Tag: great war

The Story Behind Rusted Souls

On By chrisnickson2In annabelle harper, gods of gold, leeds, tom harper4 Comments

Let me tell you a story. After all, it’s what I do.

It’s about Rusted Souls, the final Tom Harper book which will appear in a little under three months.

Actually, it’s about the writing of it. What you’ll see in the bookshops and libraries is a long way from how the book originally began. This was the opening of the first version:

The meeting was nearly over when Miss Sharp rushed into the room, her face anxious. Harper stopped talking and nodded as she whispered in his good ear. Barely a moment and she was gone again, leaving him scowling. The door closed behind her with a soft click. The room was quiet, the heads of each police division in Leeds waiting expectantly.

‘The jury’s just delivered its verdict.’ He paused and drew in a breath. ‘You won’t like it. Not guilty.’

He had the superintendents together, the way he did every Monday morning. Now they all began to speak at once, a clamour of voices that twisted together in outrage and fury. Twelve good people and true had decided that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict Harry Ryder of the attempted murder of Constable Albert Hardisty. For Christ’s sake, he thought: the policeman had been shot twice in the back; he’d never be fit enough to return to work. Ryder had been discovered with the pistol in his hand. Yet somehow the jury had found him not guilty.

I wrote the whole book, right down to the ending, then set it aside in September 2021, a long time ago now. I’d intended to let it marinate for a month, then come back and revise it. But a month passed, then another, and still I didn’t touch it.

It took a little while, but I came to realise that Tom Harper needed something better for the end of his career. All that remains of that early attempt is the title, and I’d settled on that long, long ago.

Tom had been a member of Leeds City Police for 40 years. He’d risen from constable to chief constable, a remarkable thing for a man who grew up in the poor streets of the Leylands. His wife was…well, no spoilers.

He deserved to leave with dignity, head held high. Tom Harper deserved his elegy, and that early attempt wasn’t it. It wasn’t a bad book; just not the one he deserved. I knew that everything had to be different. Like this:

Thompson’s secretary waved him through.

‘Close the door,’ the alderman told him. ‘Take a seat.’

‘You wanted to see me?’

Thompson didn’t reply, just gave a nod. Normally he was bluff, loud, rolling over everything in his path like one of the tanks the army had used in the war. Nothing stopped him. He was a big man, florid and hearty, with a large belly and quick, roaring laugh. But today he was hesitant, his body hunched in on itself.

‘Can you keep your mouth shut?’

‘I always have,’ Harper replied. ‘You ought to know that.’

Thompson fixed him with a glare. ‘Then make sure it stays that way.’

‘Why? What’s happened?’ Nothing good, that much was certain.

The alderman took a few breaths before he could bring himself to answer. ‘I’m being blackmailed.’

Whatever Harper expected, it hadn’t been that. Thompson had always seemed too shrewd to leave himself open to anything like blackmail. The kind who planned five or ten moves ahead and always made certain to cover himself. A man who left nothing to chance.

Humiliation showed on his face.

‘We can arrest them, take them to court,’ Harper said. ‘It’s a crime—’

‘No.’ The word came out harshly. ‘No,’ Thompson repeated more softly. ‘Nothing public.’

‘Then it’s going to be difficult. You must realize that.’

‘Of course I bloody do.’ Fire flickered across his face. ‘Why do you think I’ve come to you?’

And so it starts…At heart an elegy, tempered with sorrow and grief rather than fired by anger. An elegy not just for Tom, but also Annabelle, and Mary. And, perhaps, for Leeds, as it begins to recover from the Great War and the Spanish flu.

I hope you like it. For reviewers and bloggers, Rusted Souls is now available on NetGalley. You can, of course, pre-order from your local independent bookshop, or the cheapest price online is here (with free UK postage). I know many can’t afford books, but your library will order a copy for you.

However it reaches you, I honestly hope you like it and how it all turns out. They all deserve grace.

Coming In 2023

On By chrisnickson2In annabelle harper, leeds, simon westow, two bronze pennies1 Comment

We’re close to the end of 2022, hard to believe. That means it’s time to take a peek into what the next 12 months promises in books. Well, my books. Before I do, though, I’d like to recommend the best thing I’ve read this year. It’s Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver. A modern Appalachian retelling on David Copperfield, it’s both harrowing and redemptive and very beautifully written. Tell them I sent you (and it’s not too late to catch up with Thomas M Atkinson’s Tiki Man, in my estimation the best thing to appear in 2021).

