Chris Nickson continues his historical crime fiction series featuring Simon Westow with the latest enthralling instalment, The Dead Will Rise.

Leeds, 1824 and wealthy engineer Joseph Clark employs thief-taker Simon Westow to find the men who had stolen the buried corpse of Catherine Jordan, his employee’s daughter. Simon is used to bizarre and perplexing cases, but even he is horrified to learn that there is a gang of body snatchers in Leeds. Simon is determined to discover who bought Catherine’s body and where it is now. In his line of work, Simon is not usually shocked, but even he is flabbergasted when on his search for answers, he discovers that a number of corpses have disappeared from graveyards in town.

With violent Resurrection men selling the dead to medical schools, it is up to Simon and his assistant Jane to bring these cruel and heartless criminals to justice. Simon and Jane have a task of epic proportions on their hands, but they refuse to give up. They vow to give these grief-stricken families peace and to bring these ruthless marauders to justice. Will they be successful in their quest? Or will their search for answers end up leading them both to their graves?

Chris Nickson’s evocative and enjoyable historical mysteries never fail to sweep readers back in time and take them on a thrilling journey full of twists and turns, red herrings and plenty of shocks and surprises and he does it again with his latest novel, The Dead Will Rise. Full of intrigue, suspense and tension, The Dead Will Rise grips readers from the start as intrepid detective Simon Westow finds himself tangled up in his most complex case yet.

Clever, entertaining and gripping, Chris Nickson’s The Dead Will Rise will go down a treat with mystery fans and historical fiction readers alike.

Enjoyed this read once I got into the story. I didn't immediately click with the Protagonist which meant it took a bit to get into the book.

Chris Nickson's Simon Westow series continues to delight.

I strongly suggest reading this series in order. Westow, his wife Rosie, and their assistant Jane are fully developed characters with significant back stories by the time we arrive at this fifth-in-series.

The often violent streets of early 1800's Leeds are the setting for this story. Corpse stealing has spread to Leeds, and Westow has been hired by a wealthy industrialist to find the villains.

Nickson's attention to detail and historical accuracy are on full display again. I highly recommend this book and look forward to more in the series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Chris Nickson is a former music journalist, and has rubbed shoulders with the Great and The Good across the history of rock music, but in these latter days he has earned a considerable reputation as a historical novelist. His books are mostly centred on Leeds, and they cover different historical periods from the 1730s to the 1950s. His latest book features Georgian thief-taker Simon Westow. Back then, there was no organised police force; the only legal officials were parish constables, who tended to be elderly, infirm and incompetent. Westow is more like the 20th century concept of a Private Eye; he recovers stolen property and catches criminals - for a fee.

Here, he has an unusual assignment; Local factory boss Joseph Clark asks him to find the men who stole the buried corpse of Gwendolyn Jordan, the daughter of Harmony Jordan, one of his employees. The crime of body snatching is unique in that it involved acts of criminality carried out in the name - some might argue - of a greater good, that being anatomical and medical research. Westow wastes no time on moral philosophy, and with his assistant Jane he sets out to find the Resurrection Men.

Jane is, for me, the most compelling character in any of Nickson's novels. Raped by her father, disowned by her mother, the teenager has made her living on the streets. Not in the conventional sense by selling her body, but by employing preternatural skills of awareness of danger, cunning and speed of thought; most fearsome of all is the fact that she will use her knife without a moment of compassion or hesitation. She is a stone-cold killer, as many men - now dead and buried - would testify, were they still able to.

Westow's case load becomes more complex when he and Jane are summoned to the elegant mansion of the infamous Mrs Parker - infamous because she is renowned in Leeds for  marrying a series of wealthy men, who then die, leaving her with an ever expanding fortune. Just for once, she has been bested. A lover has swindled her out of £50 - over £5000 in today's money - and she wants recompense.

