The Nothing Job

June 1, 2009
DCI Henry Christie loves ruffling feathers, especially those of his pompous boss, Robert Fanshaw-Bailey, and hated rival Dave Anger, who got the plum job Henry wanted as head of the Major Crimes Team. So when Henry is assigned to a cold casefinding three felons who disappeared years agohe knows he is being pushed aside. Still, he decides to give the case his best effort and even begins to enjoy himself when the search takes him to Cyprus and hooks him up with attractive cop Georgia Papakostas. Suddenly, though, Henry is reassigned again, this time to a case in a nearby police district, where the policeman has been killed in a car accident. But thats the tip of an iceberg that leads to an ugly mix of police corruption, fraud, and cover-ups. The more Henry probes, the worse things get. A twist-a-minute plot, the delightfully rebellious Henry, and plenty of high-octane action make this a top pick for crime buffs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

July 15, 2009
DCI Henry Christie is relegated to the role of bounty hunter.

When the car he commandeers in an effort to pursue the man who knifed a prostitute turns out to have another dead girl in the boot, DCI Henry Christie (Crunch Time, 2009, etc.) is once again the bane of the Lancashire constabulary. Chief Constable Fanshaw-Bayley saddles him with Operation Wanted, a perfunctory attempt to close three cases by apprehending three escaped criminals. Henry finds 6'8" murderer Anthony Downie in Blackpool, lurking around gay clubs, but the hunt for Paulo Scartarella leads to Cyprus, where the trail takes him, along with beautiful Cypriot copper Georgia Papakostas and FBI legal attach Karl Donaldson, to a Mafia connection. Surprisingly, the link to organized crime tails back to Merseyside and an old case involving the police shooting of Johnny Motta, a trafficker in drugs and Albanian prostitutes. Local DS Shafer and DS Anger, Henry's personal Lancashire nemesis, seem determined to obscure the facts. Before matters can be resolved, there will be more death, a fire, a wild car chase and a nifty plot twist that puts Henry in line for a commendation from Fanshaw-Bayley.

A splendid British procedural, with complex storytelling, much hugger-mugger and some amusing lustful jealousy on Henry's part.

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