Katy Massey at Hull Noir #KatyMassey #AllUsSinners #HullNoir

On Wednesday 20 March Katy Massey https://katymassey.com/ @TangledRoots1 was the guest of Hull Noir https://www.hullnoir.com/ @HullNoir to talk about her debut crime novel All us Sinners and her writing career in general. Host for the evening and the man asking the questions was local crime author Nick Triplow @nicktriplow a co-creator of Hull Noir.

In reviews I generally refer to writers as ‘the author’ but as we have met and even gone to the pub together, I will take the liberty of referring to her as the more intimate Katy.

The event, including a Q&A session ran for an hour but there follows a flavour of what was discussed.

Katy Massey in conversation with Nick Triplow

Background

The novel selects some from aspects of Katy’s life. Her mother worked in the sex industry, running a successful brothel in Leeds during the 1980s. Katy wanted to write about the women who worked there, they are not the stereotypes portrayed in fiction. They are just ordinary people, women working hard for their families under difficult circumstances. Putting forward the case for discrete, safe, well-run brothels which would have been important as the time the novel is set.

The novel is set in 1977 in a Leeds that is living under the shadow cast by The Yorkshire Ripper. He (like Jack the Ripper) when mentioned within stories, tends to drown out everything within the narrative, whereas she wants to reflect the terror felt by women at the time. Wanting to bring something unique to the story, an angle not pursued by other writers, where his existence is felt in the North, but he hasn’t reached the level of national infamy he was to achieve. He is a character in the novel though.

Characters

Maureen believes she is in control and very is street smart, but not as much as she thinks. The intention was to show that the harder the front a people show the outside world, the more vulnerable they are when this façade is taken away. The hard front is the result of what people have done to Maureen, but the vulnerable woman beneath is more likeable. She is a woman of complicated relationships with those around her. Mick is a policeman, around 10 years older, has known Maureen for years and is quite paternal. She sees him as a protector, but he is tempted, seeing her as a woman. A transactional relationship and one ‘across the tracks’.

Katy is deliberately looking to give a voice to characters whose story is not often told, people who are marginalised. She knows the world she is writing about, so can bring that authenticity to the storytelling. Also wanting to acknowledge that since the time the novel in which the novel is set, life has moved on, but all women remain vulnerable and deep down, attitudes have hardly changed.

Too many crime novels open with a naked or near naked prostitute, who has been murdered and never gets an opportunity to speak. In All us Sinners the story begins with the jeopardy, an attacked prostitute but one who gets to speak to the reader and can tell her story.

Setting

Nick commented on how incredibly evocative the novel is of the time and place in which it is set. How important was the relationship of Maureen, her city and specifically her neighbourhood? Katy said it was quite important that she had known nothing else, but Mick has great experience, with him bringing a much broader world view to the story. Mick’s life has been forged by religion, legitimate society and service to the community, yet Maureen had a hard dragged up existence selling what she has left to sell. There’s a sense of being trapped in Leeds, which is all she knows. Nick says this made it wonderfully claustrophobic, with the storyline leaving Leeds only twice.

Katy said for her it was important to create a sense of a community, this being part of race politics. Katy grew up mixed race, in a diverse part of Leeds and yet, she felt that she didn’t read enough books that reflect the mixing pot she experienced. Yes, there are black and Asian voices in literature, but they tend to concentrate on their section of the wider society. Whereas she wanted to give a more soap opera feel to the community, with the epicentre of community life being in Jamaican Linford’s café, he being a man with fingers in many pies.

The technical aspects of writing

As a debut novelist how conscious was she of finding her own unique voice, distinct from her work as a journalist and her memoir? Not a conscious effort at all! She just let the story guide her on tone and style as she learned to write a novel. Not being steeped in a crime writing background or having read much of the genre, she didn’t realise she was writing a crime novel, there was no specific intent from the outset. It was her editor who guided her on the technical aspects of writing within the genre.

Writing as a journalist is very different to writing a novel. Its more focussed with shorter sentences which are easy to comprehend.

Memoir

Are We Home Yet came about because of the feeling that she was burning out. Katy managed to get funding to do a MA at Sunderland and the study brought a sense of reawakening and so refreshed, her thoughts moved on to doing a PhD. The PhD thesis then became the basis for the memoir with little change. It took 11 years between writing and publishing, partly down to timing as the bottom had fallen out of the ‘misery memoir’ market. Then in 2020 she saw an opportunity, a publisher (Jacaranda Books) asking for submissions wanting to publish 20 pieces by writers of colour in that year. It was accepted and with the Windrush Generation fresh in everyone’s minds the timing was perfect.

