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Synopsis:
Leeds, June 1913. Deputy Chief Constable Tom Harper is a busy man. He’s overseeing a national suffragist pilgrimage due in Leeds that his wife Annabelle intends to join, and his daughter Mary has exciting plans of her own. Then a letter arrives from police in New York: Davey Mullen, an American gangster born in Leeds, is on his way back to the city, fleeing a bloody gang war.
Despite Tom’s best efforts to keep an eye on him, Davey’s arrival triggers a series of chilling events in the city. Is he responsible for the sudden surge in crime, violence and murder on Leeds’s streets? Facing a mounting workload, Tom must hunt down a cold-blooded killer while also confronting danger and tragedy close to home
My thoughts
I was a little worried that the last book would be the last but was assured there was lots more to come from this series and here we are with book 9. Having read these from the start it’s so easy to get caught up with the characters and really enjoying seeing them develop and it looks like when we get to the next one there are some big, big changes going to happen. I’m not sure I’m ready 🙂
The majority of this book has Tom Harper and his team chasing their tails as the body count increases and a range of crimes happen. They seem connected but joining those dots up is harder than it looks. As with all of these I love the old style police procedural; fingerprints are just developing so much of the story is footwork, talking to people and putting clues together. It’s a style I really like. The characters are so well developed now it’s like slipping into a pair of comfy slippers picking up one of these books and Leeds is one of those characters. It’s my home town and I love seeing how it’s changed over the course of the series history. Nickson loves his city and it shows.
With all the different angles of this book there’s plenty to keep you guessing and plenty of twists as Harper and the team rush to solve them. It’s another brilliant historical crime story and I look forward (with a bit of trepidation – no spoilers) to what happens next. Highly recommended