for a meaty undercover case. Soon, he finds himself in the midst of a pornographer’s den as he searches for evidence against criminal mogul Ryan Ingram, who has been accused of smuggling in young European girls for his adult films. Melton, again writing in Booklist, commented that the Christie series “belongs on shelves wherever British procedural fans congregate.”
In the 2009 series addition, The Nothing Job, Christie is assigned cold cases involving three missing felons. This assignment lets him know he is being put on the sidelines professionally by his self-inflated boss, Chief Constable Robert Fanshaw-Bailey. But he takes the cases and proceeds with his usual dogged interest. The second one ultimately leads him to Cyprus and to working with a good-looking policewoman, Georgia Papakostas. However, this case ultimately also guides him back to Merseyside and to an investigation of police cover-up and fraud. Melton commented in Booklist that the “twist-a-minute plot … and plenty of high-octane action make this a top pick for crime buffs.” A Kirkus Reviews critic also had praise for The Nothing Job, terming it a “splendid British procedural, with complex storytelling, much hugger-mugger and some amusing lustful jealousy on Henry’s part.”
Christie is investigating the killing of a Blackpool businessman in Hidden Witness. The man was struck by a car and shot, and once Christie traces the crime to Italian mobsters, that is as far as it goes. Then he finds out that the teenager Mark Carter, last seen in Screen of Deceit, witnessed the crime along with his friend Rory. However, the boys are nowhere to be found, and Christie suspects they are in hiding until he finds the dead body of Ryan. Now the hunt is on for Mark before it is too late. Writing again in Booklist, Melton commended the “fast-paced action, gripping suspense, and a keep-’em-guessing plot,” which she hoped would gain Oldham the “widespread recognition he deserves.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer was less enthusiastic about this series addition, however, noting that a “number of implausibilities … undercut Oldham’s 15th police procedural.”
In Seizure, mob boss Felix Deakin has told his lawyer and the prosecutor that he will testify against a rival gangster for a reduction in his prison sentence. Deakin, however, has no intention of serving even a truncated sentence and slips away from the police on the way back from court. Christie is assigned to find and apprehend the scheming Deakin. Meanwhile, Deakin is on the trail of Steve Flynn, a former police officer now living a mellow life as a tour boat captain in the Canary Islands. Deakin believes that Flynn’s new life has been financed by a million pounds in cash that the cop seized during a drug raid. Deakin wants the money back, and he turns to kidnapping Flynn’s son to get it. When Flynn and Christie team up to catch Deakin, the “result is an unexpected twist and a sizzling wrap-up,” commented a Kirkus Reviews writer. Reviewing Seizure, the Kirkus Reviews contributor remarked that Oldham is a “tough, undervalued practitioner of police procedurals, none more astounding than this.”
In Facing Justice, Christie is off on a hiking trip of the Lancashire moors with his friend, FBI agent Karl Donaldson. But when Donaldson is injured and the two seek shelter in a local village, they become embroiled in murder and mayhem. Meanwhile, former policeman Steve Flynn tries to help out his ex-lover, policewoman Cathy James, and Christie also aids him. “Bolt the door, warm up the teapot and settle in for a unique read,” commented a Kirkus Reviews critic of this series installment. Melton also commended Facing Justice in Booklist, noting Oldham’s “ability to meld procedural detail with taut suspense and the mood of an adventure thriller.” Similarly, a Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that readers “looking for a taut page-turner that doesn’t stint on bloodshed will be satisfied.”
In Instinct, Christie, recently widowed, is finding a new love interest and is also investigating the murder of a female college student. Some of the suspects appear to fit the profile of Islamic terrorists. Other leads take him to former police officers in this novel that “keeps readers on edge through the local and international mayhem,” according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Melton also lauded this series addition in Booklist, noting that “Oldham gives readers his usual action-packed procedural featuring supercop Henry Christie.”
Fighting for the Dead finds Christie investigating the death of a teenage girl from Eastern Europe and a local businessman’s missing wife. When the wife turns up floating in a river and Russians break into a mortuary to search her effects, Christie figures the two cases may well be connected. A Publishers Weekly reviewer recommended this title for “those who like a healthy dose of brutality in their crime fiction.” Higher praise came from a Kirkus Reviews critic who noted that “Oldham, who surely belongs in the pantheon of noir stylists, throws punches with the best of them.” Melton likewise observed in Booklist that “Oldham offers up an action-filled, high-octane plot with plenty of crazy twists and turns.”
In Bad Tidings, Christie should be taking it easy over Christmas but instead faces a murder investigation that the press is calling the “Twixtmas Murders.” For the past three years there have been similar murders between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and as no other investigator has made headway on these cases, they land on Christie’s desk. As he pursues this investigation, he is also caught up a turf battles between two competing drug cartels. Melton dubbed this a “cracking police procedural” in Booklist, and a book with “plenty of heart-pounding action, a smattering of dark humor, and a likable renegade as the hero.” Similarly, a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted: “Oldham shows just how exciting a proper police investigation can be in this topnotch procedural.”
Oldham takes readers back in time with his twentieth novel featuring Christie, Judgement Call. The year is 1982, and Christie, still in his early twenties, has just joined the police. The young Christie is no less irascible than his middle-aged self, and he is bored to distraction with his post in the quiet crime region of Rossendale. He wishes for a good case to come his way and then discovers one should be careful of what one wishes for, as he is put onto a series of brutal robberies. Youthful Christie is also already clashing with his overbearing boss, Fanshawe-Bailey, a battle that continues throughout Christie’s career. Melton commented in Booklist that this series installment offers a “violent, gripping plot nicely wedded to a fascinating character study.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer similarly felt that a “number of twists in the plot will catch even longtime series fans by surprise.”