All us Sinners can be purchased via the publisher’s website here

Are we Home Yet can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Katy Massey was a journalist for many years before studying for an MA and PhD in Creative Writing. Her memoir, Are We Home Yet? was published in 2020 and praised by Bernardine Evaristo as ‘a gem’. It was shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize and the Portico Prize. In addition, her fiction and nonfiction work has been widely anthologised, including Common People edited by Kit de Waal, The Place for Me, and speculative collection Glimpse. All Us Sinners is her first novel, an unusual take on the crime genre featuring Maureen, a tough but tender-hearted brothel-keeper in 1970s Leeds. She is unexpectedly drawn into investigating the killing of a friend’s son, events which take place against the disturbing backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper’s murder spree.

Source: Publisher’s website

The Dead Will Rise

By Chris Nickson https://chrisnickson.co.uk/ @ChrisNickson2

Published by Severn House https://severnhouse.com/ @severnhouse

291 pages ISBN 9781448310197

Publication date 7 March 2023

The Dead Will Rise is the fifth novel in the Simon Westow mysteries series. I was sent a NetGalley @NetGalley copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Anne at Random Things Tours @RandomTTours for the invitation to participate and of course the Author, Publisher and NetGalley.

The cover

Bold and on point with the story. I like the faint skull almost like a water mark.

From the blurb

Thief-taker Simon Westow is used to finding stolen goods, not stolen bodies . . . Can he hunt down those committing crimes against the dead in Leeds?

Leeds. April, 1824. Wealthy engineer Joseph Clark employs thief-taker Simon Westow to find the men who stole the buried corpse of Catherine Jordan, his employee’s daughter.

Simon is stunned and horrified to realize there’s a gang of body snatchers in Leeds. He needs to discover who bought Catherine’s body and where it is now. As he hunts for answers, he learns that a number of corpses have vanished from graveyards in the town. Can Simon and his assistant Jane bring the brutal, violent Resurrection men who are selling the dead to medical schools to justice and give some peace to the bereft families?

My thoughts

The North of England 1824, a time of great change. The Industrial Revolution is ramping up to meet the demands of an expanding British Empire and to exploit its raw materials. People had moved from a countryside existence to urban slums to provide the labour the industrial machine needed. Living in cramped insanitary conditions life for inhabitants was short and brutal. There was no recognisable police force, law and order was maintained by the local city watch and justice was often vicious. Minor crime could see you sentenced to an appointment with the hangman, if not and you were lucky, then you might to be transported to the other side of the world and let to your own devices. This background is exploited to the full and drawn out in shades of light and dark in this historical crime novel. The poverty, the downtrodden people but also those with some wealth and power.

Simon Westow is a ‘thief taker’ a strange amalgam of bounty hunter and debt collector. If you were robbed of something of value then the best chance of recovering the goods would be to engage a man like Simon and that would be his principal concern. If he is successful then he may also manage to apprehend the thief and bring them before the magistrate for a form of summary justice.

The plot centres on the heinous crime of grave robbing. Science like industry is increasing rapidly and medicine is at the forefront, but there is a serious shortage of cadavers for dissection which is vital for students to learn. This brings work for the Resurrection Men, grave robbers after fresh corpses rather than any jewellery or valuables. Foul and backbreaking ‘work’, a crime against society but not one that would result in the noose, for it was only a misdemeanour not a felony. To be a felony they would need to sell valuable possessions of the corpse. So, a disgusting crime but a low risk one unless they follow Burke and Hare and murder to provide corpses. When the body of a ten-year-old girl is stolen from a Leeds graveyard Simon is approached to locate those responsible, not his usual target but the disgust of his wife persuades him to get involved.

Whilst this is a Simon Westow novel it is not all about him the hero, as strong, at times deadly women are there front a centre. There is Jane the victim of appalling abuse in her childhood, destroyed as a girl who is being rebuilt as a young woman with the affection and counsel of Mrs Shields. Mrs Shields is the wise and cautious mentor she needs, as Jane is now able to handle herself in dangerous situations and is skilled with a knife to deadly effect. Able to be an everybody or a nobody she manages to blend into the background when working, her empathy with and generosity to the downtrodden, of whom she considers herself one, is a valuable source of information from the street. We also see her developing as a person too as she is learning to read with the guidance of Mrs Shields and with Rosie’s help basic mathematics.

