Another video for you this week. But it’s not a piece of Leeds history. Intead, it’s my retelling of a Leeds folktale. For some reason, there are very few that are associated with Leeds, so it’s important to keep telling them and keep them alive.
A warning, though: it’s a story filled with sorrow.
Jenny White
While I’ve got you here…please remember that The Dead Will Rise isn’t even two months old yet, and I’d love for you to buy a copy, or have your local library order it in for you. Then, in September, the final Tom Harper book, Rusted Souls, is coming. It’s not too early to pre-order a copy. But please, at the moment, not from Amazon UK. My publisher is trying to get Amazon to resolve a glitch which has them charging way over the last price for the book. Order it, yes, but from someone else. Independent bookshops are always best!
I’ve always loved the outdoor market. It seems to be the closest we’ll get to the days when people set up on either side of Briggate and peddled their wares, centuries ago. There’s been an outdoor market in pretty much the same place for a long time, and I can take you back to experience it thanks to a description of the place and the characters in 1870.
Come out, hear tghe cries, meet the people. Enjoy a savoury trundle, hear about Jack the Giant-Killer and meet the Monster of the Deep. Bring your pennies.
Leeds outdoor market
While you’re here, the date for the launch of the final Tom Harper book, Rusted Souls, has been set. No tickets yet, but very limited seating. If you’re anywhere near Leeds, I hope you’ll come. It’s on the events page.
And The Dead Will Rise is still only a month old. I honestly hope you’ll buy it, and not just because my royalties for the last six months of 2022 were very low. I think it’s a fine, fine book. But no hardback from Amazon UK please. Go to an independent bookshop or here to Speedy Hen. Cheapest price and free UK postage.
I know that many, probably most, of you don’t live in Leeds. I do my best to describe my city in different period. But nothing is better that seeing it for yourself. That’s why I’ve been making a few videos in town. Just short ones, to try and offer a taste of some areas.
Why not come take take a walk through time with me on Briggate and Leeds Bridge. And we’ll finish off in a graveyard. Ready? We won’t be long, no need to pack a lunch…
Here we are, finally, and The Dead Will Rise is officially released into the wild. I’m hugely proud it it, I feel it’s the best Simon Westow book so far, and there’s a lot of Jane in there – she really comes into her own in this one, and not before time. I do hope youi’ll buy it, or borrow from a library. But however, I’d love it if you read it, and even more of you left a review somewhere. Those honestly do all help, believe me.
I did promise a video bonus, and I’m not going to let you down. All those little courts and yards feature in my books, whether it’s Richard Nottingham, Simon Westow, or Tom Harper. I know many of your have never experienced them, so come with me and talk a little walk along one. I think you’ll see why I love them.
It’s coming, arriving Sunday. I’m not one to celebrate Christmas, although I’m looking forward to reading the new Maggie O’Farrell book I’ve been given – I loved Hamnet – and I know I’ll enjoy the peace and quiet. No venturing into Leeds for the sales or any of that madness. I have what I need, thank you.
I’d like to thank you all for sticking with me and hopefully enjoying the books. Honestly, it means everything. I love it when I hear from people to say they’ve read this or that or a book has made them really feel Leeds. That’s success.
There’s more to come in 2023, a Simon Westow in March and the final Tom Harper in the autumn. Already had the first US review for the Westow, The Dead Will Rise, and it’s a starred review from Publishers Weekly, one of the important trade magazines.
I wish you all happy holidays, whatever you celebrate or don’t celebrate, and a happy and healthy 2023. It has to be better than the last few years, doesn’t it?
I hadn’t intended to post anything this week, but…
The first review for The Dead Will Rise is set to appear. The book isn’t out until March, but the US trade magazines get an early start, and Publishers Weekly is one of the biggest.
Anyway, rocked on my heels to get it so soon, but more to have a starred review. The fourth star in a row for Simon Westow, Jane and Rosie. Called “excellent fifth whodunit in the series. “Nickson keeps the story line intriguing despite the focus on a crime other than murder as he further develops his leads,” the reviwer says, calling the book a “gritty and surprise-filled mystery.”
Wow. Just wow. That’s possibly the best Christmas present I could receive.
Oh – I’ve almost finished the draft on the next one, too, tentative titled The Scream Of Sins.
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.
Chris Nickson 