The series continues with Low Profile, which finds Christie agreeing to check on his sister Lisa’s ex-boyfriend, jeweler Percy Astley-Barnes, who contacted her because he feared his life was in danger. Christies arrives just in time to catch a hit man executing Percy and his girlfriend, Lottie. Christie has seen the shooter, so now his life is in danger as well. A second story line takes the reader to Gran Canaria, the second largest of the Canary Islands, where ex-cop Steve Flynn faces threats from a mob figure from his past who has arrived on the island. Initially, the two story lines would appear to be unrelated, but in time Christie travels to Gran Canaria, where he and Flynn have to team up to stop killers motivated by greed. Booklist contributor Melton, in a review of Low Profile, concluded: “As usual, Oldham produces a page-turning adventure that’s full of suspense and intriguingly complex—and often mesmerizingly evil—characters. Another winner from Oldham, but not a book for the faint of heart.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor agreed, concluding: “If you don’t mind graphic descriptions of grisly killings, Oldham offers a nicely tangled knot to unravel.” Calling the novel “well-crafted,” a Publishers Weekly reviewer concluded that the author “leavens the action with heart and humor.”
At the center of Edge is Charlie Wilder, a psychopath who has been released from prison on the condition that he wear an electronic tag. He quickly sheds the tag as he reclaims his girlfriend Annabel, reassembles his criminal gang, and wreaks vengeance on one of his hated prison guards. His goal is to open a brothel with his brother, Luke, but he needs cash, so he and the gang rob a convenience store. The robbery, however, does not go according to plan, particularly when Charlie shoots the owner and his daughter. He then finds out that Annabel has been cheating on him with one of the gang, so he decides to mete out punishment to the pair of them. Annabel manages to escape and runs, bleeding and screaming, into a pub where Christie is having a drink. Christie finds himself drawn into one of the most disturbing cases of his career—reluctantly, for he is tiring, growing older, and overweight, and he is contemplating retirement so that he can remain at home in the comfort of his fiancée’s pub.
Commenting on Edge, a Kirkus Reviews contributor concluded that Oldham “seems bent on upping the bloodshed in a grim Keystone Kops gavotte of capture and escape.” Booklist reporter Melton, noting that the novel is “full of graphic violence and inexplicable cruelty, all liberally laced with blood and gore,” concluded: “That said, it is a terrific read.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote: “The lurid action scenes carry the promise that Henry won’t be retiring just yet; he enjoys his work too much.”
[open new]Officially retired and helping Alison run the Tawny Owl pub in Bad Blood, Henry gets dragged back into investigation when a man breaks into the pub after his sister’s wedding. The intruder tries to kidnap Alison’s stepdaughter Ginny, assaults Henry, and has a devastating confrontation with FBI agent Karl, a friend of Henry’s. With Henry the true target, a visit to Lord Chalmers leads to bullets flying. A Kirkus Reviews writer suggested, “Witnessing a bloodbath of this scope is like trying to develop rapport with individual ants: characters barely have time to show up before they’re erased.” Emily Melton proclaimed in Booklist that “bloodshed, suspense, shocking twists, and a punch-to-the-gut ending” make Bad Blood a “gripping, wrenching, sometimes uncomfortable but always mesmerizing read.”
Corruption in the Central Yorkshire Police is at the heart of Bad Cops, and when Christie tries to assist the shorthanded force, additional officers’ deaths make the problem worse. At least young detective Diane Daniels, of the Force Major Investigative Team, is eager to help. A Kirkus Reviews writer called this title “a routine tale of rotten coppers distinguished by its brutality, its rapid pace, and its unexpectedly chilling final scene.” In Wildfire, Christie finds John and Isobel York heinously murdered, and with Daniels dealing with a crime spree sourced to ganglord Conrad Costain, Henry is hired to help out. A Publishers Weekly reviewer affirmed that Oldham “smoothly unfurls the fast and furious action and seamlessly stitches together the various threads” to weave a “satisfying whole.”
In Bad Timing, it turns out the Yorks were involved in a money-laundering scheme that brought about not only their own deaths but also those of their daughter and two people walled up in their garage. Consultant Henry is assisted by longtime friend Steve Flynn (who also headlines his own Oldham series). Melton in Booklist remarked that “a meaty plot full of white-knuckle suspense makes this a cracking-good read.” Transfusion also finds Christie and Flynn teaming up, as Albanian crime lord Viktor Bashkim—who evaded Flynn’s effort to kill him—and his daughter head to Britain intending to off a conspirator who has gotten too greedy. With Christie and Flynn on the hunt, “a violence-fueled game of hide-and-seek” unfolds, in the words of Booklist’s Melton, as bolstered by a “twist-a-minute plot and a thoroughly unexpected shock ending.”
Swirling through the village of Kendleton in Demolition are the murders of business partners, a violent gang of youths, and decades-old killings that a victimized old woman’s memory might help solve. Pink-haired detective Debbie Blackstone of the Lancaster Cold Case Unit lends a hand. A Kirkus Reviews writer deemed Demolition “the busiest, saddest, untidiest village mystery ever.” A thirteen-year-old girl is kidnapped from the Kendelton fair in Death Ride, and Christie suspects Leonard Lennox, a convicted kidnapper of an eight-year-old who now operates a burger van, might be connected. Lennox’s son is among multiple delinquents who go on a crime spree that complicates matters. Observing that Oldham maintains “a nail-biting level of suspense,” a Publishers Weekly reviewer concluded, “Despite its age, this series still has plenty of life left.“[suspend new]
“Steve Flynn” Series
Oldham begins the “Steve Flynn” mystery series with Onslaught and Ambush. The first installment, Onslaught, introduces the eponymous hero, a former cop. Flynn’s mysterious departure from the police force hints at scandal, and Flynn’s semi-retirement in the Canary Islands hints at an attempt at escapism. Flynn is working as a skipper on a sport-fishing boat. Flynn is dating Karen Glass, who is also the sister of Flynn’s business partner, which makes the prospect of breaking up especially tricky. Flynn gets an unwelcome distraction when his business partner decides to sell his shares of fishing boat to a gangster named Aleksander Bashkim. Bashkim and his two sons are little more than thugs, and Flynn lands in an altercation with them. Afterward, he picks up a woman who turns out to be a serial killer, and she wants Flynn to be her next victim. After he escapes, things go from bad to worse: Karen is kidnapped and Flynn is accused of murder. The plot is “packed with high-octane action and gut-churning violence,” Melton stated in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly reviewer was more equivocal, advising: “Those who don’t mind heavy-handed plot twists and shallow characterizations will welcome Flynn’s further adventures.” Indeed, as a Kirkus Reviews critic put it, “Flynn’s action-packed debut will tempt fans of the rock ’em, sock ’em school even if it disappoints Oldham’s more staid followers.”
