About this item
Simon Westow, the city's unwavering thief-taker, must confront betrayal, history and murder in this gritty page-turner set in nineteenth-century Leeds.Leeds, May 1825. Thief-taker Simon Westow is hired by Sir Robert Foley to find four silver cups stolen by his servant. The cups are a family treasure, crafted by local silversmith Arthur Mangey over a century before.. Meanwhile, Simon has also been invited to witness the demolition of Middle Row, where Mangey reputedly had a secret workshop for coin clipping, the very crime he was hanged for in 1696. Is it a coincidence or a terrible omen? Simon's curiosity swiftly turns to horror when he discovers Foley's servant lying dead in the clandestine room.. How can a long-dead criminal be involved in the servant's demise? Simon needs all the help he can get from his assistant Jane and deadly prot�g� Sally to navigate the twisted path from history to the present amidst the growing number of dead bodies.
About the Author
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."
