At the Dying of the Year: A Richard Nottingham Book

British author Nickson’s stellar fifth 18th-century whodunit finds Richard Nottingham, Constable of the City of Leeds, returned to work after the life-threatening wound he received in the previous book, 2012’s Come the Fear. Nottingham worries that he won’t hold the post much longer, given the limitations imposed by his injury as well as the antipathy shown him by the mayor, but he soon has worse things to worry about. The discovery of the abused corpses of three children sets the constable and his men on a desperate search for the killer, who has probably claimed other lives. A description of the suspect, a man known only as Gabriel, leads Nottingham to one of the city’s most powerful men. Nickson has never been better in merging the private life of his hero with a quixotic quest for justice in a community where the privileged look out for their own, no matter what. Agent: Tina Betts, Andrew Mann (U.K.). (July)