Flynn’s adventures in Ambush center on a return trip to England, but before he leaves, readers find Flynn in a far better place than they left him: He is in a happy, healthy relationship with Maria Santiago, and the couple is even considering marriage. Soon Flynn’s plans for a peaceful life are threatened when he discovers that three of the cops he worked with on the “Aquarius” case have been murdered. The years-old drug bust led to the conviction of a drug kingpin who died in prison, so Flynn isn’t sure who is trying exact revenge. Afraid he may be next, and without any leads, Flynn travels to England to find the killer before the killer finds him. A Publishers Weekly columnist found that the book is not without flaws but praised “Oldham’s fluid, deeply atmospheric prose.” According to Booklist reviewer Melton, the tale is “not for the fainthearted, but it’s a mesmerizing read for anyone who likes the hard-boiled style.”
[resume new]In the next “Steve Flynn” title, Headhunter, Flynn avenges the beheading of his girlfriend by killing the assassin, preserving his own life in the process, but this only raises the stakes in his war against Albanian crime lord Viktor Bashkim. With Flynn responsible for “various beatings, gunfights, knifings, car crashes, and bombings, not to mention committing arson and breaking and entering,” as noted by a Publishers Weekly reviewer—miraculously avoiding jail time all the while—Headhunter nearly amounts to “bloodbath perfection,” in a Kirkus Reviews writer’s words.
“Jessica Raker” Series
Oldham opens his “Jessica Raker” series with Death at Dead Man’s Stake. Sergeant Jessica Raker’s first day on the job in Lancashire is bedeviling, as she must rescue an ungrateful firefighter being held hostage by a drunken farmer. Meanwhile an elderly man has drowned under suspicious circumstances. Jess left the London force under duress: responding to the robbery of a jeweller, she killed a criminal who happened to be the son of crime boss Billy Moss. The witness-protection program can only offer Jess, her husband, and their children so much protection when an old acquaintance of Jess’s is willing to point her out, and Moss is bent on revenge.
In Booklist, Melton affirmed that the “build-up of tension is ominous and terrifying” in this “gritty, violent, twisty,” and altogether “superb” series opener. A Kirkus Reviews writer observed that “tidbits of local color and invitingly fleshed-out portraits of Jess’ coworkers” point toward the series “balancing Jess’ personal and professional challenges.” The reviewer praised Death at Dead Man’s Stake as a “tangled rural mystery unraveled by a determined heroine.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, March 1, 2004, Emily Melton, review of Dead Heat, p. 1143; February 15, 2005, Emily Melton, review of Big City Jacks, p. 1066; August 1, 2006, Emily Melton, review of Psycho Alley, p. 52; September 15, 2007, Emily Melton, review of Critical Threat, p. 37; June 1, 2008, Emily Melton, review of Screen of Deceit, p. 53; December 1, 2008, Emily Melton, review of Crunch Time, p. 33; June 1, 2009, Emily Melton, review of The Nothing Job, p. 43; April 1, 2010, Emily Melton, review of Seizure, p. 27; December 15, 2010, Emily Melton, review of Hidden Witness, p. 23; October 15, 2011, Emily Melton, review of Facing Justice, p. 20; April 1, 2012, Emily Melton, review of Instinct, p. 28; November 15, 2012, Emily Melton, review of Fighting for the Dead, p. 23; August 1, 2013, Emily Melton, review of Bad Tidings, p. 34; December 1, 2013, Emily Melton, review of Judgement Call, p. 27; July 1, 2014, Emily Melton, review of Low Profile, p. 41; March 1, 2015, Emily Melton, review of Edge, p. 22; March 1, 2016, Emily Melton, review of Onslaught; September 1, 2016, Emily Melton, review of Ambush; February 1, 2017, Emily Melton, review of Bad Blood, p. 23; October 1, 2020, Emily Melton, review of Bad Timing, p. 26; January 1, 2022, Emily Melton, review of Transfusion, p. 44; September 15, 2022, Emily Melton, review of Demolition, p. 20; August, 2024, Emily Melton, review of Death at Dead Man’s Stake, p. 31.
Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2002, review of Substantial Threat, p. 1738; May 1, 2005, review of Big City Jacks, p. 514; July 15, 2008, review of Screen of Deceit; January 1, 2009, review of Crunch Time; July 15, 2009, review of The Nothing Job; April 15, 2010, review of Seizure; November 15, 2011, review of Facing Justice; May 1, 2012, review of Instinct; November 15, 2012, review of Fighting for the Dead; October 1, 2013, review of Bad Tidings; January 15, 2014, review of Judgement Call; August 15, 2014, review of Low Profile; February 1, 2015, review of Edge; February 1, 2016, review of Onslaught; February 1, 2017, review of Bad Blood; September 1, 2017, review of Headhunter; February 1, 2018, review of Bad Cops; March 1, 2020, review of Wildfire; September 15, 2020, review of Bad Timing; June 1, 2021, review of Scarred; December 1, 2021, review of Transfusion; July 15, 2022, review of Demolition; January 1, 2023, review of Death Ride; July 15, 2024, review of Death at Dead Man’s Stake.