Rosie is also keen to resume work with Simon and be in the thick of the action. Their twin boys are eight and Simon acknowledges that another pair of hands would mean they could take on more work. Desperate to be useful on the case, Rosie works on the fringes and proves her worth. Like Jane a woman to be trifled with at your peril.

The chase is across Leeds, not the city we know today, but one where villages and suburbs like Sheepscar and Headingley are distinct from the city itself. It’s clear the author has great affection for his home city as the action criss-crosses back and forth across this canvas. An excellent imagining of what a developing city might have been like 200 years ago.

The storyline ebbs and flows as Simon and assistant Jane become the hunters and the three men eventually identified as the resurrectionists are the hunted.  Paths intersect more than once as authorities fail in their duties and jeopardy is faced. Jane suffers great pain and indignity that fuels a desire for revenge, one that threatens to overwhelm her judgement. Knives are sharpened and violence meted out regularly but not graphically portrayed. More a case of if you draw your knife, you must be prepared to use it and the reader discovers that Jane is only too willing to do so, as is Simon’s wife. Sometimes you need to strike first and ask questions later.

The stop-start progression builds to a dramatic finale, one where answers are found, and justice is served but of a hollow kind as wrongs cannot be put right.

The Dead Will Rise is an excellent historical novel with a crime that can shock even the most brutal and downtrodden of society.

The Dead Will Rise can be purchased from Amazon here

The author

I’m a novelist and music journalist, the author of many books set between the 1730s and 1950s in Leeds, as well as others in medieval Chesterfield and 1980s Seattle.

Above all, though, its Leeds I love, the people, the sense of the place changing with time. Yes, I write mysteries, but ultmiateoly they’re books about people and their relationships, and the crime becomes a moral framework for the story.

Source: Goodreads profile

Don’t forget to check out the other reviews in this Blog Tour:

A Dark Steel Death

By Chris Nickson

Published by Severn House https://severnhouse.com/

224 pages ISBN 9780727850478

Publication date 6 September 2022

A Dark Steel Death is the tenth novel featuring detective Tom Harper.

I was sent a NetGalley copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to participate and of course the author, publisher and NetGalley.

From the blurb

Leeds. 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 against the wall and the war effort at stake, Harper can’t afford to fail. But can he catch the traitor intent on bringing terror to Leeds?

Synopsis

Tom Harper has risen to the rank of Deputy Chief Constable but is coming under increasing pressure. The Chief Constable is suffering from pneumonia and is eventually hospitalised, leaving Tom notionally in charge. Police resources are under severe pressure; so many young men are at the front he is left with a force of old men and walking wounded. At night much reliance is place on women volunteering as police auxiliaries, something Tom’s daughter Mary as done.

Initially there is a search for a saboteur, an arsonist, who Tom is determined shouldn’t be allowed to undermine the war effort. This takes an unexpected turn when shots are fired, and people are murdered. Leeds is Tom’s city, and he feels a responsibility to its people to catch the killer as soon as possible and at all costs. The question is the saboteur and the shooter the same person or are there two traitors in their midst? The nature of the shooting indicates a sniper or sharpshooter, which means someone who has been in the army, one of our own. To track them down he will have to get the army onside with all their bureaucracy and prejudices.

My thoughts

One of the great strengths of the novel is the author’s imagining of Leeds during 1917. The gas light and the trams, the wounded in their special uniform and the women auxiliaries. There are privations to be suffered as U-Boats make inroads into merchant shipping, but nothing like the rationing of WWII, people can still eat in cafes and the pubs are reasonably stocked. All of which is vividly brought to life.

Here we are on he home front well away from the battles, but the author is clear the pain of war is never far away. The men that remain are those too old to fight or the discharged wounded, unless they are in a reserved occupation vital to the war effort and even some of those men have enlisted. The slack is taken up by women, who by sheer necessity are finally being allowed to take an active role in society. All of this is subtly woven into the storyline, a detective missing a hand blown off in active service, the surprise of women unchaperoned and smoking. Through Tom’s eyes the reader can see that once the war is over society will be changed forever.

The backdrop is Leeds, a populous city but one that is compact, being constrained by clearly defined boundaries rather than the sprawling conurbation of the twenty-first century. Even irregular visitors will be familiar with the districts described as the search ranges far and wide before a claustrophobic show down. Throughout the author’s fondness for the city shines through.

