Starred review from November 5, 2012
Set in 1733 Leeds, Nickson's outstanding fourth mystery featuring constable Richard Nottingham (after 2012's The Constant Lovers) shows that linking the crime under investigation to a wider plot of broader significance isn't necessary to carry the reader along. In the ruins of a house gutted by fire, Nottingham makes a gruesome findâthe blistered husk of a woman's corpse, with her fetus ripped out and placed on her sliced-open belly. Identifying the victim proves a challenge, and Nottingham and his men have a hard time getting traction in an inquiry of no interest to anyone but themselves. Besides delivering an intriguing puzzle, Nickson does a fine job depicting Leeds's underclass ("A few thousand souls, so many of them pushed together in the cold, crowded spaces of the poor: faceless, anonymous folk, all working for the few who tasted luxury each day without thought"). Agent: Tina Betts, Andrew Mann Ltd.
Starred review from March 26, 2012
In Nickson’s excellent third 18th-century historical featuring Leeds constable Richard Nottingham (after 2011’s Cold Cruel Winter), Nottingham looks into the fatal stabbing of an unknown young woman found in a ruined abbey outside town. The victim is only identified as Sarah Godlove, who disappeared a day earlier while traveling to visit her parents, after her despairing husband arrives in search of her. Nottingham can find no obvious motive for the murder, though he suspects Sarah’s unusual circumstances—her parents sold her into marriage for their financial benefit—may play a part. Nottingham, a strong and memorable lead, uneasily accepts a society with different kinds of justice for the rich and for everyone else. This book is a textbook example of what a historical mystery should be, making the attitudes and beliefs of the time comprehensible, and engaging interest even without a crime that somehow poses a threat to the realm. Agent: Tina Betts, Andrew Mann Ltd.
December 1, 2012
A fire in a house that stands empty in 1733 reveals the charred corpse of a pregnant woman. As the City of Leeds emerges from the icy clutches of winter, Constable Richard Nottingham has all the usual crimes to solve. But when he searches the burnt building and finds a young woman with a baby ripped from her womb, he and his deputies, John Sedgwick and Rob Lister, focus on tracking down a merciless killer. Each of the deputies has problems of his own. New father Sedgwick suffers from lack of sleep and an older son whose jealousy of the baby makes him run wild. Lister's father has forbidden his marriage to Nottingham's daughter Emily since he considers the family to be beneath his. The victim is Lucy Wendell, a simple girl with a harelip who had been turned away by the wealthy family she worked for when her pregnancy was discovered. She never returned to her mother or her blacksmith brother for help. So, what was she was doing in the month before her death? In addition to dogging the dead girl's steps, Nottingham also has to deal with a London thief-taker who has set up shop in Leeds and may be behind a rash of burglaries and the fear that sweeps through the city when a child is kidnapped in broad daylight. Nottingham's fourth (The Constant Lovers, 2012, etc.) is a police procedural with a nicely detailed historical setting, the obligatory social commentary and a middling mystery.
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Starred review from January 1, 2013
Dedicated Constable Nottingham watches over 1755 Leeds like a hawk, defying anyone to mess with his thriving city of industry. So when a suspicious house fire leaves behind the charred remains of a young, pregnant victim, he is spurred into action. Perplexed at first by the victim's anonymity, Nottingham learns that she was a disabled woman abused both by employers and kin. No way will his fledgling police department let this wrongful death slide by. Nottingham is quietly powerful and strives to ensure justice for all, not just the moneyed class. Not surprisingly, his investigation exposes more than some city leaders had planned and leaves him particularly vulnerable. VERDICT Nickson's fourth title (after The Constant Lovers) in his superb 18th century-set series lives up to expectations. Clearly written so that the titles can be read out of order, this historical police procedural ends with a cliffhanger, guaranteeing your patrons will demand number five,
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