Library Journal, January 1, 2013, Teresa L Jacobsen, review of Fighting for the Dead, p. 72.
Publishers Weekly, September 10, 2001, review of Backlash, p. 65; December 20, 2010, review of Hidden Witness, p. 38; October 10, 2011, review of Facing Justice, p. 35; March 26, 2012, review of Instinct, p. 60; November 5, 2012, review of Fighting for the Dead, p. 52; July 29, 2013, review of Bad Tidings, p. 46; December 16, 2013, review of Judgement Call, p. 42; June 16, 2014, review of Low Pressure, p. 61; February 16, 2015, review of Edge, p. 163 September 28, 2015, review of Unforgiving; February 15, 2016, review of Onslaught; August 22, 2016, review of Ambush; September 18, 2017, review of Headhunter, p. 58; February 12, 2018, review of Bad Cops, p. 60; March 16, 2020, review of Wildfire, p. 54; January 16, 2023, review of Death Ride, p. 56.
ONLINE
Kirkus Reviews, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (August 30, 2016), review of Ambush.
Nick Oldham website, https://nickoldhambooksblog.blogspot.com (October 22, 2024).
Scene of the Crime, http://jsydneyjones.wordpress.com/ (May 30, 2012), J. Sydney Jones, “Murder Was a Frequent Visitor to Blackpool: The DCI Henry Christie Novels of Nick Oldham.”
About me
Introduction Born in April 1956 in what was then the tiny village of Belthorn, actually in 65 Belthorn Road (mums were very hardy in those days),up on the moors high above Blackburn, Lancashire, Nick is the well-reviewed author of the highly regarded series of crime novels featuring DCI Henry Christie, such as Nightmare City, Dead Heat, Psycho Alley, Seizure and Critical Threat. After a depressing year in a bank after leaving college, Nick joined Lancashire Constabulary at the age of 19 and served in many operational postings around the county before retiring in 2005.
Favorite Movies The Godfather, Unforgiven, There's Something About Mary, In The Line Of Fire
Favorite Music Rolling Stones, The Faces, Dr Feelgood, James Blunt
Favorite Books Fiesta, The Day of the Jackal, The Eye of the Tiger
Nick Oldham
UK flag (b.1956)
Nick Oldham was born in Belthorn, Lancashire, in 1956. He has been a police officer since the age of nineteen, spending the majority of his service in operational roles, before retiring in 2005. He lives with his partner, Belinda, on the outskirts of Preston.
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
New and upcoming books
September 2024
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Death at Dead Man's Stake
(Jessica Raker, book 1)
Series
Henry Christie
1. A Time for Justice (1996)
2. Nightmare City (1997)
3. One Dead Witness (1998)
4. The Last Big Job (1999)
5. Backlash (2001)
6. Substantial Threat (2002)
7. Dead Heat (2003)
8. Big City Jacks (2004)
9. Psycho Alley (2006)
10. Critical Threat (2007)
11. Screen of Deceit (2008)
12. Crunch Time (2008)
13. The Nothing Job (2009)
14. Seizure (2010)
15. Hidden Witness (2010)
16. Facing Justice (2011)
17. Instinct (2011)
18. Fighting for the Dead (2012)
19. Bad Tidings (2013)
20. Judgement Call (2014)
21. Low Profile (2014)
22. Edge (2015)
23. Unforgiving (2015)
24. Bad Blood (2017)
25. Bad Cops (2018)
26. Wildfire (2020)
27. Bad Timing (2020)
28. Scarred (2021)
29. Transfusion (2021)
30. Demolition (2022)
31. Death Ride (2023)
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Steve Flynn
1. Onslaught (2016)
2. Ambush (2016)
3. Headhunter (2017)
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Jessica Raker
1. Death at Dead Man's Stake (2024)
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Novels
Vendetta (2013)
We Still Kill the Old Way (2014)
Nick OLDHAM – Crime Novelist
Nick Oldham has written 29 crime novels including 24 in the highly addictive and compelling Henry Christie police procedural crime series which he’s now developing into a tv series starting with Nightmare City. The first Henry Christie novel appeared in 1996 while Nick was still a serving police officer in the Lancashire Constabulary, to be followed by a further 7 in the series before he left with the rank of Inspector to become a fulltime writer.
The series has always been well reviewed – “A flawed and very human hero, inside-the-cop-shop politics, heart-pounding suspense, and gritty realism are trademarks of Oldham’s excellent Henry Christie series” noted Booklist of these works. “Gritty and precise” is how the London Times described the series, while the US Kirkus Reviews dubbed these works “splendid British procedurals with complex plotting.”
Originally published by The Headline Group Nick’s later novels have been published by crime specialists Severn House and are available internationally in all formats, both printed and as downloads. America’s Publishers Weekly reviewed the books as “…taut page turners that don’t stint on bloodshed” and Crime Fiction “…you’ll find plenty here to keep your crime brain occupied and engaged”. Valerie Penny on her Great Book Review Site reviewing Instinct wrote “ Nick Oldham tells an unembellished and straight forward police story however there are lots of details to savour that found me picking up the book at any moment I could snatch and I look forward to reading his next book”.
For much of his police career he worked a lot in Blackpool and as he says “Murder was a frequent visitor to Blackpool” so decided that was where Henry Christie would be stationed. “The resort attracts more than 10 million tourists a year, with a surge in the summer and lull in winter and is teeming with amusement arcades, cafes, iffy clubs and pubs, 3 piers and the famous tower so crime flourishes, including murders and Blackpool is a leading character itself in the books and I believe that real locations give a gritty authenticity”.
Nick later created Steve Flynn, former Royal Marine and ex-policeman now living in The Canary Islands earning his living as a sport fishing skipper and has published three books in this series . The first was Onslaught in 2015 followed by Ambush and most recently in Headhunter in 2017. He’s also written two novelisations based on two big crime films Vendetta and We Still Kill The Old way.