The pacing is steady, fittingly so, this is case which is solved by doggedness and determination with many dead ends and red herrings. Interestingly the story is told through the perspective of Tom Harper, incidents are relayed to him rather than played out, so the reader learns of the developments as Tom would.

Loss is the central theme that runs through the novel. First, there is the loss felt across a city still reeling from the death of so many of its sons from the Leeds Pals regiment on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. We see the loss felt by the wounded returned to Leeds, the friends no more, as well as the loss of normality as physical and mental scars must be come to terms with. There is suffering within the Harper family itself as daughter Mary is still mourning the loss of her fiancé Len. There is also a special kind of loss felt by the Harper’s as wife and mother Annabelle battles premature dementia. Annabelle has good days, but she also suffers bad days locked within her memories of the past and unable to make sense of the current, her family being a stranger to her. A situation becoming all too familiar to more of us as life expectancy increases.

The narrative style places much emphasis on the central character and Tom Harper is well drawn, a complex man who is honourable and determined, working his way to the top of his profession through hard work not patronage. The scenes with his wife as she struggles with her dementia are caring and rather touching, adding real depth to the story.

A Dark Steel Death is convincingly portrayed historical police procedural tackling the weighty problems of the day. Entertaining throughout but unflinching with the messages at its heart.

A Dark Steel Death can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Chris Nickson is the author of nine previous Tom Harper mysteries, seven highly acclaimed novels in the Richard Nottingham series, and four Simon Westow mysteries. He is also a well-known music journalist. He lives in his beloved Leeds.

Previous titles in the Tom Harper series include: The Leaden Heart, The Molten City and Brass Lives.

Don’t forget to check out the other stops on this Blog Tour:

Two Brothers #JonathanWilson #TwoBrothers

By Jonathan Wilson

Published by Little, Brown Book Group https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/

384 pages ISBN 9781408714492

Publication date 11 August 2022

I was sent a hardback copy in exchange for a fair review, for which I would like to thank Jess at the publishers for sending.

From the blurb

Two Brothers tells the story of a great sporting family, uncovering new details, exposing myths and placing Jack and Bobby Charlton in their historical context. It’s a book about two English footballers but also about English football and England itself.

In later life Jack and Bobby didn’t get on and barely spoke but the lives of these very different brothers from the coalfield tell the story of late twentieth-century English football: the tensions between flair and industry, between individuality and the collective, between right and left, between middle- and working-classes, between exile and home.

Jack was open, charismatic, selfish and pig-headed; Bobby was guarded, shy, polite and reserved to the point of reclusiveness. They were very different footballers: Jack a gangling central defender who developed a profound tactical intelligence; Bobby an athletic attacking midfielder who disdained systems. They played for clubs who embodied two very different approaches, the familial closeness and tactical cohesion of Leeds on the one hand and the individualistic flair and clashing egos of Manchester United on the other.

Both enjoyed great success as players: Jack won a league, a Cup and two Fairs Cups with Leeds; Bobby won a league title, survived the terrible disaster of the plane crash in Munich, and then at enormous emotional cost, won a Cup and two more league titles before capping it off with the European Cup. Together, for England, they won the World Cup.

Their managerial careers followed predictably diverging paths, Bobby failing at Preston while Jack enjoyed success at Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday before leading Ireland to previously un-imagined heights. Both were financially very successful, but Jack remained staunchly left-wing while Bobby tended to conservatism. In the end, Jack returned to Northumberland; Bobby remained in the North-West.

Two Brothers tells a story of social history as well as two of the most famous football players of their generation.

My thoughts

There is no shortage of biographies, or autobiographies for that matter, on the Charlton Brothers so why should you read Two Brothers. Well, it is written by Jonathan Wilson, regarded by many as the pre-eminent football writer of his generation, and it attempts to look at their careers in a social context as well as in terms of achievement on the field.

In footballing terms, they played through a period of great change. At the start of their careers England were handed two heavy defeats by Hungary (the magnificent Magyars as they were to be known) which dispelled once and for all any thoughts of English supremacy. These defeats led to a movement in on field styles of play and tactics. Just as the early kick and rush tactics of the English was replaced by the passing game of the Scots, the natural dribble and wing play was replaced by a continental short passing game. Surprisingly of the two it would be Jack who was to embrace these changes.

