Thief-taker Simon Westow is used to finding stolen goods, not stolen bodies . . . Can he hunt down those committing crimes against the dead in Leeds? 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 body snatchers 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?

1944: Twenty years after WPC Lottie Armstrong was dismissed from the Leeds police force, she's back, now a member of the Women's Auxiliary Police Corps. Detective Chief Superintendent McMillan is now head of CID, trying to keep order with a depleted force as many of the male officers have enlisted. This hasn't stopped the criminals, however, and as the Second World War rages around them, can they stop a blackout killer with a taste for murder?

Richard Nottingham confronts an old enemy in the latest intriguing historical mystery 1734. When a young country lad requests the Constable's help in finding his sister who has run away to Leeds to seek her fortune, Nottingham is not optimistic. Such girls usually end up as prostitutes - or worse. The following day, the young man is found dead, his throat slit. The evening before his death, the victim had been seen in deep conversation with career criminal Tom Finer in the Bell Inn. Could there be a connection to his murder? Why has Finer returned to Leeds after a seventeen-year absence? And what really happened to the young man's sister? Then a second body is discovered floating in the River Aire - and Nottingham finds himself plunged into a murder investigation where nothing is as it seems.

June, 1890. Leeds is close to breaking point. The gas workers are on strike. Supplies are dangerously low. Factories and businesses are closing; the lamps are going unlit at night. Detective Inspector Tom Harper has more urgent matters on his mind. The beat constable claims eight-year-old Martha Parkinson has disappeared. Her father insists she's visiting an aunt in Halifax - but Harper doesn't believe him. When Col Parkinson is found dead the following morning, the case takes on an increasing desperation. But then Harper's search for Martha is interrupted by the murder of a replacement gas worker, stabbed to death outside the Town Hall while surrounded by a hostile mob. Pushed to find a quick solution, Harper discovers that there's more to this killing than meets the eye - and that there may be a connection to Martha's disappearance.

In the latest Richard Nottingham historical mystery, the Constable must track down a predatory child-killer who roams the city. Leeds, 1733. Three children are found dead in a disused bell pit; their bodies battered and bruised, each of them stabbed through the heart. As an atmosphere of fear and suspicion pervades the city, Richard Nottingham and his team find themselves hunting a ruthless child-killer, a monster who preys on abandoned street children, those with no one to care about them, no one to report them missing. The Constable has his suspicions as to who the culprit might be - but how can he prove it when the wealthy and powerful protect their own? He could also do without the interference of the new mayor, who's taking a close personal interest in the case. Nottingham's efforts to bring the killer to justice will have tragic consequences for himself and his family.

Winter is about to take a chilling twist... Thief-taker Simon Westow is drawn into a deadly puzzle when the melting snow reveals a dark secret in this gripping historical mystery, perfect for fans of Anne Perry and Charles Finch. Leeds, 1822. The city is in the grip of winter, but the chill deepens for thief-taker Simon Westow and his young assistant, Jane, when the body of Laurence Poole, a petty local thief, emerges from the melting snow by the river at Flay Crow Mill. A coded notebook found in Laurence's room mentions Charlie Harker, the most notorious fence in Leeds who's now running for his life, and the mysterious words: To the dark. What was Laurence hiding that caused his death? Simon's hunt for the truth pits him against some dangerous, powerful enemies who'll happily kill him in a heartbeat - if they can.

1364: The plague has returned and fear fills the air as the pestilence claims its first victims in Chesterfield. When the local priest vanishes, John the Carpenter believes the man is simply scared - until he discovers a body left in an empty house. Charged with finding the murderer by the coroner, John must dig deep into the past to discover who in the present has enough hatred to kill. But as the roll of the dead grows longer, can he keep his family safe from malign forces outside of his control? The third title in a gripping series following the best-selling titles The Crooked Spire and The Saltergate Psalter.