When the usually invulnerable Jane is bested by one of the thugs involved in the corpse trade, and is hurled from a bridge, she is lucky to escape with cuts and bruises. Her pride is hurt more, though, and she vows vengeance. Eventually the elusive Resurrection Men are tracked down, but Westow and his wife Rosie are convinced that there is one big player in the racket left to catch, and this leads to a thrilling - and unexpected -  end to the case,

Nickson's narrative voice is totally authentic: Simon Westow, his family, and others in his world live and breathe as if they are they were standing with us in the same room. He makes the Leeds of April 1824 as real and vivid as if we had just stepped down from the York stagecoach. The Dead Will Rise is published by Severn House and is out now.

Despite the title of the fifth book in Chris Nickson's Simon Westow series, there is no suggestion of the supernatural occurring here; this horror is decidedly of the earthly variety and inspired by the real-life incidents of graves being robbed of their bodies. These body snatchers – or resurrectionists – were able to earn what was a substantial amount of money by selling the exhumed corpses of the recently buried to medical and anatomy schools. It's a grim thought and perhaps even more upsetting when the body of a child is involved.
Thief-taker, Simon Westow willingly accepts the request to find the people responsible for such a heinous act and throughout the story, his disgust and outrage is clear. This is the first book I've read in the series and so I was learning about the character as I read; it soon becomes patently obvious that Westow is a deeply principled man who adores his wife and two sons. It's also evident that he has a darker side and acknowledges that the life he has chosen will most likely result in his eventually meeting a dark end. There's certainly an ominous sense of tension throughout The Dead Will Rise, with the streets and ginnels of an expanding Leeds providing an atmospheric, vividly described backdrop to the story.
I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of three female characters in the novel; two of whom – Westow's wife, Rosie and his young assistant, Jane – will be familiar to returning readers, while the third, Amanda Parker is an intriguingly shady figure. Rosie and Jane are allowed to be far more than we perhaps expect from women in the past, and although the former is a wife and mother, she ensures she becomes involved in a case which she takes an acute interest in. It's Jane, however, who I found to be the most fascinating character in the book and it's mostly here where I felt at a disadvantage not having read the earlier instalments in the series. There is no doubt that The Dead Will Rise can be enjoyed as a stand-alone but I did miss seeing the development of her character and having a greater understanding of who she is. This shouldn't be seen as a criticism as I was given enough to be able to empathise with her at all times, but I would ideally recommend reading the previous novels first, if you can.
Nothing is rushed in The Dead Will Rise and even though danger never feels far away, it's the painstaking work of identifying the culprits and then watching and waiting for the right moment to apprehend them which makes the strongest impression. The sense of frustration is almost palpable at times ensuring a feeling of authenticity throughout. From the excellent descriptions of both people and places to the suspenseful, well-paced storyline, The Dead Will Rise takes a macabre subject and imbues it with a sense of humanity; for all the excitement and tension, readers are never allowed to forget the victims – whether that means the dead or those now forced to grieve two losses. This is a compelling, clearly meticulously researched historical mystery with a strong sense of time and place. I enjoyed it very much and thoroughly recommend it.

The Dead Will Rise is the fifth Simon Westow historical mystery by Chris Nickson. Released 7th March 2023 by Severn House, it's 291 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is such a skillfully written series. Protagonist thief-takers (bounty hunters/ private investigators) Simon and his partner Jane are employed by a wealthy businessman and tasked with finding the resurrectionists who have stolen the body of his employee's daughter. They're outclassed in terms of power and deceitfulness by influential men in Leeds and are in danger of losing their freedom and lives throughout the book. There's a real and palpable sense of the setting and narrative menace throughout much of the book and the writing is very high quality and engaging. It is redolent of the time period (1820's) and setting (Leeds and environs) without sacrificing readability.

It's written around a framework of actual events so skillfully that it's difficult to tell when fact shades over into fiction. The author is technically competent and (happily) quite prolific. There are now 4 books extant in the series, making this a good candidate for a long weekend binge or buddy read.

The books -are- quite realistic and this one is no exception. The author has a very realistic writing style and describes the less salubrious facts of life in the early 19th century unflinchingly. This book deals with the stark, brutal, and all-too-often short lives of the inhabitants, even relatively financially well-to-do.