As child Bobby lived for football and loved nothing more than playing. His incredible ability as a player was spotted at an early age and he was destined for greatness. He was never, however, a student of the game and his lifelong mentor Sir Matt Busby was a man stuck in the playing style of bygone days. Jack on the other hand was a late comer to football, only taking it serious as a career option once he had tasted first-hand the experience of working down a coal mine. Not so naturally gifted, this imbued him with a desire for constant improvement within the game and to take on board the innovations of the day. Jack’s ability has traditionally been downplayed but there are lovely little cameos described where dressed in hunting tweeds and wellington boots steps onto the training pitch and finds the top corner.

The abolition of the maximum wage was the other major shift in the English game, allowing the best to forge lucrative careers in their day (at least relative to the man in the street). Being men born in the 1930’s they naturally developed an eye for opportunities and little money-making schemes as way to survive. These habits were to die hard, particularly in the case of Jack, even when they were earning good wages. Mr Wilson brings out some lovely anecdotes on how opportunities to earn or fiddle a few extra pounds as part of ‘the game’ and his propensity to be rather ‘tight’ when it came to cash. Both men were to come to embrace the world of celebrity, Bobby briefly as a quiz show star and then helping on match coverage for TV, Jack seemingly never off the TV in the 1980’s being a darling of Tyne Tees.

Naturally the Munich air disaster is covered, it being a significant factor in shaping Bobby’s life. The devastating effects of this cannot be over emphasised and is well drawn out within the book. I have wondered why the Munich disaster is known worldwide whereas the Superga disaster in which the entire Torino side was killed is rarely mentioned. This is probably down to timing and social context. Superga happened 4 years after the war, just another tragedy following on from worldwide devastation. Munich happened when the world was becoming more upbeat, more economically prosperous and youth culture developing. The timing made the tragedy resonate more, it was the destruction of talent about to flower, at a time when footballers being stars like those in film or music. That some of these men not only survived but managed to achieve remarkable feats cements it in legend, the following of their careers kept it firmly in the public eye.

Many other of their contemporaries are mentioned with their achievements compared. Don Revie was as big an influence on Jack as Sir Matt was on Bobby. What particularly comes over is this was a period populated by tough men who had experienced real hardship and suffering. A factor drawn out in the fashioning of teams in their image. Looking back at footage from the 50s, 60s and 70s it strikes the viewer as brutal, but this was largely a product of the time when many men were consigned to dirty, dangerous jobs in heavy industry. Nobby Stiles gets plenty of mentions, usually involving him punching someone on the pitch, what a player! Perhaps the game has gone a little too soft, but it is a measure of how the nation has moved socially, culturally, and sportingly in half a century.

The book is packed with cracking anecdotes if like me you love these asides; George Best in a drinking den run by Phil Lynott’s mother being a perfect example. Not the sort of thing you’ll find in the future biographies of those playing today.

The book ends on a relatively sad note. There is the animosity which developed between the family, largely down to Bobby’s wife not being accepted by his mother, but this is rather downplayed. What is sad is that both brothers succumbed to dementia or Alzheimer’s thought to derive from their playing the game. The family of Jeff Astle have worked tirelessly to establish a connection with heading the ball, an idea that is now becoming accepted and changes to the game being considered.

Two Brothers is a bold telling of the life of two of the most famous footballers of their generation set against the backdrop of a quickly changing British society. A book I enjoyed immensely and a great overview. Die-hard fans of Manchester United or Leeds United may want more details regarding their clubs, but those books have already been written, this book is for lovers of the game.

Two Brothers can be purchased direct from the publisher here

The author

Jonathan Wilson is the editor of the Blizzard and a freelance writer for the Guardian, World Soccer and Sports Illustrated. He is the author of eleven books, including Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics, Behind the Curtain: Football in Eastern Europe, Angels with Dirty Faces: The Footballing History of Argentina, The Barcelona Legacy and The Names Heard Long Ago.

Best Served Cold

By Gabriel Galletti http://www.gabrielgalletti.com/

Published by Red Kimba Press

372 pages ISBN 9781739851002

Publication date 1 February 2022

Best Served Cold is the first book in the Chad Hilton series.

I was sent a paperback copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to than Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to participate and of course the Author the publisher.

From the blurb

Grudges harboured and hatreds hidden but not forgotten.

Then a catalyst ignites the flame…
Someone in Leeds is settling old scores.

The Police ask Chad Hilton, an ex-pro footballer turned criminal profiler, for help. But his wife’s infidelity and his addiction to painkillers are pushing him close to the edge.

As the body count rises, can Chad uncover the murderer before his demons destroy him?

