Spirit of the North: One Knock for Yes!

Ian Thomson’s Northern Trilogy (beginning with The Northern Elements and Northern Flames) weaves history, nostalgia, and autobiography into highly engaging and thought-provoking tales. Spirit of the North is no different in that, but it is different.

The plot looks at three episodes of spiritualism, two relatively harmless, and one with serious consequences. While the first two are reminiscent of Agatha Christiesque table-turning, the third involves murder. This is the one that leads to a serious investigation by Tom Catlow with his childhood friend, Will Melling, playing Watson. Readers met these two mischievous friends in The Northern Elements. Tom is a retired police Senior Scientific Officer (Forensics) and Will a former sports journalist. Now to fill their time, Tom and Will investigate another very old case while continuing their friendship with teasing and banter.

The third main character is long-dead. Cornelius Pickup, was a successful businessman, kind employer, and loving husband and father. He rises to become prominent in Blackburn and in his church, until, Job-like, he is beset with a series of events that transform his life. It is his diary from 1875 until his death in 1892 that forms most of the second half of the book.

Following contemporary records and site visits, Tom and Will assemble the curious clues, venture into the Victorian spirit world and uncover some more earthly deceptions.

Not to diminish the achievement of his other novels, Thomson seems to be truly in his milieu in Spirit of the North. The writing is more confident and assured, and the command of this themes more accomplished. He is with people he likes and in a place he loves. What must have been painstaking research is made to look effortless, and the writing is everything we have come to expect. It is the allusions, in-jokes, wordplay and characteristic erudite vocabulary (that sent me to the dictionary) that raises this murder mystery to a different level.

Along with the local and period history – all of which is nicely observed and subtly conveyed – are the characteristic themes (cited above), but this time there is a new element of ritual. Calling it “religion” gives what we find in Spirit of the North too much precision, and these presentations of the spiritual – in both senses – are never preachy. Rather, there is the suggestion of an underlying need for a spiritual foundation to life. There are many references to religion, quotes from hymns, religious beliefs and practices as well as to their effect in underpinning individual lives, and, by implication, society as a whole. I don’t want to make too much of this lest some readers be put off, but it is undeniably, if quietly, there and enriches the book.

As with a good bowl of Lancashire hotpot, the temptation is to devour Spirit of the North too quickly when each bit should be savoured. At least it’s possible to go back for seconds.