Hooked from the very first line!

Rusted Souls (Tom Harper Mystery #11) by Chris Nickson

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

How could I not be? This is Tom Harper. A man I’ve traveled with down through the years. It’s 1920 and Harper’s only six weeks away from retirement. He’s been asked by his boss, Alderman Thompson to quietly investigate a matter for him. Thompson’s being blackmailed. He’d  “engineered Harper’s permanent appointment as Chief Constable of Leeds City Police.” Now Thompson’s calling in the debt.

Three live cases are on the go, three cases to be wound up before handing over to his replacement. All have Harper puzzled and frustrated. 

*There’s this blackmail case with a moneyed and cool woman seemingly at the center.

*A series of jewellery shop heists by four highly disciplined robbers.

*The coming onslaught of organized groups of women en mass shop lifting from bigger department stores in numbers too large to control. They have been working their way from London connecting to large centers by train and foiling police. Mayhem has ensued. 

Leeds is next!

And with all this Tom is faced with extreme sadness and loss. The love of his life, his wife Annabelle, “the vibrant woman, the suffragist speaker, has vanished.” Caught in the clutches of a relentless disease. Dementia has taken her away. Oh, there’s good moments when she’s in the now, but they’re disappearing.

I ponder on the question of how divorced can an author be from his characters? 

Nickson’s sensitive writing about the man Harper is, Harper’s alertness to situations, the presentation of his failings and strengths over the years, and now his sensitive handling of his wife’s illness, all point to the empathetic and brilliant mind behind the tales. The modestly brilliant and determined writer Chris Nickson, the creator of our beloved Harper, who writes with a huge love and knowledge of the city he loves, Leeds.

I freely admit to having tears in my eyes and a tightness in my throat as I read the last episode in Tom Harper’s investigative career, from a humble on the beat policeman to equally humble Chief Constable. So much seen, so much endured, and yet he maintained his dignity, his compassion and his humanity. We grew with him and his family through situations that saw them all go from strength to strength despite the odds.

Farewell Tom Harper, it’s been a great journey! I’ve enjoyed every moment.

A Severn House ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.

Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change