Leaden Heart, The

#TheLeadenHeart #NetGalley A super terrific read from NetGalley. 5 stars of course and review will be released closer to the July 1 release. Preorder yours now!


I just love this author and this series about almost-turn-of-the-century policing in Leeds, England. Detective Superintendent Tom Harper and his police squad encounter a series of burglaries in an upscale Leeds neighborhood.

Immediately following that, Inspector Billy Reed, his friend and former colleague comes back to Leeds for his brother's funeral. Charlie Reed, a shopkeeper has committed suicide, and Billy discovers some crippling rent rises may play a part.

Rapidly it becomes clear that corruption and organized intimidation is playing a huge part in increased hardship for citizens in Leeds. Some highly placed, if not respected,townsmen are playing a part in this. Annabelle Harper, an elected Poor Law Advocate, experiences some of the same, on another level.

Tom himself has his life threatened, but through a series of dogged round the clock police work, they bring some of the suspects to justice. The ending is very unique, I read that 3 times. I have hopes for another in the series which might bring the Reeds back to Leeds.
Chris Nickson not only is a gifted writer but an excellent historian of this area.

England, 1899. We are in the city of Leeds and the hottest summer in living memory is taxing the patience of even the most placid citizens. The heavy industry which has transformed the quietly prosperous Yorkshire town continues to clatter and roar, while the smoke from its thousand chimneys coats everything in grime, and the air is thick with soot. Superintendent Tom Harper of the city’s police force has mixed feelings about his recent promotion. The pile of paperwork on his desk adds to the tedium, and he wishes he could be out there on the busy streets doing what he believes to be a copper’s real job.

Harper lives above a city pub, the Victoria. His wife, Annabelle, is the landlady, but she is also a fiercely determined advocate of women’s rights, and she has made waves by being elected to the local Board of Guardians, a largely male-dominated organisation which is tasked with administering what, in the dying years of Queen Victoria’s reign, passed for social care. When the brother of Harper’s one-time colleague, Billy Reed, commits suicide the death is dismissed, albeit sadly, as commonplace, but Reed believes that his brother’s death is due to something more sinister, and he asks Harper to investigate.

Charlie Reed was a small time shop-keeper, but his shop was in an area where large scale commercial developments are being planned, and his premises – along with many others – have been targeted by thugs who are possibly in the pay of two wealthy – but utterly corrupt and ruthless – city councillors. Like a dog with a bone, Harper chews and gnaws away at the shrouds of secrecy with which these men have surrounded themselves, but Charlie Reed’s tragic suicide is eclipsed by a string of savage killings committed by a deranged pair of brothers who are clearly acting at the behest of the two councillors and their lawyer.

Against a background of heartbreaking poverty, needless deaths and bureaucracy trumping common humanity at every turn, Harper eventually gets to come face to face with the killers and their suave masters, but not before his family is put in peril, and his own life coms to hang from a thread.

The most chilling aspect of The Leaden Heart is that it is brutally contemporary. Town and City councillors might, these days, be seen as bumbling and pompous local jobsworths, full of piss and wind, but relatively harmless. Nothing could be further from the truth. Now, as in 1899, such people have huge power over planning applications and budgets which are in the millions. Now, as then, the corrupt and venal live amongs us and will, no doubt, be putting themselves up for re-election in May 2019.

The author’s empathy with the downtrodden and exploited, and his disgust at crooked councillors and unfeeling public guardians burns like an angry flame. The most haunting image in the book is of two drowned children killed, yes, by their drunken father, but also failed by their helpless mother and the rigid workhouse system. Nickson is a writer, however, whose passionate desire for social justice never impedes his ability to tell a great story and weave a dazzling crime mystery. What is more, he does the job with minimal fuss; there’s never a wasted word, a redundant adjective or an overblown description. His prose is pared down to the bone, but always sharp and vivid. I often think Nickson would have found lasting kinship with the great campaigning journalist and author GR Simms, (incidentally an almost exact contemporary of Tom Harper) whose most celebrated work is echoed in some aspects of The Leaden Heart. The book is published by Severn House and will be out on 29th March.

"Steal a little and they throw you in jail; steal a lot and they make you king." (Bob Dylan)

Superintendent Tom Harper of"A" Division is feeling the oppressive blanket of heat surrounding the city of Leeds. It's July of 1899 with Leeds growing and prospering at the turn of the century. The streets are lined with throngs of people bustling about and not all of them have goodness on their minds.

A string of home burglaries are perplexing Tom as of late. The residents have been within their own homes oblivious as to what was happening in other areas of the house. The missing items are not discovered until the next day. With the intense heat, people have slept with open windows seeking a bit of a breeze. Not only does this burglar walk on silent cat feet, but he seems to be invisible as well.

But there will be escalating crimes in Leeds in which someone is stealing the life breath from its victims. Inspector Billy Reed's own brother is found dead in his apartment. What first appears to be a suicide is later found to be murder. Charlie Reed will have company in the medical examiner's building as more bodies are found under strange circumstances. Someone is leaning hard on these individuals prior to their deaths. But for what reason? And who is the who?

The City Council is pressuring Tom to solve the burglaries and the murders. If not, Tom could find someone else will be sitting behind his desk. What causes more concern to Tom is the shortage of available constables in the Leeds Police Force. Chris Nickson makes us well aware of the impact of the Boer War in which British men enlisted to fight in South Africa. One of Tom's top men, Sergeant Fowler, gives his notice in order to work intelligence in the war effort.

