My new book, No Precious Truth, will be published on April 1.
However, in exchange for an honest review, you can read it now. It’s available on NetGalley. You need to register with them – free and only takes a few seconds – then be approved for Severn House titles. If you’re not, please drop me a line and I should be able to fix that for you.
It’s the start of a new series, Leeds in World War 2, with a new female lead character I love, but yes, I’m nervous about it, even more so than when a series in established. I’d like plenty of people to read it and give their opinions, so you’d actually be helping me.
Thank you in advance.
If you are registered with NetGalley and approved for Severn Housem simply go here.
A curious title, isn’t it? It’s actually an oblique reference to a Jimmy Buffett song. I’ve never heard it, I’m not a fan of his music, but I always liked of it – the title “A Pirate Looks At Forty.”
But at seventy? Well, that’s coming up fast. Next week. None of the earlier milestones ever bothered me, but this seems to loom very large. A real intimation of mortality.
I’m keeping a tighter focus for my work, concentrating on my novels only, and an occasional album review to remind myself I was once a music journalist, and loved it. Music still moves me, but even in my little corner of it – roots and world music – so much is passing me by. It’s time for younger voices with a different language to brin g it all alive.
But the books…I have plenty to keep me going. The seventh Simon Westow novel, Them Without Pain, is coming out in two months, and I’m moving along with the eighth (eight? I’m not sure how that’s happened). In May next year, you’ll meet Woman Police Sergeant Cathy Marsden and a little down the line I’ll be joining up with her again in Leeds, this time in 1942. Like I say, ample to keep me going.
I do have a definite sense of time passing these days. It doesn’t worry me; I’ve always been a fatalist. Just don’t let me keel over until I’ve finished whatever I’m writing, because I’m the only one with a clue who it ends, and even them, I’m frequently not certain until I’m almost there. Probably a good reason to keep writing. It’s my talisman, my lucky charm.
I was a late bloomer. I’d always written, and published bits and pieces. But I was almost forty before the music journalism became regular and my first non-fiction quickie bio appeared. Quite a number of those followed, but I was 55 when the first novel – The Broken Token – landed in the world. Since then, 36 others have followed, 31 one of them set in Leeds.
I love this place and its history, even if I came to that later, too.
So yes, 70. No banners, no bunting, definitely no party.
Let it come and I’ll make of it what I can.
By the way, before you go, let me tell you a little about this upcoming novel, Them Without Pain.
This one adds an extra layer as it has a real root in local history: in 1696, goldsmith Arthur Mangey created the elaborate ceremonial Leeds Mace. Two years later, he was accused of treason for coin clipping (debasing the coinage), found guilty and hanged. It was a dubious conviction, at best. In testimony, someone claimed he had a secret workshop where he committed his crimes, but nobody searched for it.
In 1825, they knocked down the block where the workshop was supposed to be, and…they found it. Inside were two pairs of metal shears and an Elizabethan coin.
Those are the facts. In the fiction, the room also contains the body of a man Westow has been hunting who stole a set of silver cups made by Mangey. How does the past connect to the death – and who killed him?
It’s Regency noir, as dark as it can get, set in a town polluted by the growing number of factories belching out their smoke. A place where people arrive, hunting for work and pavements covered to gold, to find only scraps. But where the rich have money, and the criminals can be deadly.
If you’re on NetGalley and approved for Severn House, you can read it now (please leave a review!). If not, you can still pre-order it. Independent bookshops would love your business, but all your favourite places will carry it. Speedy Hen has the cheapest British price, plus free UK delivery. Just saying.
I’ve been quiet, I know, but I’ve been busy writing. Just as well, too, as yesterday I signed a contract with my publisher for two new books. I’d hope for one, but two, well, that left me overjoyed.
One is for the eighth Simon Westow novels, currently called A Rage Of Souls, and which is about half done (the project that’s kept me busy), and the other is for a second Cathy Marsden novel, set in 1942 and with the tentative title of 0 Dark 30. That one will appear in Spring 2026 – I know, reaching science fiction dates here, but the first Cathy novel, No Precious Truth isn’t out until next May.
Yesterday my research for the new Westow took me (and Jane) out to the lovely St Mary’s Chapel in Lead, always such a joy.
