Gods of Gold

Gods of Gold Tom Harper was an Inspector on the Leeds, England, police force in 1890 when the local gas workers decided to go out on strike. Around the same time, a young girl disappeared. Her father, a minor thief, claimed that the girl had been sent to live with her aunt in another town. After the girl's father was murdered and Harper went to i form the the mother, incarcerated in the local jail, Harper learned that that there was no such aunt. There were also a few other murders and a suicide and the common denominator seemed to be two scary strangers who were seen with the victims before their deaths. Harper and his partners searched Leeds for the two as more bodies were found. At the same time, there was a gas strike going on and one of the strike breakers was also killed. When Harper and his partner found the pair, one of them escaped and the captured one was later murdered. The mystery of who is behind the murders and the location of the girl was solved a few weeks before Harper's marriage to a wealthy but very independent widow.

I enjoyed this book and it reminded me of the Thomas Pitt series from Anne Perry. Both authors use many historical details make the reader familiar with the Victorian era in England. Pitt is more highly principled that Harper but both are excellent detectives who don't rest until the crime is solved.

In what I’m sure will be a new series of stories from Chris Nickson, once again set in Leeds, the era is now the slightly more modern one of 1890, and the new hero of the story is Inspector Tom Harper. Tom is soon to be married to a strong female character called Annabelle. A woman who runs several businesses, including a pub, she makes a good foil to Tom. As the story opens, Tom is pounding down Briggate, running after a criminal, but unfortunately loses him. He is then alerted to a case of a missing girl called Martha. Her mother Betty is in Armley Jail, and she should be still living with her father Col Parkinson. But she hasn’t been seen for a few days, and Col claims that Martha’s been sent to his sister in Halifax. But is he telling the truth? Before Tom can start investigating further, all leave is cancelled due to the gas strike. Replacement workers are being brought in to make sure that the gas supply is able to continue. Of course this is an era when houses were lit by gas lamps, and industries depended on the supply of gas. As such the threat of an interruption to gas supply would have a big effect on the local economy, and the police are needed to keep order. But then Col is found dead, and it looks like suicide. Except that a few things look suspicious, and Col was seen with a couple of shady looking characters just before he was found dead. And Betty tells the police that he doesn’t have a sister in Halifax.
Tom is tasked with finding Martha, and Col’s killers, and then the perpetrators of yet another murder that happens in the melee of the replacement workers, strikers and policemen. Gradually the two plot lines throw up some connections, and Tom is able to make some progress with his investigation, with a few twists and turns along the way.
The feel of the book is somewhat similar to Nickson’s earlier books, with the backstory of Tom and his relationship with his wife to be, and his professional relationship with his juniors, and with his senior commanding officer. And there is a bit of necessary negotiating to do with the leader of the local union, to help the plot along. It’s interesting to see a more modern updated Leeds, with the little bits of local history thrown in. If you liked the original series of Chris Nickson books, you’ll like this one, even perhaps a little more. (review submitted to eurocrime: www.eurocrime.co.uk)

In the Leeds of the 1890s there is unrest. The local gasworkers are on strike and the company is bringing in workers from outside. Throughout the city the rich are becoming richer and the poor are struggling and on top of this a young girl has gone missing.
DI Tom Harper is a career policeman, dedicated to his job and about to be married. Annabelle is modern woman who was widowed young, she has built up a number of businesses through entrepreneurship and hard work. DS Billy Reed fought in the Afghan War and is mentally scarred by those experiences. Harper and Reed want to find Martha but they are blocked by powerful men, legitimate and illegitimate, who have secrets that they do not want to be exposed.
The setting of Leeds appealed to me about this book and I was pleasantly surprised by the story. As a first novel in a projected series there is a lot of scene-setting and introduction to the backstories of the characters but there is coherent plot as well. The gas strike really did take place and the portrayal of rich and poor alike is well-drawn.

This is the first in a brand new series of historical police proceedurals featuring police inspector Tom Harper. Set in Leeds, England in 1890 during a gas workers strike, it has excellent period detail, some so well done you could smell the somewhat awful smells of an industrial town at the turn of the century. It is based on solid historical research and has strong characters, both good and bad and even some in between.
Cannot wait for the next installment.

Nickson is known for his Richard Nottingham mysteries set in 1730s Leeds. In this debut for his new series, the city hasn’t changed, but the century has: it’s 1890, and the Industrial Revolution is in full swing. Detective Inspector Tom Harper and his anger-management-candidate sergeant, Billy Reed, must investigate the disappearance of an eight-year-old girl whose father has been murdered. As bodies pile up, the situation is further complicated by the Leeds gas workers’ strike, grinding the city to a halt and ratcheting up the tension and probability of violence.

The Nottingham mysteries are excellent, and I wondered if a change of century and characters would blunt Nickson’s dexterity. I shouldn’t have worried. The characterization is engaging, the historical detail immersive without devolving into scholarship, the mystery pacing competent – in short, a winning and promising debut for a new series. The same element of high-level corruption that’s often a theme in his other mysteries makes an appearance, although in this offering Nickson has eschewed his penchant for killing off main characters in manners angsty enough for the reader to feel she needs a hug. So far, this series has a somewhat brighter tone, and I’m curious to see how it will progress. I look forward to seeing Tom Harper again in his next outing.
--Published in Historical Novels Review, Issue 71, February 2015