The Leaden Heart is richly ladened with life in Leeds encorporating not only Tom Harper's police experiences, but his family life as well. He has a young lively daughter, Mary, and an exceptional wife, Annabelle, who owns her own business and is a Poor Law Guardian for the Sheepscar people. Annabelle will become involved in a case in which the lives of two small children will ratchet up her advocacy skills.

Chris Nickson slips our hand into the glove from the onset. No worries about catching up if this is your first experience with this series. The Leaden Heart can be read as a standalone. The writing is top-notch and the cover is quite impressive as well. Look for the Author's Notes at the end in which Chris Nickson fills in actual historical happenings in Leeds that correspond with the characters and the time period of the book. Good, good stuff.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Severn House and to the talented Chris Nickson for the opportunity.

The Leaden Heart is the seventh book in Chris Nickson’s historical mystery series set in Leeds, England, centered on Detective Superintendent Tom Harper. It is the first one of the series that I have read, and I was not disappointed.

A good historical novel, with well researched facts and well developed characters, should draw the readers in so much that, when they come up for air, red eyed and disoriented from reading the book non-stop, they believe they may have traveled through time. Most historical fiction misses the mark on history. The Leaden Heart does not. Nickson has done his research well and he has skillfully recreated England as it may have been in 1899.

Detective Superintendent Harper is barely enduring an 1899, blazing hot summer with no respite, only more heat and soot from area factories. When a former Leeds policeman, Billy Reed, asks for his help after his brother in Leeds commits suicide, Harper realizes he is dealing with a cruel protection-racket, one that involves multiple murders and fraudulent, forced property sales. He also learns that the racket may be connected to the highest levels of city government. On top of this, Harper must solve a series of burglaries, while dealing with the loss of policemen as they enlist to fight in the Second Boer War.

As Harper tries to solve the two crime sprees, Billy Reed, now a policeman in Whitby, has an arsonist on the loose. As he tries to find this person, he does so in a turn of the century seaside town, with its fresh, clean air, tea rooms and holidaymakers, ably depicted by Nickson.

If you want to stay riveted to a well written historical mystery novel, and time travel to turn of the century Leeds, read The Leaden Heart.

(In return for an honest review, I was provided a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.)

A recent heatwave means crime is largely down across Leeds although an elusive burglar is beginning to cause problems, not least because Detective Superintendent Tom Harper has made some powerful enemies on the council who are waiting for an opportunity to have him replaced. He is soon under even more pressure when he begins to investigate a protection racket but quickly discovers that whoever is in charge of the North Leeds Company is determined to keep their identity unknown. However, the case is more personal for Tom because it's linked to the suicide of the brother of his old friend and former colleague, Inspector Billy Reed. Although a falling-out means the two aren't as close as they once were, relations between them become less strained as Tom endeavours to win justice for Billy and his family. However, the convoluted web of gangsters and charlatans he is investigating thwart him time and again. Meanwhile, back in Whitby, Billy waits for news and in our world of instant communications, it's easy to appreciate the frustrating delays between letters and occasional phone calls.
The Leaden Heart is set two years after Chris Nickson's previous Tom Harper novel, The Tin God (but can easily be enjoyed as a standalone) and finds his wife, Annabelle still in her role as one of the first female Poor Law Guardians in Leeds. The resolute pair are a well-matched couple who are a constant support for one another, and together with their spirited little daughter Mary, they are the engaging moral heart of the series. The city was recently shocked by the murder of two little girls who were thrown into the canal by their father and Annabelle is trying to discover whether the workhouse authorities should have handled the family any differently. It's ultimately a hopeless investigation without any chance of a happy resolution but Annabelle wants steps to be taken to help prevent any further such tragedies. Her frustration is almost palpable at times, particularly when she is frequently impeded by men who take umbrage at a woman overstepping societal boundaries. Still several years before women were given the vote, it's fascinating to see an early feminist in action, and rather poignant to imagine the future Mary having been inspired by the fortitude and courage of her mother.
With the Boer War on the horizon, it's obvious that despite the stagnant weather, change is in the air on a local and national level, both for good and bad. Although Poor Law Guardians like Annabelle are the precursor to the welfare state, there are still too many unscrupulous landlords in a city which is being rebuilt without much care for those swept out of their slums. Chris Nickson adroitly highlights the inequalities of the period and the corruption of the wealthy elite who are as much of a challenge to Harper as the violent street criminals, the Smith brothers who are somehow engaging in a reign of terror without anybody seeming to know exactly who they are. Change is clearly coming for Tom and his colleagues too and his disappointment at losing men to the upcoming war is both personal and professional; he regrets the break-up of his team but more so fears that many will not come home again. Young Sissons then is a welcome addition; the new Detective Constable is sharply intelligent - he enjoys reading Latin and Greek - and endearingly ambitious. I look forward to more from him in the future.
Victorian Leeds is brought vividly to life with the atmospheric sense of time and place superbly rendered throughout. The twists and turns of the gripping plot effectively combine a perplexing mystery about property corruption and violent organised crime with thoughtful social commentary - immersive and exciting, The Leaden Heart is first-rate historical crime fiction. Highly recommended.