Death at Dead Man's Stake

July 15, 2024
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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Starred review from August 1, 2024
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(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.