title: The Nothing Job (A Henry Christie Mystery)
author:  Nick Oldham 
description: 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 case--finding three felons who disappeared years ago--he 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 that's 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. --Booklist, 1st June 2009<br /><br />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. --Kirkus Reviews, 15th July 2009
zlib_text: The Nothing
  
  Frank Herbert, 1956
  
  If it hadn't been for the fight with my father I'd never have gone down to the
  Tavern and then I wouldn't have met the _Nothing._ This _Nothing_ was really
  just an ordinary looking guy. He wasn't worth special attention unless, like
  me, you were pretending you were Maria Graim, the feelies star, and him Sidney
  Harch meeting you in the bar to give you a spy capsule.
  
  It was all my father's fault. Imagine him getting angry because I wouldn't
  take a job burning brush. What kind of work is that for an eighteen-year-old
  girl anyway? I know my folks were hard pressed for money but that was no
  excuse for the way he lit into me.
  
  We had the fight over lunch but it was after six o'clock before I got the
  chance to sneak out of the house. I went down to the Tavern because I knew the
  old man would be madder than a tele in a lead barrel when he found out. There
  was no way I could keep it from him, of course. He pried me every time I came
  home.
  
  The Tavern is a cros