Introducing thief-taker Simon Westow in the first in a new historical mystery series set in Regency Leeds.Leeds, 1820. Thief-taker Simon Westow knows all about lost property. A boy from the workhouse, he now has a comfortable business finding and returning his clients' stolen possessions. But when John Milner, a successful Leeds businessman, seeks out Simon's services to find his kidnapped daughter, Hannah, it's clear he faces a challenge like no other. Accompanied by his enigmatic and capable young assistant, Jane, Simon takes to the dark, shadowy streets of Leeds for information – streets he knows like the back of his hand. But his enquiries lead Simon and Jane into great danger. Could the answers lie in Simon's own past, and an old enemy seeking revenge?

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?

A dangerous American is in town, but is he really responsible for a deadly crime spree in Leeds? Leeds, June 1913. Deputy Chief Constable Tom Harper is a busy man. He's overseeing a national suffragist pilgrimage due in Leeds that his wife Annabelle intends to join, and his daughter Mary has exciting plans of her own. Then a letter arrives from police in New York: Davey Mullen, an American gangster born in Leeds, is on his way back to the city, fleeing a bloody gang war. Despite Tom's best efforts to keep an eye on him, Davey's arrival triggers a series of chilling events in the city. Is he responsible for the sudden surge in crime, violence and murder on Leeds's streets? Facing a mounting workload, Tom must hunt down a cold-blooded killer while also confronting danger and tragedy close to home.

Dark secrets. Perplexing murders. A tangled puzzle.Leeds, 1826. Thieftaker Simon Westow is watching Frederick Fox – a local crook who recently returned to Leeds with his wife after receiving a mysterious pardon from the gallows.With the help of his assistants, Jane and Sally, Simon tracks the Foxes to a property in the city – and discovers a body. What is the connection between the dead man and Fox, and is there a link to Fox's imprisonment?When a brutal killer strikes again, Simon struggles to make sense of the chilling mystery. Nothing adds up as he is drawn into a twisted maze of murder and deception. Can he solve the conundrum before more deaths occur?This unputdownable historical mystery set in nineteenth-century Leeds is perfect for fans of Anne Perry, Charles Finch, C.S. Harris and Andrea Penrose.

Tom Harper must catch a traitor intent on disrupting the war effort and bringing terror to the streets of Leeds in this page-turning mystery."Nickson does his usual superb job of evoking the period and . . . reinforces his place in the front rank of historical mystery authors"- Publishers Weekly Starred ReviewLeeds. December, 1916. Deputy Chief Constable Tom Harper is called out in the middle of the night when a huge explosion rips through a munitions factory supplying war materials, leaving death and destruction in its wake. A month later, matches and paper to start a fire are found in an army clothing depot. It's a chilling discovery: there's a saboteur running loose on the streets of Leeds.As so many give their lives in the trenches, Harper and his men are working harder than ever - and their investigation takes a dark twist with two shootings, at the local steelworks and a hospital. With his back...

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?

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.

Richard Nottingham discovers that a new, more ruthless breed of criminal has colonised the city when he returns as Constable of Leeds. October, 1736. Lured out of retirement to serve as Constable once again, Richard Nottingham finds Leeds very different from the place he remembers. Many newcomers have been attracted by the town?s growing wealth ? but although the faces have changed, the crimes remain the same, as Nottingham discovers when a body is found floating in the River Aire, its throat cut.What has changed is the fear that pervades the town. With more bodies emerging and witnesses too frightened to talk, Nottingham realizes he?s dealing with a new kind of criminal, someone with no respect for anything or anyone. Someone who believes he?s beyond the law; someone willing brutally to destroy anyone who opposes him. To stop him, Nottingham will need to call in old favours, rely on trusted friendships, and seek help from some very unlikely sources.

With the discovery of a young woman's charred and blackened body, Richard Nottingham tackles his most disturbing case yetMarch, 1733. Fire rages through an empty house in a rundown area of Leeds, but the investigation takes a disturbing turn with the discovery of the charred remains of a young woman and her baby amidst the smouldering ruins. Was the fire deliberately started to conceal the woman's murder? Richard Nottingham's enquiries into the victim's identity will lead him from squalid alehouses, prostitutes' haunts and thieves' dens to the home of a wealthy wool merchant.

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.

Pickpockets, pimps and prostitutes: All in a day's work for the city constable—until work moves too close to home...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 seem to 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 unsavoury source. Not only does the murder investigation keep running into brick walls, and 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...

A gripping murder mystery set in fourteenth-century Chesterfield and sequel to The Crooked SpireJohn the Carpenter, married and soon to become a father, has plenty of work to keep him busy in Chesterfield. But when the town coroner demands his help to solve the death of an elderly man who had survived both the plague and famine, John becomes embroiled in a case with many twists and turns. When the suspected murderer is in turn found dead, and a valuable book of Psalms vanishes, John has to discover who the real killer might be. But very soon he discovers nothing is as it seems.

Leeds, 1954: When enquiry agent Dan Markham takes on a case for Joanna Hart, she simply wants to know if her husband Freddie is being unfaithful. But when Freddie Hart is killed, Markham suspects someone has set him up. Former Cold War spy David Carter is pulling all the strings. Ruthless and professional, he's built himself an empire in Leeds and won't take no for an answer. Suddenly Markham finds himself battling to keep both his client and himself alive and is forced to emply the rusty skills he acquired during his National Service in military intelligence. But are they enough?