Oldham, Nick BAD BLOOD Severn House (Adult Fiction) $28.99 4, 1 ISBN: 978-0-7278-8680-4
A former policeman's retirement is thrown off course by a deranged killer's deadly spree.Detective Superintendent Henry Christie is just starting to relish life as part owner of a pub in sleepy Kendleton. The Tawny Owl has just hosted its first wedding reception, and Henry's fiancee, Alison Marsh, looks forward to a raft of future bookings. Little does the ex-copper know that he's squarely in the sights of a skilled assassin. Even when an intruder breaks into the inn and tries to abduct Alison's 20-something stepdaughter, Ginny, the would-be kidnapper leaves no clue that Henry (Unforgiving, 2015, etc.) is his real target. Since Ginny spends the day after the attack in the hospital with Alison at her side, it's down to Henry to visit Lord Chalmers, who wants to host a birthday bash for his daughter at the Owl. When two thugs in Range Rovers turn up at Chalmers' estate, Henry begins to suspect something may be off. His suspicions are confirmed when one of his lordship's two security guards shoots the other dead. Then it's game on. The Range Rover guys take out Chalmers, shoot down his wife's plane for good measure, and chase Henry into the woods. With Henry gone, the body count starts its stratospheric rise. Pretty much everyone seems to be in the cross hairs, and it's not clear how the killings could possibly be linked except that two geeks from Whitehall Street want to shut down the local police investigation. Witnessing a bloodbath of this scope is like trying to develop rapport with individual ants: characters barely have time to show up before they're erased. This one is strictly for readers who want action without any stake in who's onstage.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Oldham, Nick: BAD BLOOD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A479234782/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9bd0f540. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Bad Blood.
By Nick Oldham.
Apr. 2017. 224p. Severn, $28.99 (9780727886804); e-book (9781780108520).
Every one of Oldham's Henry Christie cop stories is guaranteed to take readers on a roller-coaster ride, and the latest installment is no exception. Now retired from full-time policing, Henry is settling down to a life of relative leisure in rural Lancashire, helping his fiancee, Alison, run the Tawny Owl pub. But unbeknownst to Henry, his life is about to change in the most nightmarish way. After celebrating the wedding of his sister to his old friend and colleague Rik Dean at the Tawny Owl, Henry is ready to call it a day. Instead, a man breaks into the pub, tries to kidnap Henry's fiancee's daughter, Ginny, and assaults Henry. When Henry's good friend, American FBI agent Karl Donaldson, tries to follow the man, a violent and tragic encounter follows. Further violence invades Henry's life, driving him to sort out how it is that his own life and the lives of those he loves are suddenly in terrible danger. Bloodshed, suspense, shocking twists, and a punch-to-the-gut ending make for a gripping, wrenching, sometimes uncomfortable but always mesmerizing read. One of the best in a consistently excellent series--add it to the growing list of mysteries starring retired cops (Harry Bosch, John Rebus) who can't stay out of harm's way.--Emily Melton
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
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Melton, Emily. "Bad Blood." Booklist, vol. 113, no. 11, 1 Feb. 2017, p. 23. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A481244772/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6fd20f68. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Oldham, Nick HEADHUNTER Severn House (Adult Fiction) $28.99 11, 1 ISBN: 978-0-7278-8729-0
Soldier of fortune Steve Flynn continues his one-man, no-holds-barred campaign against the forces of evil that just won't leave him in peace.The bad news is that Flynn's lover, Spanish cop Maria Santiago, who along with Flynn and half a dozen others was marked for death (Ambush, 2016), has been beheaded and her last moments captured on video. The good news is that hit man Brian Tasker, who'd planned to play the video for Flynn as a prelude to killing him, is dead himself at Flynn's capable hands. Where does that leave things? Tasker's client, aging Albanian crime lord Viktor Bashkim, is still at large, still plotting Flynn's demise and a host of lesser felonies, beginning with the summary execution of his untrustworthy partner, French gangster Michel Barkin. Superintendent Rik Dean, whom Flynn had to knock out to kill Tasker while he was in police custody, is determined to see Flynn tried for homicide. Molly Cartwright, the beautiful police officer who rings down the curtain on Flynn's act of revenge by tasering and cuffing him, keeps trying to kiss off DS Alan Hardiker, the lover who cheated on her with another cop, and he keeps raising the stakes, eventually setting both Molly and Flynn up for a deadly ambush by Bashkim's associates. And Bashkim, who's lost most of his blood relatives and one of his favorite assassins to the unending wars required to maintain his position on top of the heap, hires married sociopaths Matthew Ainsworth and Lizzie Barnes, who, as "Mr. and Mrs. Jackson," have developed a nice line in serial homicide themselves. Fans of body bags would find this bloodbath perfection if only Oldham didn't keep crosscutting among characters faster than a music video en route to this tranquilly satisfying reflection: "Usually revenge was a dull sensation, but this wasn't. It was good."
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"Oldham, Nick: HEADHUNTER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sept. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A502192281/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=bba46afd. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Headhunter: A Steve Flynn Thriller
Nick Oldham. Severn, $28.99 (224p) ISBN 9780-7278-8729-0
British author Oldham's vigorous, violent third Steve Flynn thriller (after 2016's Ambush) finds the former Marine and ex-cop turned vigilante in the back of an unattended police van in Blackpool. There Flynn delivers his own brand of rough justice to Brian Tasker, who tortured and intended to kill him, by breaking Tasker's neck. Flynn, who's got a gunshot wound in his thigh, steals the van and stops at a pharmacy, where he coerces a clerk into giving him a strong painkiller. Just as he's leaving, a policewoman arrives and tases him. Newcomers thrust into the mayhem will wonder what's going on, but series fans will know that Flynn's actions relate to his conflict with an Armenian crime family, whose members are trying to kill him and who beheaded his girlfriend in his last outing. After escaping from police custody, Flynn becomes involved in various beatings, gunfights, knifings, car crashes, and bombings, not to mention committing arson and breaking and entering. Readers may wonder how Flynn avoids doing serious jail time. Anyone interested enough can race through this book to find out. (Nov.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
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"Headhunter: A Steve Flynn Thriller." Publishers Weekly, vol. 264, no. 38, 18 Sept. 2017, p. 58. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A523623347/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4188d023. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Oldham, Nick BAD COPS Severn House (Adult Fiction) $28.99 4, 1 ISBN: 978-07278-8767-2
DS Henry Christie, sent to the Midlands to conduct a pro forma outside review of a pair of murders, swiftly discovers that the problems of the Central Yorkshire Police run a lot deeper.