Detective Superintendent Tom Harper senses trouble ahead when the prime minister plans a visit. Can he keep law and order on the streets while also uncovering the truth behind a missing child? Leeds, September 1908. There's going to be a riot. Detective Superintendent Tom Harper can feel it. Herbert Asquith, the prime minster, is due to speak in the city. The suffragettes and the unemployed men will be out in the streets in protest. It's Harper's responsibility to keep order. Can he do it? Harper has also received an anonymous letter claiming that a young boy called Andrew Sharp was stolen from his family fourteen years before. The file is worryingly thin. It ought to have been bulging. A missing child should have been headline news. Why was Andrew's disappearance ignored? Determined to uncover the truth about Andrew Sharp and bring the boy some justice, Harper is drawn deep into the dark underworld of child-snatching, corruption and murder as Leeds becomes a molten, rioting city.

The first in a series of gripping murder mysteries set in 14th-century England

1361: Orphaned by the Black Death, all John possesses are the tools that belonged to his father, a carpenter, and an uncanny ability to work wood. His travels bring him to Chesterfield, where he finds work erecting the spire of the new church. But no sooner does he begin, than the master carpenter is murdered and John himself becomes a suspect. To prove his innocence John must help the coroner in his search for the killer, a quest that brings him up against some powerful enemies in a town where he is still a stranger and friends are few. Chris Nickson brilliantly evokes the feeling of time and place in this story of corruption and murder.

June 1890. Leeds is close to breaking point. The gas workers are on strike. Supplies are dangerously low. Factories and businesses are closing; the lamps are going unlit at night. Detective Inspector Tom Harper has more urgent matters on his mind. The beat constable claims eight-year-old Martha Parkinson has disappeared. Her father insists she's visiting an aunt in Halifax - but Harper doesn't believe him. When Col Parkinson is found dead the following morning, the case takes on an increasing desperation. But then Harper's search for Martha is interrupted by the murder of a replacement gas worker, stabbed to death outside the Town Hall while surrounded by a hostile mob. Pushed to find a quick solution, Harper discovers that there's more to this killing than meets the eye - and that there may be a connection to Martha's disappearance.

When an old friend asks Superintendent Tom Harper for help, he finds himself drawn into a deadly web of intimidation, corruption and misery on the streets of Leeds. Leeds, England. July, 1899. The hot summer has been fairly quiet for Detective Superintendent Tom Harper and his squad, until a daring burglary occurs at an expensive Leeds address. Then his friend and former colleague, Inspector Billy Reed, asks for his help. Billy's brother, Charlie, a shopkeeper, has committed suicide. Going through Charlie's papers, Billy discovers crippling rent rises demanded by his new landlord. Could these have driven him to his death? As Harper investigates, he uncovers a web of intimidation and corruption that leads back to the mysterious North Leeds Company. Who is pulling the strings behind the scenes and bringing a new kind of misery and violence to the people of Leeds? Harper is determined to unmask the culprits, but how much blood will be shed as he tries?

Thief-taker Simon Westow must save one of his closest friends from a grim fate at the hands of the government in this compelling historical mystery. Leeds, May 1822. Thief-taker Simon Westow owes Davey and Emily Ashton everything - the siblings gave him sanctuary when he needed it most. So when Davey is arrested for sedition and Emily begs Simon for help, he starts asking questions, determined to clear his friend. Are the answers linked to rumours of a mysterious government spy in town? Davey's not the only one who needs Simon's help. Timber merchant George Ericsson has been 'hocussed' by a young woman who spiked his drink and stole his valuable ring and watch. Who is she, and how does she know one of Simon's assistant Jane's deepest secrets? The path to the truth is twisted and dangerous. Simon and Jane encounter murder, lies, betrayal and a government terrified of its own people as they attempt to save Davey and find the hocus girl.

John the Carpenter has been happy to leave the investigation of death behind. For six years now he's been content to work with wood. His life looks prosperous, but times are growing desperate. Then the coroner summons him to look at the mysterious death of an anchoress, a religious woman who lived in confined solitude. She's been murdered. Her father is an important local landowner, a man of influence with the crown. He's distraught, and the money he offers John to find the killer can solve his problems and leave his family comfortable for life. But the path to the truth leads John to the heart of the rich, and back into history, to places where he's not welcome and in danger for his own life. Can he find the killer? And what will happen if he doesn't?

