Name:
Location: Seattle, Washington, United States

What you have here is an old guy. In education for 30 years, started teaching elementary, ended as library and media director of community college. I've enjoyed mountain climbing, sports car rallying, was pipe major of a bagpipe band, played guitar and sang during the folk revival, walking and hiking later in life. Now fairly sedentary. Enjoy reading, esp. mysteries and fantasy, but my reading is pretty eclectic. Enjoy movies, giving Netflix a workout.

Friday, February 24, 2012

The Broken Token by Rich Nickson

I quite often read mysteries with foreign settings because I have not been to these countries and I can learn a bit about them. Some examples: John Burdett - Thailand, Colin Cotterill - Laos, James Church - North Korea, Donna Leon - Italy. English mysteries I sometimes read because I’ve been to the places where the novel is set. I recently discovered Elly Griffith whose mysteries are set in Norfolk. Sometimes I read for the historical background, such as Bernard Knight’s ‘Crowner John’ novels set in 14th C. Exeter.

I’ve just finished The Broken Token by Rich Nickson. Nickson has written two novels set in Leeds, England in 1730. Leeds was then much smaller than it is today. Central Leeds now has a population of almost half a million people and Greater Leeds nearly a million. A far cry from 1730. Richard Nottingham is Constable of Leeds. Someone is committing murders in pairs, man and woman, or more correctly, man and prostitute. What begins as two murders soon becomes six. The woman in the first murders was once a servant girl in the Constable’s house. The new mayor is threatening Nottingham with firing if he does not get results soon. The constabulary force is small; Nottingham has an assistant, John Sedgwick, and no more than six officers. They are also expected to catch a cunning cutpurse.

Nickson writes well of the town with its wealthy cloth merchants, its tavern keepers, its poor people and its many prostitutes. Nottingham is having trouble with a younger daughter and Sedgwick with his wife, who ultimately leaves for another man, taking his three-year-old son. In the end Nottingham finds some unlikely assistance in catching the murderer. His childhood had been spent as an urchin on the street and what he learns about his own heritage is revealing. The Broken Token is an interesting beginning to a series which I hope will be a long one. Chris Nickson was born in Leeds but has spent part of his life in Seattle.

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6 Comments:

Blogger George said...

My son Patrick was in your neighborhood last week for a job interview at the University of Washington. Guess how long the job interview lasted? Thirteen hours! Patrick had to deliver an hour and a half lecture and talk with all the faculty members. We'll see if he gets the job.

8:06 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Nice article, thanks for the information.

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4:52 AM  
Blogger Cap'n Bob said...

Congratulations, Frank. Today marks the one-year anniversary of this post, a tribute to your patience and sense of timelessness. It's also my mother's 90th birthday.

7:56 PM  
Blogger Cap'n Bob said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

4:23 PM  
Blogger Cap'n Bob said...

Now you've hit the three year anniversary of this posting and my mother is 92.

1:36 AM  
Blogger Fun at the Library said...

Frank, this is Ken St. Andre. I am in Seattle until 9/23. would like to see you. Call me. 6024725957.

8:43 AM  

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