I’ve read a lot of British police procedurals, but this is my first of the Henry Christie series – I can’t think why I didn’t meet them sooner. At the Kendleton Country Fair, held near the Tawny Owl pub in Lancashire, Henry Christie is about to take a DEATH RIDE. Charlotte Kirkham vanishes and her mother reports her missing, starting an intensive search. Charlotte is thirteen, thinks sheep shearing contests aren’t cool, and she might have gone off in rebellion. But she’s a normal girl with a phone – which is found broken – and as a retired detective superintendent, Christie alerts the police, knowing this could turn bad.

Christie only slowly recognises the owner of the burger van as Leonard Lennox, a nasty sort from his Blackpool policing days. Christie put this man away for twelve long years, and as the volunteer stewards and police officers fail to turn up anything, Leonard and his son Ernest Lennox trundle their shabby vehicles away from the site. Stolen goods from the day include wallets, watches, cameras, catalytic converters, and – to top the haul – a struggling, scared, girl.

This isn’t your normal by-the-book procedural. The title DEATH RIDE becomes all too relevant. Lennox is well-described as a Fagin, but neither abduction nor murder fazes him, an amoral sociopath. Strong language and grimy, gory violence run through the story. All I’ll say is that the child is a cipher, placed to give us greater concern than we’d feel about stolen goods. The concern later switches to a small dog similarly abducted for profit. The time is just after the pandemic, when life is not yet normal but people are behaving as if it was, with chinks in the armour. I don’t believe seniors would open their doors at night, but the intruders would find some way to enter.

Christie has been a robust type, but at this point, he’s recovering from a knife wound and feeling his years. He owns the Tawny Owl pub and is on good terms with townsfolk and Debbie Blackstone on the Force. The cops call on him as a consultant, but he’s no longer constrained by policing regulations. I am not sure how much he felt them in the first place. A Time For Justice started this series in 1996 and there are now twenty-seven books, drawn from Nick Oldham’s time as a Blackpool police officer. Another series by this author features Steve Flynn, who surfaces towards the end of Christie’s tale to help with some more vigorous moments. Read this gripping tale DEATH RIDE, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.