PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT NICK OLDHAM HAS SIGNED A NEW 2-BOOK DEAL WITH CANONGATE BOOKS’ SUBSIDIARY SEVERN HOUSE WITH PUBLICATION SET FOR EARLY 2024.

The first of The Ribble Valley Thrillers – Death at Dead Man’s Stake – featuring Police Sergeant Jessica Raker is set for publication in early 2024.

Jess Raker is a tough but fair firearms cop in London who, following a terrifying incident that devastates her family, relocates to a rural beat in the beautiful wilderness of The Ribble Valley in Lancashire. The move is made reluctantly by Jess but she knows it must be done to save her marriage from collapse and keep her family safe from harm.

What Jess discovers is that her new patch tests her skills and abilities as a copper and a human being to the extreme. Set in a gloriously beautiful part of the country there are the normal run of the mill problems to contend with such as demanding parish councillors, irate farmers, straying animals (including an Elk and a wild boar!) and petty criminals. But Jess will also have to face-off with well-connected organised drug dealers, gangs of poachers, rustlers and burglars operating with impunity throughout the area, who are just as ruthless and dangerous as any city gang.