Without the Moon

Cathi Unsworth began a career in journalism at nineteen on the music weekly Sounds, and has since worked for music, arts, film and lifestyle journals. She is the author of four novels: Weirdo, The Not Knowing, The Singer, and Bad Penny Blues, and edited the award-winning compendium London Noir, all published by Serpent's Tail.

Few people can match her extraordinary capacity to capture the atmosphere of louche, bygone London and the mood of its people. In Without the Moon she tackles the blitzed city of 1942 with the same unerring touch -- Marcel Berlins The Times (Crime Book of the Month) Using real life material Unsworth has created a brilliant, swirling malestrom of a story... The vision of London after nightfall is amazing, an intermingling of prostitutes, spivs, villains, cops, communists, soldiers, journalists and psychics, hanging out in dark alleys, dodgy bars, seedy hotels -- Doug Johnstone Independent A classic noir novel in every way The Lady Unsworth is a chameleon of a writer which allows her to travel to wherever or whenever she wishes... To my mind she is the love child of Barbara Vine and Daphne DuMaurier -- Chris Simmons Crimesquad (Book of the Month) Describing Cathi Unsworth as a crime writer seems limiting, there's so much more to say. Emerald Street A beautifully crafted analogue world, that crackles with tension, atmosphere and human sentiment. Without the Moon is the kind of book you find yourself reading slowly because you don't want to reach the end -- Brony Hegarty Louder Than War ...a stunningly atmospheric thriller stuffed to bursting with characters only a city under siege (in more ways than one) could throw up and only a writer as good as Cathi Unsworth could control...Without The Moon is a tour-de-force and would certainly get my vote - not that I have one - in any of the myriad awards for book of the year. -- Mike Ripley Shots The First Lady of noir writing -- David Peace 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 Praise for Weirdo: 'An absorbing mystery, an extraordinarily powerful evocation of time and place Guardian A fine sense of period and place illuminates this absorbing thriller. Morning Star Cathi Unsworth hits all the satisfying marks of good noir-ish crime fiction - the pacey, gory plot; the sense of suspense; the vivid characters, but she also has a real knack for setting and place. Unsworth's books are memorable because of her way with popular culture, whether that's the seamy side of 1960s London in Bad Penny Blues or the teen goths trapped in their Norfolk seaside town in Weirdo. -- Anna Fielding Emerald Street