"An outstanding entry in an excellent historical-mystery series that deserves more attention" - Booklist Starred Review Detective Inspector Tom Harper finds answers hard to come by in his latest, most challenging, investigation to date. Leeds, England. March, 1895. The day after his release from prison, petty criminal Henry White is found stabbed to death at his terraced home on Copper Street. Pursuing enquiries in a neighbourhood where people are suspicious of strangers and hostile to the police, DI Tom Harper and his team find the investigation hard going. If anyone knows anything about Henry White's murder - or the robbery that landed him in gaol in the first place - they are unable or unwilling to say. At the same time, acid is thrown over a young boy in a local bakery in a seemingly unprovoked attack. Praying for a breakthrough, Harper knows that he must uncover the motive in each case if he is to have any chance of catching the culprits. Of one thing he is certain: if he doesn't find answers soon, more deaths will follow.

Leeds, England. July, 1893. D.I. Tom Harper is witnessing the demonstration of a devastating new naval weapon, the torpedo, at Roundhay Park. The explosion brings up a body in the lake, a rope lashed tightly around its waist. At the same time, dredging operations in the River Aire are disrupted when a woman's severed leg floats to the water's surface, still clad in its stocking and boot. Could the two macabre discoveries be connected? Harper's investigations will lead him right to the heart of the criminal underworld that underpins the city - and into the path of a merciless killer.

Leeds, England. October, 1891. An unclaimed parcel at the Central Post Office is discovered to contain the decomposing body of a baby boy. It's a gruesome case for DI Tom Harper. Then a fire during the night destroys half the railway station. The next day a woman's body is found in the rubble. But Catherine Carr didn't die in the blaze: she'd been stabbed to death - and Harper has to find her killer. The estranged wife of a wealthy industrialist, Catherine had been involved with the Leeds Suffragist Society, demanding votes for women, the same organization for which Harper's wife Annabelle has just become a speaker. Were Catherine's politics the cause of her death? Or is the husband she abandoned behind it? But when her brother escapes from the asylum and steals a shotgun, Harper has to race to find the answers.

Leeds, England, Christmas Eve, 1890. DI Tom Harper is looking forward to a well-earned rest. But it's not to be. A young man has been found stabbed to death in the city's poverty-stricken Jewish district, his body carefully arranged in the shape of a cross, two bronze pennies covering his eyes. Could someone be pursuing a personal vendetta against the Jews? Harper's investigations are hampered by the arrival of Capitaine Bertrand Muyrere of the French police, who has come to Leeds to look into the disappearance of the famous French inventor Louis Le Prince, vanished without trace after boarding a train to Paris. With no one in the close-knit Jewish community talking to the police and with tensions rising, DI Harper realizes he'll have to resort to more unorthodox methods in order to unmask the killer.

Leeds, England, Christmas Eve, 1890. DI Tom Harper is looking forward to a well-earned rest. But it's not to be. A young man has been found stabbed to death in the city's poverty-stricken Jewish district, his body carefully arranged in the shape of a cross, two bronze pennies covering his eyes. Could someone be pursuing a personal vendetta against the Jews? Harper's investigations are hampered by the arrival of Capitaine Bertrand Muyrere of the French police, who has come to Leeds to look into the disappearance of the famous French inventor Louis Le Prince, vanished without trace after boarding a train to Paris. With no one in the close-knit Jewish community talking to the police and with tensions rising, DI Harper realizes he'll have to resort to more unorthodox methods in order to unmask the killer.

Richard Nottingham confronts an old enemy in the latest intriguing historical mystery 1734. When a young country lad requests the Constable's help in finding his sister who has run away to Leeds to seek her fortune, Nottingham is not optimistic. Such girls usually end up as prostitutes - or worse. The following day, the young man is found dead, his throat slit. The evening before his death, the victim had been seen in deep conversation with career criminal Tom Finer in the Bell Inn. Could there be a connection to his murder? Why has Finer returned to Leeds after a seventeen-year absence? And what really happened to the young man's sister? Then a second body is discovered floating in the River Aire - and Nottingham finds himself plunged into a murder investigation where nothing is as it seems.

