Published by
Severn House Publishers Ltd, 31st March 2020.
ISBN: 978-0-72788976-8
It is
September 1908 and Tom Harper, a Detective Superintendent based in Leeds, is
attending the funeral service of Inspector Billy Reed. Reed had transferred to
Whitby several years earlier but the two had remained friends. Tom is shocked
by his pal’s sudden death and the event causes him to consider his own
mortality and becomes a theme running through the novel.
Of course, the busy DS has little
time for reflection, and thoughts of Billy’s death are temporarily displaced
when Harper receives a letter of commendation from King Edward VII himself. He earned the accolade when he successfully
planned and oversaw the monarch’s recent visit to the Yorkshire city. Before he can bask in the honour, however,
Chief Constable Crossley informs the station that Prime Minister Herbert
Asquith is also to visit Leeds in the very near future. This is likely to be a far less convivial
affair and militant suffragettes as well as unemployed workers are already
threatening to cause trouble.
Harper is hard at work augmenting
his team to ensure - Asquith’s, as well as the public’s, safety during the
Prime Minister’s time in Leeds. Then, he
receives an anonymous letter that has unsettling information about the
abduction of a young boy, Andrew Sharp, fifteen years earlier. Harper quickly discovers that the boy’s
disappearance has been, at best, mishandled and that the initial investigation
was cursory in the extreme. The DS is
forced to juggle his preparations for the ministerial visit with his desire to
get justice for the child who was badly let down by his colleagues so many
years before. He re-opens the case and
initial witnesses are identified for interview – that’s when things take a turn
for the worse.
The public and political
narrative of Asquith’s visit to Leeds is juxtaposed with the domestic tragedy
of Andrew’s disappearance. Harper’s
family life weaves between these two major plots. Annabelle, his wife, and their 16-year-old daughter,
Mary, are involved in the suffragette movement, but tempers flare when Mary decides
that direct action is the best way to achieve women’s right to vote. In addition, Annabelle has an important
decision of her own to make; one which threatens her own future as well as that
of her husband and daughter.
The use of factually accurate
events around which to build the novel is enriched by the author’s knowledge of
Leeds and its environs. The writing
style is succinct, clear and crisp, it complements the pace of the narrative, creating
tension which increases as the day of the Prime Minister’s visit looms ever
closer. I found it impossible to put the
book down and read it in one sitting.
The Molten City is the eighth Tom Harper mystery; it is, however, the
first of the series that I have read and works perfectly as a stand-alone. It is an excellent read, interesting,
informative, very enjoyable and I highly recommend it.
------
Reviewer: Dot
Marshall-Gent
http://chrisnickson.co.uk/
Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years
first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control
officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English
in her mid-forties. She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive
Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and
writes mainly about educational issues. Dot sings jazz and country music
and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery
and crime fiction.
No comments:
Post a Comment