Skin Like Silver

January 18, 2016
Gun violence and the ambiguities of justice add a topical edge to British author Nickson’s solid third Tom Harper police procedural (after 2015’s Two Bronze Pennies), set in Leeds in 1891. Shortly after the police discover a dead infant who was packaged and mailed in an anonymous parcel, Harper rushes to a huge blaze accidentally ignited at the city’s railway station. A female body there is partially sheathed in silvery metal liquefied in the fire, but she’s dead by stabbing. Harper’s team identifies her as former servant Catherine Carr, who married an elderly factory owner but fled his abuse six months earlier. Meanwhile, Catherine’s brother, a military veteran institutionalized for violent rages, escapes to begin sniper attacks, possibly spurred by his sister’s death. Subplots involving the unidentified infant, Harper’s failing hearing, his wife’s suffragist awakening, and tensions between himself and his former sergeant, Billy Reed, add appealing warmth. Nickson resolves the mystery of the dead baby in a believable, nuanced way. Agent: Tina Betts, Andrew Mann Agency (U.K.).

January 1, 2016
Suffragettes and serial killers have the populace of Victorian Leeds on edge. Apart from losing his hearing in one ear, DI Tom Harper, a successful police officer, and his wife, Annabelle, the ambitious owner of a public house and three bakeries, seem to have little to fear. Unlike other men who feel threatened by women getting any power, he supports Annabelle's interest in the Leeds Suffragist Society. Their calm is shattered when two nasty cases arrive on Harper's desk. One involves a newborn baby found dead in a parcel posted to an undeliverable address and the other, the body of a badly burned woman who's been stabbed to death in the rubble remaining after a massive fire at the train station. Billy Reed, who transferred to the fire service after a disagreement with Harper, is assigned to help his former partner in the fire-related death. At length the woman is identified as Catherine Sugden Carr, a former lady's maid who married the wealthy widower who employed her. He claims she moved out after taking up for women's votes; one of the servants tells the police he beat her. Then Catherine's brother, Stanley Sugden, a former army sniper and scout who's been placed in an insane asylum, escapes and begins killing people. While the whole police force tries to hunt Sugden down, Harper and Reed still must discover who murdered his sister. Not the best of Nickson's Victorian mysteries (Two Bronze Pennies, 2015, etc.) but still full of engaging characters as the author continues to intertwine social problems with murder.

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March 1, 2016

The latest adventure of DI Tom Harper of the Leeds Police sees the detective balancing two very different cases. In the first, he is trying to locate the mother of a dead baby found in a parcel at the local post office. Then a fire destroys a railroad station and discovered beneath the rubble is a woman's corpse, covered in melted steel. As Harper works to identify the murderer of Catherine Carr, he has to partner with a former colleague who had transferred to the Fire Brigade. Harper and Billy Reed had a serious falling-out, and their relationship remains tentative at best. Murder, women's suffrage, madness, and industrial shenanigans all come together in a shocking conclusion. VERDICT Harper is a good copper; he wants justice, but sometimes he is forced to seek it in slightly unethical ways. As an industrial hub, Leeds drew immigrants from all parts of the British Empire, making for a riveting historical setting. Readers of Iain Pears and Will Thomas will enjoy this Victorian series.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2016
Nickson's latest DI Tom Harper historical procedural is tautly written and highly engaging, with a keep-'em-guessing plot and plenty of late nineteenth-century period details. Harper has his hands full, what with the gruesome discovery of a parcel containing a dead baby at the post office, a terrible fire at the railway station, and the imminent threat of violence against women in the growing suffragette movement. When the body of a woman is discovered in the aftermath of the station fire, Harper at first believes it's a terrible accident. Then he discovers that the womanCatherine Carr, wife of a wealthy businessmanwas stabbed to death long before the fire started. Meanwhile, pressure is building in Harper's other cases, particularly the problem of attacks against the suffragettes. Historical-mystery readers will find everything they need here, from a fully developed lead character to carefully delineated procedural details to meaty subject matter. Recommend this one to fans of the recent movie Suffragette.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)