Sunday at the Cross Bones

John Walsh was born in 1953 in London. Currently Assistant Editor of the ‘Independent’, he has written for and edited numerous newspapers and magazines. He has been a radio presenter and was director of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature in 1997.

'John Walsh propels his narrative forward with irresistible vigour and delineates a host of entertaining characters with broad strokes of a brush heavily charged with primary colours.' Francis King, Literary Review'Walsh gets the tragicomic tone just right and his description of the tawdry 1930's London is thoroughly enjoyable.' Daily Telegraph'The narrative of “Sunday at the Cross Bones” is as lively and ambiguous as its main character…Pacy and entertaining, elegantly written, funny yet ultimately tragic, “Sunday at the Cross Bones” is full of hypocrisies and moral ambiguities. The abiding impression is of a very irritating man punished out of all proportions to his actual wrong-doing.' Times Literary Supplement‘The pleasures of comic fiction lie in the accomplishment of the writing and Walsh's enjoyable novel not only thrills with its regular top-ups of verbal Viagra, but hints at a darker subtext.’ Independent'Like Peter Ackroyd, Walsh demonstrates an intimate knowledge of London and the unique spirit of place that permeates different nooks and crannies of the city…Walsh captures dialect brilliantly from the cockney 'innit'-speak of the rector's protégées to the patronising but ever-so-polished tone of his Mayfair benefactress…Though we know how the story ends, there is a dreadful fascination in following it to the end of the journey.' Sunday Business Post'If the secret of novel-writing is to find a voice, then John Walsh has cracked it in this entertaining comic novel…There is a lot here, much of it extremely funny, about the allure of hosiery.' Sunday Times