The Leaden Heart (A Tom Harper Mystery)
In July 1899, Leeds, England, is beset by a rash of burglaries, the first a daring one committed while residents were on the ground floor of the manor house playing cards. At the same time, shopkeepers are being beaten, some dying mysteriously, while a pair of dark-haired brothers demand evictions in the name of hidden property owners and developers. And the city is rocked by the drownings of a pair of sisters, age four and six, who were pushed by their father into the canal when the local workhouse refused to accept them.
The crimes that fall on the desk of police Superintendent Tom Harper have personal connections. Two of the shopkeepers found dead are the brother and sister-in-law of former colleague Billy Reed, who moved to nearby Whitby after a falling out. The little girls have become a cause célèbre for Harper’s wife Annabelle, a Poor Law Guardian who seeks to change workhouse practices so poor children will never again be turned away. The burglaries and evictions spring from roots of corruption in the constabulary and city government.
The Leaden Heart is the seventh in the Tom Harper mystery series. It is based on actual incidents and practices of the times. The drownings mimic the deaths of Ada and Annie Mellor, whose father was hanged for the crime in 1900; the protections against disclosure of land owners’ identities that complicate Harper’s investigation were long-standing tenets of property law.
The novel is well-written, characters are appealing, and the setting is evocative. Yet the pace is slow, leading to skimming, and emotional connection is not fully developed. For this reader at least, the effects of the crimes on various characters were understood but not deeply felt.
