SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

I read David Peace's Red Riding Books when they came out years ago and really enjoyed the crime stories set in a 70's/80s Leeds background. I've been looking for something similar and have come across a couple of crime fiction book series on Amazon which look promising, and I was wondering if anyone has read them?

There are four separate series by Chris Nickson which cover a number of crime fighting characters in the city from the 1700's up to the 1950s - Chief constable Richard Nottingham, who was apparently the actual chief constable, 'thief taker' Simon Weston, Tom Harper a Victorian policeman and fifties sleuth Dan Markham. The books are described as a"total immersion experiences in the underbelly of Leeds. Clever use of period slang and vivid detail bring to life the people, the culture, the gritty reality of early industrial culture, brutal and dehumanizing."

I was just deciding whether to start at the beginning with the 1700 books when I spotted the 'Eighties Leeds' series by Billy Morris - two books called Bournemouth 90 and LS92. As the names suggest the stories are set in the late 1980s/early 90s and are described as dark crime fiction set against the backdrop of a changing city and Leeds United's promotion from the 2nd division in 1990 and title win two years later. More my era, so I'm now considering buying those first!

Has anyone read any of the books mentioned? Are they any good? With the Chris Nickson books I assume you can start with any era and don't need to read the 1700 series first?

Anyone have any other recommendations for fiction books set in Leeds? (Excluding zombies, fantasy etc which isn't really my thing!)

Hi WLRI I have not read any of them. welcome to S/L one of the members might have done all the best Sid.

Hi,
Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series is set in the fictional town of Eastvale in the Dales, loosely based on Rippon and Richmond. The author was born in Armley Leeds and in the novels Banks makes many trips into Leeds on business and pleasure. Some of the criminal gangs are based in Leeds.
The author draws on his own background of growing up in Leeds so if you know Leeds you will find many references and descriptions of places in the city which make the books more enjoyable. In one novel he describes a specialist pipe & tobacco shop in the city centre which my grandfather used to take me into when I was about 5 or 6. He didn't smoke so he just went in for a chat with the owner. Banks recalls playing rugby at school in Leicester but the description is based on the author's own recollection of playing rugby at West Leeds High school in the 1960's with its pitches turned into a muddy quagmire by effluent from a local mushroom farm.
Many scenes in the TV series were shot in Leeds , Bradford and surroundings. The police HQ is in Bradford.
See here for some of the locations used in the TV series.
https://realyorkshiretours.co.uk/days-o ... s-tour.php

Thanks for your reply blackprince very informative.

Thanks Tilly.
Its a different genre, not crime fiction, but Alan Bennet often writes about his childhood growing up in Armley, Leeds and about Yorkshire in his humorous short stories. I prefer to listen to these read by Alan himself as radio broadcasts or podcasts.
Here are a couple of Leeds related links to Alan:
https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2019/05/ ... yorkshire/
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/educati ... ds-2049853

Keith Waterhouse is another in a similar vein to Bennett with his reminisces of growing up in Leeds at roughly the same time.

I found this photo of the tobacconist's shop on Boar lane which I mentioned in the earlier post.
It was called Finlay's.