Bad Blood

by Nick Oldham

Overview

“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”
Booklist Starred Review

What should have been a blissful retirement for former DCI Henry Christie turns into something deadly.

As Henry Christie settles into a new life running The Tawny Owl pub with his fiancée Alison, their rural idyll is disrupted by a violent intruder. After Henry foils a kidnap attempt on Alison’s daughter, it becomes clear that he and his family have become the targets of a ruthless professional killer. But who – and why?

At the same time, Henry witnesses the murder of a local multi-millionaire – and unwittingly steps into a conspiracy at the highest level.

Pursued by a team of determined assassins, Henry must also defend himself against an unhinged killer on a personal vendetta who will stop at nothing to take back what he believes is rightfully his … bad blood will flow.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780727893147
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	01/31/2018
Series:	A Henry Christie Mystery , #24
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Nick Oldham was born in Belthorn, Lancashire, in 1956. He was a police officer from 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.

Read an Excerpt

As he ran his head jerked one way, then the other.

To his left, still high in the sky but now more definable, was the single-engine plane approaching down the valley formed by the River Roeburn, with Salter Fell to the right and Mallowdale Fell to the left. In that glance Henry could not even begin to estimate how far away the plane was, he just knew it was closer.

Then, with a head jerk to the right Henry saw the gunmen emerge from the garden, reminding him of a team of mercenaries, killing machines, and in that glance he saw each man was now brandishing a machine pistol as opposed to a handgun, much deadlier and requiring less skill.

They must have seen him, he knew that, but he powered on, knowing that to hesitate would get him killed.

Then he was there, launching himself into the dense grass and rolling until he stopped with a jar against the roots of a tree, an impact that winded him, but he kept on moving, doing a snake crawl further into the trees where he came up onto one knee and hid behind several low-hanging branches.

With horror he saw that Chalmers had run into the middle of the airstrip and was standing, facing the oncoming aircraft which was on its final descent. He was making a gesture that resembled repeatedly opening an up-and-over garage door. Henry got the meaning. He was telling the pilot to stay up, do not land.

But the plane was getting closer.

Henry stretched his neck to see without actually sticking his head out of cover.

To the right, the plane was virtually on the airstrip, the wheels only feet above the cut grass.

Dead ahead of him stood the desperately gesticulating Chalmers.

Away to the left were the gunmen, each now holding their machine pistols in firing positions. They had fanned out into a line and were jogging inexorably towards Chalmers, who continued to throw his arms upwards.

The plane touched the ground.

Chalmers ran towards it, waving, signalling, but he had run only a few yards when the men opened up and fired a short burst from each weapon, cutting him down face first into the grass as a criss-cross of bullets slammed into his back. It was the second horror Henry had witnessed in the last few minutes, another brutal, seemingly senseless killing, and Henry was as certain as he could be that Chalmers was as dead as his security guard.

Henry ducked down.

He heard the sound of the plane’s engine growl as the pilot pushed the throttle forwards, sending more power to the pistons. The wheels had touched the grass but now as the wing flaps were turned down, it rose easily and flew over the heads of the gunmen who followed its trajectory with their upturned faces and also their weapons as they opened fire as it skimmed overhead.

Henry heard the bursts of fire above the roaring sound of the engine.

He also heard the metallic slap as at least eight bullets punched into the fuselage.

Henry saw the plane wobble uncertainly, but then lift and continue to rise, banking, rise again and then it was gone. He ducked flat down on his belly, rubbed his hands in wet soil and scrubbed his face with it, primitive camouflage, and attempted to control his breathing and his fear. He watched through the grass as the three men approached Chalmers’ splayed-out body. One of them flipped his machine pistol on its strap over his shoulder and took a handgun from his waistband. He stood over Chalmers and put two further bullets into the back of the man’s skull.

Literally overkill, Henry thought: professional overkill.

Terror swept through him like a tidal bore when all three men turned as one towards the spot where he had disappeared into the trees. In a line they walked towards him.

Editorial Reviews

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

Booklist Starred Review

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

Booklist Starred Review

Action-packed 24th Henry Christie thriller

Publishers Weekly

2017-01-23
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.

Kirkus Reviews