St Mary’s ChapelFrom inside
I’ve been busy planting in the allotment, too, and relishing the growth as the weather grows warmer; had the first strawberry of the season yesterday and it was deliciously sweet. But plenty of rain has made the slugs believe everything popping out of the ground and is all you can eat buffet…and so it becomes a battle, while I pray for no rain.
And the final thing was my computer gave up the ghost. I’ve had a spare, a laptop, waiting in the wings for months, but it still takes take to make the transition, all the programs, transferring data. I’m obsessive about backing up my work in several places, so nothing was lost.
Meanwhile, I’m beginning to gear up for the release of the seventh Simon Westow book in September. It has its foundation in a piece of Leeds history that should be better known. But you can pre-order the book now. The cheapest price for the hardback is here.
I know, I’ve been quiet for a while, and sorry about that. But I’ve been taking time to breathe a bit after the exhibition and event, and I’ve been writing. The next two Simon Westow books (The Scream of Sins and Them Without Pain) are with the publisher – Scream comes out in March – and I’m busy with the WWII novel featuring Woman Police Sergeant Cathy Marsden, currently seconded to the Special Investigation Branch.
The joy is in the research; the couch is a pile of books about the war (I’ve put together something called Cathy’s War Timeline, which is taped to the bookshelf next to the writing table) and I’m learning more and more. The book takes place in early 1941, so I don’t want to go beyond that; I’ll only confuse myself.
Plenty of great little Leeds details in there, like the barrage balloon at St James’s hospital that someone came free from its mooring. People hung on, tied it to a lamp post – and it tore up the lamp post. It was finally brought down near the city centre. How can you not love a tale like that?
Cathy herself is a joy, easing myself into her mind and her life, so I know how that coat feels on her back, how the gas mask case keeps banging against her hip. The walk down the blackout street to home on Brander Road in Gipton. She’s fully alive.
That’s for the future. It doesn’t have a title yet, but it’ll be appearing in summer 2025, a very distant time.
For now, though, the holidays loom, and I hope yours are all good, healthy and peaceful. Meanwhile, there’s a review of the Tom Harper exhibition and event here. If you prefer, here’s an image.
On, and if you haven’t bought it yet, Rusted Souls is a good gift both to give and receive.
No real apologies. After the intense pressure of arranging and putting on the exhibition, then taking it down again, I needed some time to decompress and focus on what I really do – write novels.
I’ve been busy there, which brings me to the really big news. The first part is that I finished going through the proofs for The Scream of Sins, the next Simon Westow novel, which will be published in March. If you thought the last couple of books in the series were dark, they’re like a day on the beach compared to this. Honestly, I’m immensely proud of it, and the redemption it finds.
Here’s the blurb:
Leeds, October 1824. Thief-taker Simon Westow’s job seems straightforward. Captain Holcomb’s maid, Sophie, has stolen important papers that could ruin the family’s reputation, and he’s desperate for their return. But the case very quickly takes a murderous turn, and it becomes clear the papers are hiding a host of sins . . .
During the search, Simon’s assistant, Jane, hears a horrific tale: men are snatching young girls from small towns for use by the rich. Those who are unwanted are tossed onto the streets of Leeds to survive among the homeless. With the help of an unlikely, deadly new companion, Jane will do everything to discover who’s responsible and make them pay.
Can Simon and Jane recover Holcomb’s letters and get justice for the stolen girls? It becomes a battle that might result in them losing everything . . . including their lives.
And here’s the cover:
The second piece of news is that I’ve signed a contract for, and completed, another Westow novel, called Them Without Pain, due in September next year. I’ll say it’s based on a true incident, and leave it at that for now.
Enough, right? Not quite. People have asked what I’ll do next, how that there will be no more Tom Harper books. I’ve started a new series, set in Leeds in World War II and featuring Police Sergeant Cathy Marsden of Leeds City Police. She lives with her parent on the Gipton estate, and has been seconded to something new, the Leeds squad of the Special Investigation Branch (the SIB really existed), so she’s working in plain clothes. I’m working on the book, greatly enjoying coming to know Cathy, the men she works with, her friends and family. That one is set to appear in June 2025. 2025…it’s science fiction.
In the meantime, I’ve had more people contact me about Rusted Souls than any other book I’ve written. Tom and Annabelle have touched a lot of people, and I thank you all. They’re both still alive within me. You can always buy the book for Christmas. It’s even better from an independent bookshop, too.
Chris Nickson 