Mark James Wright, whose company specialized in renting heavy machinery, was pulled from his car and stabbed repeatedly. Tom Salter was shot in his own office. What do the two deaths have to do with each other? Probably nothing, Chief Constable John Burnham tells Henry. But Burnham's force has been shorthanded ever since DS Jack Culver was killed in a collision with a stolen car, and even though Henry's still recovering from getting shot in the shoulder on his last case (Bad Blood, 2017), he'd appreciate it if the head of Lancashire Constabulary's Force Major Investigation Team would give him a hand. Burnham's instincts are on the money but not his sense of proportion. Two more fatalities are waiting around the corner. Faced by a seriously aggravated version of his original problem--more murders to investigate, fewer police officers to investigate with--Henry draws on his old mates outside the festering district for help. And he'll have abundant reason to bless the moment when DC Diane Daniels, a young officer eager for more experience, announces that she's been seconded along with him.
A routine tale of rotten coppers distinguished by its brutality, its rapid pace, and its unexpectedly chilling final scene.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Oldham, Nick: BAD COPS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A525461620/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f869cd68. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Bad Cops: A Henry Christie Thriller
Nick Oldham. Severn, $28.99 (192p)
ISBN 978-0-7278-8767-2
Oldham's hard-hitting 25th police thriller featuring Det. Supt. Henry Christie of the Lancashire Constabulary's Force Major Investigation Team (after 2017's Bad Blood) finds Henry at home recovering from a gunshot wound. Minutes after he rips the bandage off his still oozing shoulder, he hears a knock on the door. Chief constables Robert Fanshaw-Bayley, his boss at the Lancashire police department, and John Burnham, of the Central Yorkshire Police, have come to ask Henry to apply his analytical skills to reviewing two unsolved murder cases in Yorkshire. It should be a low stress task; no rough and tumble required. Less than 24 hours after Henry accepts the job, Burnham is found murdered, and someone pushes Henry down a flight of stone stairs. Are these incidents connected with the two crimes he's investigating? You bet they are. Oldham dishes up some genuinely gruesome baddies. The fun is not in figuring out whodunit--the reader knows that from the start--but rather in discovering how deep the corruption runs and how these vile, villainous cops get their comeuppance. (Apr.)
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"Bad Cops: A Henry Christie Thriller." Publishers Weekly, vol. 265, no. 7, 12 Feb. 2018, p. 60. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A528615491/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f18c80a2. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Oldham, Nick WILDFIRE Severn House (Fiction Fiction) $28.99 5, 5 ISBN: 978-0727889591
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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"Oldham, Nick: WILDFIRE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A616094279/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0180d07f. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Wildfire
Nick Oldham. Severn, $28.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7278-8959-1
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.). (May)
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"Wildfire." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 11, 16 Mar. 2020, pp. 54+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A622071082/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=58868aeb. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Bad Timing. By Nick Oldham. Dec. 2020. 224p. Severn, $28.95 (9780727889607).
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.--Emily Melton
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 American Library Association
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Melton, Emily. "Bad Timing." Booklist, vol. 117, no. 3, 1 Oct. 2020, p. 26. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A638516127/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e811433c. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Oldham, Nick BAD TIMING Severn House (Fiction None) $28.99 12, 1 ISBN: 978-0-7278-8960-7
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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"Oldham, Nick: BAD TIMING." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A635239963/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c714ad8c. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Oldham, Nick SCARRED Severn House (Fiction None) $28.99 8, 3 ISBN: 978-0-7278-5014-0
Now that he’s retired, DI Henry Christie finally gets a chance to close one of his very first cases.
It’s 1985, and PC Christie is at the point of taking in Thomas Benemy, who's clearly shoplifting perfumes to order on a grand scale even though he’s only 13, when he’s coshed from behind and wakes up to find Tommy and his unidentified accomplice gone. Shortly after Henry pays a call on Trish Benemy, Tommy’s hard-used mother, her son disappears, never to be seen again. The following year, Henry, now a newly minted Detective Constable, is called on the carpet as the likeliest person to have passed a pair of suspects in the abduction and murder of two children the tools they used to end their lives in the nick. It’s not until 2020, when he signs a six-month contract to serve as a Civilian Investigator with the Blackpool CID’s Cold Case Unit, that the threads begin to come together. First Henry gets to hear the scarifying source of the scars that disfigure the body of his sergeant, Debbie Blackstone. Then he learns of the suicide of Trish Benemy, which turns out to be murder. He and Blackstone close in on Ellis Clanfield, a serial rape suspect who has the same unusual tattoo that Henry remembers Tommy sporting, only to see him snatched from custody by sexy solicitor Hortense Thorogood. Incredible as it seems, things rapidly get even worse before all the loose ends (and there are many) are tied up.
An episodic, felony-strewn stroll down Memory Lane.
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"Oldham, Nick: SCARRED." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A667031554/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c7fa42e9. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Oldham, Nick TRANSFUSION Severn House (Fiction None) $28.99 2, 1 ISBN: 978-0-7278-5015-7
Oldham's latest starts off as if it's going to be a fourth adventure for disgraced ex-cop Steve Flynn before it ropes in his veteran colleague Henry Christie in an unlikely role.
