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When Superintendent Tom Harper's wife is threatened during an election campaign, the hunt for the attacker turns personal.Leeds, England. October, 1897. Superintendent Harper is proud of his wife Annabelle. She's one of seven women selected to stand for election as a Poor Law Guardian. But even as the campaign begins, Annabelle and the other female candidates start to receive anonymous letters from someone who believes a woman's place lies firmly in the home.The threats escalate into outright violence when an explosion rips through the church hall where Annabelle is due to hold a meeting - with fatal consequences. The only piece of evidence Harper has is a scrap of paper left at the scene containing a fragment from an old folk song. But what is its significance?As polling day approaches and the attacks increase in menace and intensity, Harper knows he's in a race against time to uncover the culprit before more deaths follow.



About the Author

Chris Nickson

I'm the author of the Richard Nottingham books, historical mysteries set in Leeds in the 1730s and featuring Richard Nottingham, the Constable of the city, and his deputy, John Sedgwick. The books are about more than murder. They're about the people of Leeds and the way life was - which mean full of grinding poverty for all but the wealthy. They're also about families, Nottingham and his and Sedgwick, and the way relationships grow and change, as well as the politics, when there was one law for the rich, and another, much more brutal, for everyone else.

Why Leeds? It's where I was born and raised, and that puts a place in your bones. You know it the way you can never quite know anywhere else...

In addition to this I'm also a music journalist, reviewing for magazines and online outlets, something I've been doing since the mid 1990s, specializing these days in world and roots music.

Candace Robb, author of the excellent Owen Archer and Margaret Kerr series of historical mysteries, was kind enough to say this about my work:

"Chris Nickson's years covering the music scene clearly inform his writing - his Richard Nottingham crime novels are not just stories, they're total immersion experiences in the underbelly of 18th century Leeds. Clever use of period slang and vivid detail bring to life the people, the culture, the gritty reality of early industrial culture, brutal and dehumanizing. Constable Richard Nottingham is a shrewd, appealingly human man with a keen social conscience and deep roots in the city. His family and colleagues are portrayed with a warmth and sly humor worthy of Dickens. Immensely addictive, this series just keeps getting better."



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