So…

March is set to bring the fifth Simon Westow book, The Dead Will Rise. It’s a series that definitely grows dark; by now it’s living up to the Regency Noir tag I gave it.

What’s it about? Here’s the blurb.

Leeds. April, 1824.  Wealthy engineer Joseph Clark employs thief-taker Simon Westow to find the men who stole the buried corpse of Catherine Jordan, his employee’s daughter.

Simon is stunned and horrified to realize there’s a gang of bodysnatchers in Leeds. He needs to discover who bought Catherine’s body and where it is now. As he hunts for answers, he learns that a number of corpses have vanished from graveyards in the town. Can Simon and his assistant Jane bring the brutal, violent Resurrection men who are selling the dead to medical schools to justice and give some peace to the bereft families?

In case you’re wondering, there really were bodysnatchers in Leeds. But that’s a tale for another time.

Then, next autumn, there’s the big one: Rusted Souls, the eleventh and final Tom Harper. It takes place in 1920, in the aftermath of the Great War and the Spanish flu. It’s 30 years since the series began with Gods of Gold and now Tom has become Chief Constable.

This book mean a lot to me. I’ve spent three decades with the Harpers. They’re family to me, and saying goodbye was hard. I’ve written in the region of 800,000 words about them. Being able to round it properly was important to me, and I feel I’ve done them justice. But time will tell. They’re crime novels, a saga of a family, but also an exploration of a changing Leeds, I think. I’m proud to have written these. No cover design yet

But that’s all for next year. Meanwhile, I wish you and your happy holidays and a peaceful, healthy New Year – and thank you for reading. And remeber – books make great gifts, for yourself as well as others.

Looking Ahead For Tom And Annabelle Harper?

On By chrisnickson2In annabelle harper, gods of gold, leeds, the tin god, tom harper, Uncategorized2 Comments

It’s ironic, really. I always swore I’d never write a crime novel set in Victorian times. There era was overdone, with Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins – even Dickens – and all who’ve followed in their footsteps. And now I have six of them out there, plus a seventh just completed.

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It still makes me shake my head. Especially the reviews that have come in so far for The Tin God. I’ve created something that people seem to love…

Actually, it all began with a painting by Atkinson Grimshaw, the Leeds artist. A woman standing by the canal, holding a bundle. The water is almost empty because of a strike, the smoky skyline of Leeds tries to peer through behind her. She’s alone, just staring.

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She was Annabelle. That’s how she came into my life. It simply grew from there. A short story at first. Then, after reading about the Leeds Gas Strike of 1890, a novel. An event where the strikers won in three days, even as the Council Gas Committee imported strikebreakers? I had to commemorate that.

So Annabelle came back. She told me all about it and introduced me to her husband, Detective Inspector Tom Harper and his assistant, Sergeant Billy Reed. Out of that arrived Gods of Gold.

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The books are unashamedly political. No apologies for that. But they’re also crime novels, the two intertwined in a heart around Leeds. The newest, The Tin God, is the most political of all, and one where Annabelle finally takes centre stage.

In fact, she doesn’t, although the plot revolves around her bid (along with six other women) to be elected as a Poor Law Guardian in 1897. Trying to stop the man who doesn’t want women in politics is the core. But the heart, the linchpin, is Annabelle trying to win in the Sheepscar Ward.

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The Tin God was a book that seemed to write itself. I was simply the conduit. And over the last few years, Annabelle (in particular) and Tom have become every bit as real to me as friends I meet. I know them, and they know me. They’re family, in a way.

I’d like to say that I have plans for them, but the truth is, they have plans for me. To tell their story to the end of the Great War. Whether that will happen or not remains to be seen. But I’d like to do it. Although the books themselves aren’t planned out, I know what happens in their lives, and in their daughter Mary’s, too.

The book I’ve just finished writing will actually be my last Victorian (assuming my publisher likes it, of course). No, I’m giving nothing away about it, except it’s set in 1899. If another follows, that will be after 1901, and we’ll be into the Edwardian and George V eras. There’s plenty of Leeds material – the 1908 Suffragette ‘riot,’ the start of the war, news from the Somme in 1916, the Leeds Convention of 1917, and finally, finally, the Armistice a year later.

That will prove interesting. I’d certainly never imagined writing an Edwardian crime novel. Or even given a second through to George V. But I have a strong impression that Annabelle and Tom will guide me through it all.

In the meantime, I’d be very grateful if you read The Tin God. And the other books in the series.

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