Introducing thief-taker Simon Westow in the first in a new historical mystery series set in Regency Leeds. Leeds, 1820. Simon Westow makes a good living as a thief-taker. The boy who grew up in the workhouse has become a success, finding and returning the stolen possessions of the rich - for a fee. But when mill owner John Milner hires Simon to find his kidnapped daughter, Hannah, he faces a challenge like no other. With his enigmatic and deadly young assistant, Jane, by his side, Simon's search takes him through the dark underbelly of Leeds, where poverty, industry and death live cheek by jowl. But he soon comes to understand that the real answers lie in his own past, and an old enemy seeking revenge . . .

1924: Still reeling from the effects of the Great War, life in the city of Leeds is hard: poverty is rife, work is scarce and crime is becoming more sophisticated. Bravely entering this maelstrom is one of the city's first policewomen to walk the beat, the resourceful, inquisitive and practical WPC Lottie Armstrong. Eager to prove herself and determined to succeed, Lottie faces apathy from colleagues and the general public alike until she suddenly finds herself on the trail of a missing girl that leads to the underbelly of the city and to murder. As Lottie uncovers a plot involving high level corruption, CID reluctantly find they need her knowledge and people skills, but as the truth is slowly laid bare Lottie's bravery is tested to its limit in a breathtaking climax.

Leeds, 1957: When enquiry agent Dan Markham and his new partner, retired Detective Sergeant Baker, take on a missing persons case, a simple matter turns into a murder investigation when a body is recovered from the River Aire. Nothing is what it seems. The dead man is an East German. A defector or spy? More mysterious deaths follow and the investigation takes a deadly turn as the pair try to track down a ruthless Russian assassin and Markham finds himself dragged into the heart of a Cold War - in Leeds.

'Chris Nickson works his usual magic, populating late medieval Chesterfield with characters that are clearly of their time and yet jump off the page, vibrant and familiar. The icing on the cake (or the jeweled cover on the exquisite psalter) - a fiendishly clever puzzle. Highly recommended!' Candace Robb, author of the bestselling Owen Archer mysteries 1361: John the Carpenter, married and soon to become a father, has plenty of work to keep him busy in Chesterfield. But when an elderly man in the town is found murdered with no clue as to why, the coroner calls upon John's mystery-solving expertise once again. However, this is a crime where nothing is as it appears. When the suspected murderer is found dead and a valuable Book of Psalms vanishes, John is suddenly embroiled in a string of crimes that threaten his own life and the safety of his new family.

A tale of greed, ambition and thwarted love in eighteenth-century Leeds On a hot summer morning, Richard Nottingham, Constable of Leeds, is called out when a young woman is found stabbed to death among the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey, just outside the city. In her pocket is a carefully-folded love note: "Soon we'll be together and our hearts can sing loud, my love, W." Her pale skin and smooth hands speak of money, but no one comes to claim her body. When the victim's husband eventually appears, his evidence throws up more questions than answers. What happened to the maid who accompanied her mistress on her final, fatal journey? Who is the mysterious 'W' who signed the note? And why does the victim's father seem so indifferent to her death? Nottingham has to delve into the dark secrets of the rich and influential to uncover the truth.

"An outstanding entry in an excellent historical-mystery series that deserves more attention" - Booklist Starred Review Detective Inspector Tom Harper finds answers hard to come by in his latest, most challenging, investigation to date. Leeds, England. March, 1895. The day after his release from prison, petty criminal Henry White is found stabbed to death at his terraced home on Copper Street. Pursuing enquiries in a neighbourhood where people are suspicious of strangers and hostile to the police, DI Tom Harper and his team find the investigation hard going. If anyone knows anything about Henry White's murder - or the robbery that landed him in gaol in the first place - they are unable or unwilling to say. At the same time, acid is thrown over a young boy in a local bakery in a seemingly unprovoked attack. Praying for a breakthrough, Harper knows that he must uncover the motive in each case if he is to have any chance of catching the culprits. Of one thing he is certain: if he doesn't find answers soon, more deaths will follow.