Modern Crimes - A WPC Lottie Armstrong Mystery- Chris Nickson - PreOrder Now!

This was just an amazingly well done, and of course well researched mystery, and not my "usual" genre although that varies a bit. I try to read historical mysteries set in other countries than the US, and mostly different eras- medieval is a favorite. However Chris Nickson's mysteries make that criteria fly out the window. 

1924 Leeds has partially recovered after WWI, although jobs are in short supply and crime is ramping up. Lottie Armstrong,WPC, is a female police officer in a period when women were being turned out of jobs that able bodied males "should" have first choice at. She and her partner Cathy Taylor were the only two women constables in Leeds, and they were not welcomed with open arms.

A related group of crimes, some of which harkened back to the war, and involving the fairer sex allowed Lottie to come to the attention of Sgt. McMillan in CID. The first involved an unwed mother who disappeared from the maternity home she was placed in and eventually involved crime figures, murders and one suicide.

Lottie takes her sworn duties quite seriously and runs afoul of the male Constables and eventually some higher up law enforcement as well. She is surprised when her redoubtable supervisor, Mrs Maitland, matron, speaks up in her defense on several occasions.

Her career is ended with termination for doing what she felt was her duty, and definitely was the duty of some male constables. I would have been quite horrified about Lottie, accompanied by her sidekick Cathy, turning in their uniforms together except for one bright spot. My ARC, graciously sent to me by the author, revealed what appears to be a sequel to this series. 

However when and how the short narrative I saw begins, I think you need to find out for yourself by preordering this book. Make it your Christmas present to yourself.There has never been a Chris Nickson book that I did not enjoy and I will prove it now by ordering a Dan Markham book.