Gods of Gold

A new police procedural series set in late nineteenth century Leeds

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Pub Date 1 Dec 2014 | Archive Date 30 Nov 2019

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Description

Introducing Detective Inspector Tom Harper in the first book in a vivid historical mystery series.

June 1890. Leeds is close to breaking point. The gas workers are on strike. Supplies are dangerously low. Factories and businesses are closing; the lamps are going unlit at night.

Detective Inspector Tom Harper has more urgent matters on his mind. The beat constable claims eight-year-old Martha Parkinson has disappeared. Her father insists she’s visiting an aunt in Halifax – but Harper doesn’t believe him. When Col Parkinson is found dead the following morning, the case takes on an increasing desperation.

But then Harper’s search for Martha is interrupted by the murder of a replacement gas worker, stabbed to death outside the Town Hall while surrounded by a hostile mob. Pushed to find a quick solution, Harper discovers that there’s more to this killing than meets the eye – and that there may be a connection to Martha’s disappearance.
Introducing Detective Inspector Tom Harper in the first book in a vivid historical mystery series.

June 1890. Leeds is close to breaking point. The gas workers are on strike. Supplies are dangerously...

Advance Praise

“Solidly plotted and smartly paced, with intriguing period details of 1890s England and vivid characters, this is an entertaining and thoroughly engaging procedural” - Booklist

“Nickson evokes the 1890 city with accuracy and color. Solidly characterized protagonists with interesting vulnerabilities are a plus” – Publishers Weekly

“A police procedural with a social conscience” – Kirkus Reviews

“Solidly plotted and smartly paced, with intriguing period details of 1890s England and vivid characters, this is an entertaining and thoroughly engaging procedural” - Booklist

“Nickson evokes the...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780727884282
PRICE US$34.99 (USD)

Average rating from 22 members


Featured Reviews

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.

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This is the first book in a new series and very good it is too. Set in Leeds in 1890 during a strike of gas workers, it features Detective Inspector Tom Harper and his DS Billy Reed. A young girl from the slums of the city is missing from what used to be Harper's beat when he was a young constable. He knows the parents and the girl, Martha. Her father says she is staying with his sister but Harper knows he doesn't have a sister.

Unfortunately the gas workers strike and stopping violence breaking out in the city is considered more important than looking for one missing girl but maybe Harper and Reed can do both. Workers have been brought in from elsewhere to man the gasworks but one of them is stabbed to death on the steps of the town hall. Harper and Reed are told to investigate the crime and forget about anything else for the moment.

This is an excellent start to the series and I shall be watching out for future books. I enjoyed the portrait of Leeds - a city of contrasts between the very rich and the very poor. Harper himself is an interesting character who is about to be married to Annabelle, a young widow, who owns a pub and several bakeries and who doesn't believe in sitting around and letting a man keep her.

Can Harper and Reed solve both crimes together with the increasing number of murders which keep happening of people connected with both of the cases they are investigating? Will they be allowed to investigate if it seems that powerful men are involved? Fortunately their superior wants to solve crime whether or not he manages to keep in with the right people.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes historical crime series. The author has also written another crime series set in Leeds this time in the eighteenth century and featuring Richard Nottingham. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.
My review on my blog will go live on 6/10/14 and is currently live on Amazon and Goodreads

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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

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