1913 Leeds, Crime and disruptions!

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Brass Lives (Tom Harper Mystery #9)  Chris Nickson                  

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Tom Harper has two important aspects to his life. Deputy Chief Constable for Leeds police, and husband and father to two strong women, both heavily involved in the women’s suffrage movements.
It’s June 1913 and his women are knee deep in their suffrage pursuits. His wife Annabelle is intending to join a Suffragist rally (The Great Pilgrimage) journeying to London. Tom is involved in a policing capacity for the Leeds constabulary looking at safety and security issues. Mary has turned from the more radical Suffragette movement to training young women for office work. She runs a business school, The Harper Secretarial Agency and School.
Meanwhile Davey Mullen, a leading gangster from New York returns to Leeds to see his father. Murder attempts, and killings follow. Harper is in the middle, putting the puzzle together when gang violence erupts. When Harper’s family is threatened, the investigation takes on a more personal edge. The constabulary raids the gang controlled parts of Leeds in their bid to find the culprits. Harper has a list and he methodically crosses off missions accomplished. (I did hum “I have a little list” whenever that surfaced. Thank you Gilbert and Sullivan!)
Talk of war quietly surfaces and the Home Office is beginning to make plans. Just in case!
I enjoy Nickson’s ability to blend fact and fiction into a riveting historical  mystery placed in the city he so obviously loves. I also enjoyed his brief but fascinating Afterwards.

A Canongate Severn House ARC via NetGalley 

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