Albanian crime lord Viktor Bashkim, holed up in Cyprus, is as sharp as ever, but now that he's 80, he knows it's time to hand over the reins--not to his playboy son, Nico, but to his daughter, Sofia, who's got the brains and the guts to breathe new life into the family business. Unfortunately for Viktor, Flynn and Kurt Donaldson of the FBI have just discovered that he only faked his death the last time they crossed swords. So he hires a killer dubbed the Tradesman to kill Flynn before he can get any closer. The Tradesman, who, under the name of Bennett, runs a profitable pet crematorium that gives him access to confidential information he turns into an even more profitable side hustle of credit-card fraud, stops on the way to another assignment with an intriguing connection to his latest job to ask directions of a pubkeeper who just happens to be Christie, a retired detective superintendent working as a civilian investigator with formidable DS Debbie Blackstone of the Lancashire Constabulary. Bennett returns that night to pinch Christie's phone, and the chase is on. Or rather, the chases: a junior colleague who thinks it's time he seized control of Bashkim's organization, Christie's search for the man who swiped his phone, and of course Flynn and Donaldson's original pursuit of Bashkim, who ends up having troubles even closer to home.
Understated exposition and violent set pieces, all professionally handled throughout.
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"Oldham, Nick: TRANSFUSION." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A684108539/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c54c5406. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Transfusion. By Nick Oldham. Feb. 2022. 240p. Severn, $28.99 (9780727850157); e-book (9781448307364)
Oldham continues his highly successful thriller series featuring ex-cops Henry Christie and Steve Flynn and FBI agent Karl Donaldson. Flynn has just learned that Viktor Bashkim, head of a vicious and much-feared Albanian crime gang, is alive, despite Flynn's earlier attempt to kill him to avenge Bashkim's brutal murder of Steve's girlfriend. But it seems Bashkim escaped and is even now headed to the UK with his equally violent daughter Sofia to punish a man called Bennett, who supplies "goods and services" to the gang but who's made the fatal mistake of wanting a larger share of the profits. Knowing the horrific violence Bashkim and Sofia are capable of inflicting, Flynn teams up with Donaldson and Christie to try to stop them. What follows is a violence-fueled game of hide-and-seek, with the trio trying to track the Bashkims before they can inflict their brutal brand of justice on Bennett and escape back to Albania. This edge-of-the seat narrative, with constantly ratcheting tension, features a twist-a-minute plot and a thoroughly unexpected shock ending.--Emily Melton
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 American Library Association
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Melton, Emily. "Transfusion." Booklist, vol. 118, no. 9-10, 1 Jan. 2022, p. 44. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A692710701/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e9ad6e1c. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Oldham, Nick DEMOLITION Severn House (Fiction None) $29.99 9, 6 ISBN: 978-1-44830-694-7
Retired Det. Superintendent Henry Christie, taken off the shelf again to question a suspect who won't speak to anyone else, finds himself investigating a rash of crimes committed before he was born.
When Celia Twain discovers her husband's corpse only a few hours after she'd publicly threatened to kill him over his adultery, the Kendleton constabulary are naturally interested. Since Celia refuses to talk to anyone but Henry, who's been around forever, DS Rik Dean offers him 500 pounds for a day's work getting her statement, which naturally doesn't include a confession of murder. Meantime, things have heated up dramatically in the village. Although James Twain had plenty of enemies, the news that he was a business partner of Marcus Durham, whose bullet-riddled body was recently found in his own swimming pool, strongly suggests that the same person may have killed them both. A group of young toughs have attacked wheelchair-bound Veronica Gough, and one of them has tried to drown her. Then several of them break into her house, and one of them threatens her with violence, triggering her memory of her rape by another villager during the celebrations of VE-Day in 1945. The more closely Henry, now awarded the nonce title of Civilian Senior Investigating Officer, looks into the past, the more convinced he becomes that Veronica's memories may hold the key to a pair of unsolved murders committed even earlier, back in 1941. As DS Debbie Blackstone, Henry's old boss in the Lancaster Cold Case Unit, observes, "It's all about people taking things from other people." Even as Henry is making arrests, Oldham continues to multiply complications in the final chapter, and the story ends with quite a cliffhanger.
The busiest, saddest, untidiest village mystery ever.
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"Oldham, Nick: DEMOLITION." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A709933381/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2d0e2369. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Demolition. By Nick Oldham. Sept. 2022. 224p. Severn, $29.99 (9781448306947); e-book (9781448306961).
Retired cop Henry Christie is content to run the pub he owns in the picturesque English village of Kendleton, although at times he misses being on the force. So when his old boss asks him to serve as a civilian investigator and work on two brutal murders in Kendleton, Henry is delighted. The two victims were business partners with dubious reputations, and Henry is pretty sure their deaths are linked to some aspect of their shady pasts. Supporting Henry on the case is DS Debbie Blackstone, who's an excellent copper despite her pink hair and punk-rocker style. But the two murders aren't the only problems in Kendleton. Henry also finds himself both trying to stop a teenage gang that's terrorizing the village and helping some resolute villagers solve an 80-year-old murder. The protagonist's investigative skills, combined with his pure bloody mindedness, serve him well here, in an entry that effectively juxtaposes the village setting against the high-voltage action and graphic violence that have always been hallmarks of the series. Best of all, Henry remains as smart and tough as he is gentle and empathetic.--Emily Melton
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 American Library Association
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Melton, Emily. "Demolition." Booklist, vol. 119, no. 2, 15 Sept. 2022, p. 20. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A720255708/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=38810250. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Oldham, Nick DEATH RIDE Severn House (Fiction None) $30.99 3, 7 ISBN: 9781448306954
Even though he's retired from the Lancashire Constabulary, Henry Christie continues his quest to prove that English villages are the most dangerous places on Earth and the most traumatic for himself.
