Tight plotting, with the solving of the murder mystery also solving questions from the protagonist's past.

The synopsis for The Broken Token grabbed me right away. Crime fiction, you say? Historical crime fiction? Set in a lovingly-researched 18th century Leeds, the city I work in (and that one half of my family originally hails from)? Yes please! The Broken Token follows Richard Nottingham, constable of Leeds, as he tries to solve a series of murders that have hit him a little too close to home. As a crime novel, it is incredibly successful – it kept me guessing right up until the end, and there were a few genuinely shocking twists along the way. However, it is in the portrayal of 18th century city life that the book really shines. If you know Leeds at all, the vivid portrait of the city that Nickson paints makes the book an absolute delight to read. Even if you don’t know the city, his realistic portrayal of the struggle for existence in an industrial city is absorbing, detailed and realistic.

The characters were also very well written – Nottingham and his deputy, Sedgwick, are both very likeable, relatable characters. I would be interested to see if some of the background characters, such as Nottingham’s family, are developed any further in the two further books in the series, as I thought they had potential to be a lot more interesting than they were. Which isn’t to say that they weren’t interesting – I would have just like to know a bit more about them.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical and/or crime fiction. Very much looking forward to reading the next two books in the series! ( )