On Copper Street: A Tom Harper Mystery

In Nickson’s crackerjack fifth police procedural set in late-19th-century Leeds (after 2016’s The Iron Water), Det. Insp. Tom Harper takes charge of two cases: the death of a man who has just been released from prison, and a horrific acid attack on two 13-year-old children. These draw him into a world of petty crime, poverty, and corruption. Meanwhile, the activities of Tom’s wife, Annabelle, a dedicated suffragette and a proponent of the newly formed Labour Party, shed light on the inner workings of the Socialist movement and on real-life activist Tom Maguire, one of the unsung heroes of British political history. Nickson successfully creates an intimacy between the characters and the reader by showing, with each successive book, how his protagonists grow and change as they face life’s milestones: marriage, children, promotions at work, and the death of dear friends. [em]Agent: Tina Betts, Andrew Mann Agency (U.K.). (June) [/em]