When 13-year-old Charlotte Kirkham vanishes from under her mother's and stepfather's noses at the Kendleton Country Fair, Henry, noting Melinda West's maternal distress, offers to help rouse the troops for a search. Along the way, something about Leonard Lennox, who runs a burger van, strikes him as familiar, and no wonder: Twelve years ago, Henry's testimony had put Lennox away for kidnapping an 8-year-old girl. It hardly matters that the abductor this time is Lennox's son, Ernest, because the pressure Henry puts on the elder Lennox brings the man's long-festering desire for revenge to the boiling point. While DS Debbie Blackstone and her team are still looking for Charlotte, Lennox and his mates--Ernest; catalytic converter thieves Benny and Jimbo; and sadistic pickpocket Cinderella Watkinson--launch a furious round of violent crimes. Their home invasion of wealthy county fair supporter Maude Crichton nets them thousands in cash and jewelry and Maude's beloved bichon frisé. Moving on to the home of fair organizer Veronica Gough, they demand the proceeds from the event, which she's placed in Henry's hands. So they target The Tawny Owl, the pub Henry owns with Ginny Holt, the stepdaughter of his lost love, Alison, who's just told Henry that she and her fiance, Fred Livingston, are going to have a baby. The only weak link in this volley of fireworks is the extended epilogue, three months later, when Henry's finally in a position to take his own revenge.
How many sorrows can a franchise hero be put through? Oldham continues to push the envelope.
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"Oldham, Nick: DEATH RIDE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2023, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A731562388/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0661f990. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Death Ride
Nick Oldham. Severn, $30.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-4483-0695-4
At the start of Oldham's riveting 30th Henry Christie thriller (after 2022's Demolition), retired police detective Christie, who now runs a combined pub and hotel in the English village of Kendleton and has been "press-ganged" into manning the information booth at the Kendleton Country Fair, approaches a couple arguing near the booth, where parents can inquire about lost children. Stepdad Dave West isn't worried, but his wife, Melinda West, is, because Charlotte Kirkham, Melinda's 13-year-old daughter, is missing and not answering her phone. Melinda's alarm is magnified by her having witnessed a group of rowdy teenage boys harassing her daughter a short time before at the showground. Christie agrees to help and finds that one of the boys is the son of Leonard Lennox, who's operating a food truck at the fair. Christie recalls that, in the early 1990s, he sent Lennox away for 12 years after Lennox abducted an eight-year-old girl in broad daylight. He assists former colleague Det. Sgt. Debbie Blackstone in the search for Charlotte, which proves unexpectedly complicated. Oldham makes Christie's involvement credible while maintaining a nail-biting level of suspense. Despite its age, this series still has plenty of life left. Agent: Olav Wyper. SMS Talent (U.K.). (Mar.)
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"Death Ride." Publishers Weekly, vol. 270, no. 3, 16 Jan. 2023, p. 56. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A735452284/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d82ede25. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Oldham, Nick DEATH AT DEAD MAN'S STAKE Severn House (Fiction None) $29.99 9, 3 ISBN: 9781448314416
A London police officer is surprised to find her new rural post equally challenging and dangerous.
A suspenseful prologue follows octogenarian Bart Morrison wandering away from his nursing home and drowning after he meets an apparently dangerous unnamed person. From there, Oldham's new novel runs on parallel tracks. Sergeant Jessica Raker's first day on the job in Lancashire, on the Irish Sea in the northwest of England, is far from routine. She's been at her new station for only 10 minutes when a distress call comes from Dead Man's Stake, a farm where a fireman's being held hostage. Jess and Samira Patel, her new partner, arrest Bill Ramsden, the armed, drunken farmer who's responsible for the fuss, but not before being subjected to harassment from the hostage. "I was going to say, thank God you're here," the firefighter says. "But is this the best the police can offer?" Jess' backstory, unfolded in alternating chapters, explains her abrupt transfer from London to Lancashire. While responding to an alarm at Royale's Jewellers in Greenwich, Jess killed armed robber Terry Moss, triggering both a mob contract on her life and a serious rift in her marriage to Josh, who, in a mind-boggling coincidence, was in the shop at the time of the robbery. Where next for this couple and their two children? Oldham heightens the tension via short, punchy chapters. The plot turns at length to the layered mystery surrounding the elderly Morrison's death. Oldham's tidbits of local color and invitingly fleshed-out portraits of Jess' coworkers hint at the direction his new series will likely take, balancing Jess' personal and professional challenges.
A tangled rural mystery unraveled by a determined heroine.
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"Oldham, Nick: DEATH AT DEAD MAN'S STAKE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A801499705/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=88354a2b. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.
Death at Dead Man's Stake.
By Nick Oldham.
Sept. 2024. 240p. Severn, $29.99 (9781448314416); e-book
(9781448314843).
Firearms officer Jess Raker's life changes in the blink of an eye when she's called to the scene of a jewel heist and shoots one of the perps as he tries to flee. Unfortunately for Jess, the victim is the son of Billy Moss, one of London's most powerful, deadly criminals, and Billy's sure to seek revenge. So Jess' bosses put her and her family in a witness-protection program, transferring her to a police force in northern England, where Jess grew up. Her first week in her new job is challenging: dealing with a patronizing boss, a colleague who resents her, the deaths of two elderly villagers, and a standoff with a drunken farmer. And Jess is unaware that Billy Moss will never stop trying to find her to avenge his son's death. Billy has plenty of resources at his disposal, including a local woman who knew Jess when they were teenagers. The build-up of tension is ominous and terrifying, and Jess must use all her ingenuity to escape Moss' terrible vengeance. Oldham (Death Ride, 2023) has produced a superb first book in his new series. Readers who like their police procedurals gritty, violent, twisty, and tense will love it.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 American Library Association
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Source Citation
MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
Melton, Emily. "Death at Dead Man's Stake." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 22, Aug. 2024, p. 31. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A808396686/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2e521a7c. Accessed 28 Sept. 2024.