One of the main characters, Jane, has a very sad back-story, and much of the plot of the book revolves around her past, her present, and her (scarily competent) redemptive development. I love her character, but she's often quite frightening. I was impressed by the author's ability to write a young female character and do it very well. There are emphatically no perky anythings here, no bodice ripping, and absolutely zero flirty eyelashes to be found.

Four and a half stars. Definitely one for lovers of well-crafted mysteries. I would heartily recommend it to fans of Hambly's Benjamin January and Peters' Cadfael (although different time periods and settings, obviously).

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

1824 and the Industrial Revolution means that Leeds is expanding rapidly. When a 10 year old girl's body is taken from a cemetery in Leeds, the employer of the father hires Westow to find the men responsible.
Westow is determined to ensure that the men are caught and punished even though at this time it is a minor offence. The gang are clever and one is particularly brutal plus there also seems to be a link with a rich society woman from humble beginnings. Can Westow and Jane catch the gang before they strike again?
This series is one of my favourites, set in Leeds as the city starts to grow into the thriving industrial metropolis of the 19th century. Here the crime is committed early and the book is really about the hunt for the gang and the bringing of them to justice. There is a lot more focus on Jane, Westow's sidekick and her development through reading juxtaposed with her readiness to kill. The plot is tight and writing not too flowery, all in all a great, quick read.

Disclaimer: Although I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher, the opinions below are my own.

Body snatching isn’t something only to be found in horror movies. During the early years of medical school this was how some surgeons received cadavers on which to practice their skills. In Edinburgh, Scotland (where I went to college), the names of Burke and Hare would become synonymous with the act just four years after when this book is set. Except they often hastened the availability of a body if you know what I mean. The Dead Will Rise was inspired by actual events in Leeds. No one is murdered for their bodies, but it doesn’t bode well for anyone who gets in the way of the body snatchers.

This is the fifth title in the Simon Westow Mystery series, and with each installment we get deeper into the complex lives of the main characters. Simon is a husband and father, fiercely protective of his two sons and wanting them to have the advantages of life he never had at their age. At the same time, however, his job skirts around legality. Thief-takers aren’t always trusted, Westow’s contacts aren’t always on the level, and he’ll shed blood if he must. His associate, Jane, is like a lion who’s been wounded yet continues to stalk her prey through the streets and alley ways of 19th century Leeds.

Chris Nickson’s Regency era novels have always been different to the Jane Austen-inspired writings set during the same period. He calls his books Regency Noir. What’s interesting this time, is that he has Jane reading Austen. She gets “caught up in the story of the Bennett sisters,” whose lives are “utterly different to her’s.” These scenes when she’s reading are moments of levity in an otherwise dark tale.

Despite the darkness, however, it’s a compelling story with many tense and breathtaking moments which made it difficult to put down. It’s my opinion that Chris Nickson has created another winner, and I’m already looking forward to book six.

The title should sound familiar to most people. “The dead will rise again” is to quote the bible literally and invokes the Abrahamic concept of how the dead will be brought back to be judged on the day of judgment. You’d be forgiven for thinking that this implies the book may have a supernatural bent to it; it most certainly doesn’t. To invoke G. K. Chesterson, the crime novelist, in order to stay a crime novelist, must not hit above the body, and so our dead men stay dead men in this book.
The Dead Will Rise is a historical mystery set in Leeds in the 1820’s. It’s the 5th book in the Simon Westow Mysteries series by the author and came out on the 7th of March and was published by Severn House. It focuses on two characters, Jane, a teenage girl with a dark past and Simon, the local thief taker or PI. Simon and Jane are called to investigate the disappearance of little girls body from her grave, at a hand of some resurrectionists.
This was, unfortunately, a more common occurrence than one would imagine. Medical schools in the UK were only allowed to use the bodies of convicts (which weren’t very many) and so body snatchers (or resurrectionists) would steal dead bodies from the grave in the night to sell onto a medical school to make a bit of money. Opening up a grave was not considered a serious felony under the law and so thieves also knew that they themselves, at worst, would be imprisoned for some time. Medical schools rarely asked where the bodies came from, and it was hard to track down body snatchers, meaning most people just got away with it.
That being said, Simon and Jane take on this case knowing that the girl was wearing a £2 dress that made this a theft with more serious punishment. As they go on they realize more powerful people are involved and there are more bodies that have been stolen and are attacked.
I liked the book and the slightly spooky vibe. You don’t know who is responsible and how things will turn out in the end. Jane is a phenomenal character and I loved how she wanted revenge so badly. I lowkey want to read the other books in the series just to get a bit more about her. However, I’m not sure I appreciate the deaths at the end of the book and how they were done. They didn’t make sense to me. I would read this author again!

