The Broken Token

The Broken Token

When Richard Nottingham, Constable of Leeds, discovers his former housemaid murdered in a particularly sickening manner, his professional and personal lives move perilously close. Circumstances conspire against him, and more murders follow. Soon the city fathers cast doubt on his capability, and he is forced to seek help from an unsavory source. Not only does the murder investigation keep running into brick walls as family problems offer an unwelcome distraction; he can't even track down a thief who has been a thorn in his side for months. When answers start to emerge, Nottingham gets more than he bargains for. An impressive mystery debut.-Publishers Weekly Starred Review, Aug. 16, 2010I thoroughly enjoyed this book...the setting and main characters were so brilliantly and engrossingly portrayed. These are a well-matched pair of coppers who deserve to return in their very own series.-I Love A Mystery Nickson has made 18th-century Leeds a character in and of itself...Anyone wishing a return to the 'good old days' would do well to read this well-written novel -Mystery SceneFrom Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Music journalist Nickson (The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to World Music) makes an impressive mystery debut, set in 1731 Leeds. Early one morning, constable Richard Nottingham's trusted deputy, John Sedgwick, bangs on his door to announce a double murder. In a poor neighborhood street, Nottingham recognizes dissenting preacher Daniel Morton, whose slashed corpse is entangled with the stabbed body of the constable's ex-serving girl, Pamela Watson, who'd been like a third daughter to him before she left his household to marry a farm laborer. A token that Nottingham once gave Pamela, a penny cut in half to signify parted lovers, appears to have been torn from a ribbon around Pamela's neck. Nottingham and Sedgwick interview whores, pimps, and procurers in an effort to catch the lunatic who slays three couples in six days. Multiple threads of the case come together at the end in an unexpected and disturbing conclusion.Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.ReviewI thoroughly enjoyed this book...the setting and main characters were so brilliantly and engrossingly portrayed. These are a well-matched pair of coppers who deserve to return in their very own series. --I Love A MysteryNickson has made 18th-century Leeds a character in and of itself...Anyone wishing a return to the 'good old days' would do well to read this well-written novel --Mystery Scene