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.