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. 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.

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.

Every now and then a book comes along which I enjoy so much I simply cannot put it down. This is one of those! It is book 5 of the series featuring Simon Weston and read well as a stand-alone. It is the early 19th century in Leeds and Simon is a thief-taker. He acts for clients who have had something stolen and on finding and returning the missing items he gets paid. He is ably assisted by wife Rosie and young colleague Jane. The three main characters are well fleshed out, as is the gruesome detail of the actions of the resurrection men known as body snatchers.

Briefly, Simon is approached by Joseph Clark to find the body of the 10 year old daughter of one of his employees, whose body has been dug up and removed from her grave. There are body snatchers at work. Simon is facing the hardest task of his life to find the Resurrectionists whilst keeping the three of them safe, particularly Jane who is rather adept at getting herself into dangerous situations!

Historical fiction at its finest, as a result of the authors research and knowledge of Leeds from the period in question, which gives the reader a vivid insight into life and social living conditions. Nothing is left to the imagination. A very enjoyable read and I am looking forward to reading more adventures from the intrepid trio!

1824 Leeds. Thief-taker Simon Westow and Jane Truscott are employed by Joseph Clark to find the body snatchers who had unearthed 10 year old Gwendolyn Jordan's body. Meanwhile rich widow Mrs Amanda Parker wants them to find a Tom Rawlings, for not paying back a loan of £50. But the investigations are not as straightforward as first thought.
An entertaining and well-written historical mystery with its cast of varied and likeable characters. Another good addition to this enjoyable and well-plotted series.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was disappointed in this book. The writing was clear and grammatical but there were just no feelings, no emotions or interiority in any of the characters and no real descriptions aside from everything was covered in soot (buildings) dirty (clothing) or clear (the air in the suburbs). Having Jane get more and more enraged (again, told in brief words, never shown or detailed) by one baddie is what I guess passed for raising stakes. The stakes are supposed to repeatedly rise and the danger is supposed to escalate as there is a ticking clock increasing the urgency of the mission... none of that was particularly noticeable or convincing. Otherwise they just walked around looking for the bad guys and "just knowing" that so and so was implicated. I see that many readers adore these books and I do not want to stand in their way, but this was a pass for me. The whole Jane reading Jane Austen intervals read false as well. I suspect the author dumped the the Austen refs in late in the game without having read them as I do not think there are parties with girls flirting with rich guys in the opening chapters of Sense and Sensibility. Sorry to give such a poor review to such a hard working author.

Westow and Jane have a case of grave concern – body snatching!!! Someone (or ones) is raiding the graveyards of the fair city of Leeds and the surrounding suburbs and exhuming dead bodies – but why??! Modern day cadavers are meant to smell unpleasant so I can only imagine what one from the 1800s would be like 🤢🤢

As what appeared to be a resolution to the case coming about half way through, I wondered what Nickson had in store for the rest of the book. Little did I expect a number of curveballs coming my way as he added twists and turns and a few fisticuffs to the investigation.

It’s been a couple of books in the series since I met Westow and Jane and I can see the dynamic change between the pair. Jane is more confident and more independent despite it only being two years between the settings of my reads. That said, a lot can happen in two years. But I loved seeing this growth in Jane.

Nickson has again curated a world of some familiarity for this Leeds resident to explore but it’s not the city that I know and love. It’s a city on the up with its growth (oh wait Leeds is growing now). It’s a city that isn’t the sprawling metropolis it is now. He doesn’t pull any punches and shows how brutal the 1800s could be. I’m not normally one for historical settings for my crime fiction but there is something Nickson does that really appeals and I’ll be returning to 1800s Leeds to investigate more!

