Hush, hush, hush

Here comes the Bogeyman . . .

London during the long, dark days of the Blitz: a city outwardly in ruins, weakened by exhaustion and rationing. But behind the blackout, the old way of life continues: in the music halls, pubs, and cafés, soldiers mix with petty crooks, stage magicians with lonely wives, scandal-hungry reporters with good-time girls — and DCI Edward Greenaway keeps a careful eye on everyone.

But out on the streets, something nastier is stirring: London's prostitutes are being murdered, their bodies left mutilated to taunt the police. And in the shadows Greenaway's old adversaries in organized crime are active again, lured by rich pickings on the black market. As he follows a bloody trail through backstreets and boudoirs, Greenaway must use all his skill — and everything he knows about the city's underworld — to stop the slaughter.

Based on real events, Without the Moon is an atmospheric and evocative historical crime novel demonstrating Unsworth's masterful grasp of the genre.

Cathi Unsworth began a career in journalism at nineteen and has since worked for many music, arts, film, and alternative lifestyle journals. She has been called the “Queen of Noir” in the United Kingdom and is the author of four other novels: Weirdo, The Not Knowing, The Singer, and Bad Penny Blues. She is also the editor of the award-winning compendium London Noir. She lives in London.

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It practically out Hamiltons Patrick Hamilton in its sense of menace and place, conducting a kind of séance with that bombed-out but brassy London of the war-torn 1940s. On each page you can practically smell the cheap scent, powder, Brilliantine, and black-market whiskey.

Travis Elborough, author of London Bridge in America and The Long Player Goodbye

Cathi Unsworth has long been one of the most intriguing crime writers in the country . . . [She] has created a brilliant, swirling maelstrom of a story. The main strength in Unsworth’s writing has always been her terrific evocation of time and place, and she really plays to that strength here. The vision of London after nightfall is amazing, an intermingling of prostitutes, spivs, pimps, villains, cops, communists, soldiers, journalists and psychics, hanging out in dark alleyways, dodgy bars, seedy hotels. The sense of despair is palpable . . . Without the Moon is a wonderfully evoked piece of period noir, and a properly gripping story to boot.

Independent

Brilliant and brave, Without the Moon blends murder and magic to create a vision of London as a spiritual maze. Prostitutes, psychopaths, detectives, villains, and psychics move through its corridors, glimpsing heaven and hell in an atmosphere that is so charged it can almost be touched. Fact and fiction link as justice is demanded. The best work yet from a genuine, original talent.

John King, author of The Football Factory and Human Punk

Few writers can match her extraordinary capacity to capture the atmosphere of a louche, bygone London and the mood of its people . . . Unsworth paints a mesmerizing picture as DCI Edward Greenaway wanders through the blacked-out city.

The Times