About The Book
Book: The Lollipop Man
Author: Daniel Sellers
Standalone or Series: Book 1 in The Yorkshire Killings series
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Publication Date (UK): 20th February 2025
My Review
The Lollipop Man takes place in West Yorkshire in the mid-90s and features eighteen-year-old Adrian Brown and local journalist Sheila Hargreaves.
Adrian’s working at his local newspaper whilst also resitting his A levels in the hopes of attending University. He’s a complex character and it’s nice to see a younger character written well.
A young girl is snatched and the case bears a lot of similarities with an old cold case of the Lollipop Man. Almost a decade ago he abducted a number of children. However, one ten-year-old boy escaped. His parents changed his name in fear with the Lollipop Man still on the loose. His new alias? Adrian Brown.
Growing up in the 90s, the time the book is set in is a huge plus for me. I love the nostalgia of the Walkmans with big over-ear headphones, having to make phone calls from telephone boxes, the Famous Five and Scooby-Doo. I especially loved a reference to Teletext which got me itching to be able to fire up Bamboozle!
Another plus is the setting, it’s nice to recognise places. Some of them are real-world, whilst others are fictional but in keeping. The only thing with going back is that it’s not all rose-tinted spectacles, it can make for some harder reading with the prejudices and challenges that were sadly more prevalent at the time.
I really enjoyed the relationship between Adrian and Sheila and I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops in book two, The Devil’s Smile.
Sellers hails from Yorkshire but now resides in Scotland, where a couple of his other series are set. The Lollipop Man is the first in his The Yorkshire Killings series.
Beth Reads Crime 
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