Synopsis

A rapist is operating seemingly with impunity in Leeds, the police seem powerless and are no closer to catching him. In desperation DI Lee Wallace persuades his boss to allow Lee’s old friend and ex-professional footballer turned criminal profiler, Chad Hilton, to join the team and provide some psychological insight.

As if that was not enough to keep Lee busy, the Chief Superintendent is on the warpath after being rebuked by the local MP for not taking the case of a missing businessman serious. Lee and Chad are then side-lined into this investigation. When a retired catholic priest and a carer then go missing, is this merely a co-incidence?

Chad’s life is troubled enough, he is estranged from his wife who had recently had an affair and the pain in his knee, a legacy from his playing days, is so acute that he is hooked on the powerful pain killer fentanyl. He’s taking more and more of them just to get through the day. When he starts getting troll tweets from ‘Napoleon’ he thinks they are the work of a crank and ignores them. They become more vitriolic and personal, as if he is being observed and when threats are made about his wife he has to start to take them serious.

With Lee and Chad working the case and Chad’s ex-teammate Freddie Jackson’s underworld connections alerted can the mysterious Napoleon be tracked now before it is too late?

My thoughts

Leeds and its greater conurbation are a great setting for a crime series and one that has perhaps been underutilised compared to some other cities of a similar size. There is new money wealth, with its property developments, penthouse apartments and on trend bars, but there is also poverty and urban decay alongside it. A broad canvas which the author uses to full effect

Much of the characterisation within the novel revolves around the friendship of the three main male characters, detective Lee and ex-players Chad and Freddie. We see the loyalty between them, but we also see some of the friction too. Freddie’s criminal enterprise naturally doesn’t sit well with Lee, who tries to keep him at arm’s length even when he needs his help. Chad must be more pragmatic because he relies upon Freddie for additional fentanyl he needs over his prescription. We also see the strong bond between men who shared the same dressing room in Freddie and Chad, warriors together, and the compassion of Freddie knowing that he must get his friend off fentanyl quickly before it kills him.

In a genre where it is common for the main detective to be a damaged soul it is unusual for the police consultant to be so affected. Chad’s addiction to fentanyl seems credible, there are still sportsmen who end their careers almost crippled although thankfully far fewer than even 20 years ago. Infidelity amongst the rich and famous is no surprise either. The interesting thing with Chad is the move from footballer into criminal profiler. In a world where footballers are not known for their intelligence this is a smart idea and I trust in future novels we shall see the motivations behind this. The ‘profiling’ parts within the plot are more creative and ‘blue sky thinking’ in nature rather than trying to deduce his brand of toothpaste the killer uses, which is a wise move, serial killers being a rarity in the UK.

The plot is well constructed and tricksy with the perpetrator not being revealed until late in the book. The writing style fits the plot well and after a period of set up the action zips along nicely. The chapters are short and are used to good effect during the final 100 pages to rachet up the tension.

The novel isn’t entirely plot driven, there is plenty of background and setting so that anyone new to Leeds will get a fair idea of the city. There’re some nice individual touches too; Jas drives a Beemer (BMW) but treats the inside like a dustbin, Lee’s happy family life and Freddie’s love of opulence which would make the average LA rapper gasp. The dialogue is good and there’s some nice dry humour asides within the mayhem and murder, like Lee’s children relegating Chad to goalie like the ‘fat kid in the playground’ or the bishop eschewing his vows of poverty and being a 21^st century Friar Tuck. Cheekiest of all is in the naming of the perpetrator of the crimes which somewhat coincidently is the same as a well-known football referee, albeit spelt slightly differently.

Sport is notoriously difficult to capture convincingly on screen and on the page so Mr. Galletti has wisely chosen to keep it as background colour. This works well especially with the proximity of the ground and the police headquarters. I haven’t mentioned the club by name, but I’m sure most people can guess it, petty footballing rivalry prevents me from typing it out in full.

Best Served Cold is a fast paced, urban crime thriller with complex plot which keeps readers guessing the outcome until the final pages.

Best Served Cold can be purchased from Amazon here

After a forty-year career in business spanning four continents I sat at the keyboard and began to write my first novel. Could I do it? Indeed, should I do it?

One Pandemic and three lockdowns later, and with huge assistance from Cornerstones Literary Agency and fantastic thriller writers Mark Leggatt and Neil Broadfoot all my passions – Yorkshire, Crime Thrillers and Leeds United have come together to produce my debut novel Best Served Cold, the first in a series set in Leeds and introducing Chad Hilton as the flawed ex footballer turned profiler.

Don’t forget to check out the other stops on the tour.