The Dead Will Rise by Chris Nickson narrates an interesting tale of death mystery and death. Set in history, the plot revolves around narrow lanes and throws light on some dark corners of the society. The leading characters, Simon and Jane, intrigue us with their methods. The climax came as a surprise and it was really a fun reading the book. I would surely recommend the book for beginners of mystery and thriller genre.

Definitely, 4 stars for the book. Thanks to Random Things Tours and Netgalley for providing me with an opportunity to be a part of the blog tour.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for this Advanced Reader Copy and the opportunity to review “The Dead Will Rise.” All opinions and comments are my own.

It’s quiet at the moment. Simon Westow, thief-taker and his assistant Jane are taking a short break from their work. Life is good for now. Until it isn’t, of course. And soon a sad and sordid tale will come a’calling for Simon, Jane and even Rosie, Simon’s wife, in “The Dead will Rise,” the fifth in the series set in the smoky and soot-filled city of Leeds.

The story involves body-snatching, which is not considered much of a crime (not yet, anyway, that will come in time), as terrible as it is for the families. What Simon finds is that the body of a child has been taken, and a distraught father wants him to find the perpetrators. It’s a difficult case, without clues and without anything to go on. So, when another job comes to their attention, a “missing person,” it’s a chance to bring in some extra money in the meantime, he believes. How these cases intersect is testimony to the author’s ability to weave a complex and absorbing tale, dark and depressing for all that, but one that will draw you in on every page.

The city is once again a character, shadowy, noisy, choking with soot, growing with houses and thus more people. It’s getting harder to find someone. And both Simon and Jane do a lot of looking.

Author Chris Nickson shows the two sides of his main characters, the family side, the domestic side, and even for Jane her simple side, how her reading is improving. The hunt is interrupted by these moments. The author breaks up the tension in this way, and it works.There is resolution, of course, and a reckoning. “The Dead Will Rise” is another sterling effort by Chris Nickson, who knows how to bring a story to life, even an unpleasant one.

" 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."

As always, Chris Nickson's mysteries are enthralling.. He is the "Voice " of bygone Leeds and I'm always so happy to get a new one.

Body snatchers are busy in 1824 Leeds but they've taken the wrong body this time because the 10 year old's father has hired Simon Westow to find her. This is an atmospheric and intriguing historical mystery with a great character in Simon as well as in his determined young assistant Jane (and don't forget his wife Rose). I learned a bit from this well crafted story. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'd not read any of the books in the series but was fine with this as a standalone, A good read.

Chris Nickson's historical mysteries are always well researched and gripping. They're a good way to travel back in time to Leeds in another age.
This is one is the best in this series and I read it in two sitting as it's page turner.
Solid mystery that kept me guessing, vivid historical background, an excellent groups of characters.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Though Simon Westow, the thief taker, is the protagonist, there are lots of strong, competent and intelligent women in The Dead Will Rise. Jane, Simon's fellow detective, his wife Rosie, Mrs. Shields who teaches Jane to read, and all the many female shopkeepers in the town of Leeds make this an adventure with lots of ladies. Lots of stabbings, too. Lots and lots of them. I expected the novel to start splashing blood all over me.

This story of a thief taker (a detective who locates stolen objects) chasing down body snatchers who have stolen a little girl's corpse is exciting enough that I read late into the night. Then I had disturbing, stabby dreams, but that's okay or I wouldn't read stabby blood-splashing books.

I had one tiny little problem solely because I'm obsessive about history, even little, tiny minor things. The Dead Will Rise takes place in 1824. The author, Chris Nickson, had one of the villains don a "biilycock" on his head. I didn't know what that was, so I looked it up. A billycock is a bowler hat created in 1849 by Thomas and William Bowler. Okay, maybe the bad guy wore one twenty-five years before they were created. The rest of the book is so good that I'll overlook the haberdashery mistake.

The author also adds some of the history of "resurrection men" and the lax laws that made body snatching a misdemeanor. I always appreciate history added on to the end to tell me what kind of society the characters were living in.

Thank you to Netgalley and Severn Books for allowing me to read and review The Dead Will Rise.