The best way to explain my feelings on this story is to compare it to others; not great practice, but I feel it works for this. The intensely thick, suffocating atmosphere and sharp writing makes this a novel that feels extremely authentic to the time period. I always like these descriptions as it really helps to solidify location and differentiate between places in my mind and in the story.

Needless Alley ebook by Natalie Marlow - Rakuten Kobo

The plot is brilliant, the prose absolutely exquisite, and the sense of time and place highly evocative. e. someone who crept covertly into enemy trenches for ‘clearance’ purposes, a task that required a strong will. Marlow's pellucid prose shines a brilliant light on 1930s Birmingham and the lives and loves of the exquisitely drawn characters that populate its mean streets and waterways. It is hard to avoid some of the parallels with Peaky Blinders, but that didn't put me off, as I was a big fan.I've had the pleasure of meeting Natalie Marlow and look forward to the next instalment in early 2024. Born into poverty among the bargees who work the city’s canal system, he had been conscripted into the army at the start of the Great War, and developed skill as a trench raider, i. Motivated by the need for money, he works for the amoral solicitor Shifty Shirley, facilitating divorces for his wealthy male clients by setting up honey traps for their wives with the help of his close friend, out of work, handsome actor Ronnie Edgerton, with William taking photographs as evidence. He finds himself hospitalised, beaten senseless, encountering the seedy underworld of rich men's desires and obsessions, the drugs, murder, sex and pornography, going to a run down rural manor, meeting corrupt and fascist police officers, and attending the carnage of the Bull Ring black shirt rally where Oswald Mosley is a speaker.

Natalie Marlow (Author of Needless Alley) - Goodreads

William has smoothed away his Brummie accent and there's some bad blood (never explained) between him and the barge people, bad blood that gets him a kicking at one point in the novel.It isn’t particularly like any British author of the period (who tended to go in for aristocratic detectives) although Edgar Wallace might fit the bill even though he died the year before this book is set. i really liked william - who was definitely flawed but still kind enough to sympathise with - and how fleshed-out he was as a character. From its claustrophobic descriptions of Birmingham's darker corners to revelations of the seedier proclivities of the rich and powerful, Needless Alley offers a gripping portrait of 1930s England, a country where Blackshirts and fascism have entered the national psyche.

The Bookseller - Rights - Baskerville signs two books in

In fact he despises his whole life, trawling around in the underbelly of the city, Le Demi-monde, a place where the elite (usually rich men) keep company with and exploit prostitutes (usually female but males always feature). Needless Alley is an engrossing historical noir with engaging characters an intense plot and a few surprises for the reader. Nothing here is bad- in fact, it's pretty good- but there isn't enough to make me want to push through the chaff. As with every atmospheric mystery, it's all about the lighting, and Natalie Marlow illuminates the hard-boiled players in this thrilling debut with all the dexterity of any of our great noir novelists.personally, i would have liked a bit more from the ending - the epilogue, in particular - as i would have liked to see what the aftermath was for william, queenie and phyll but, aside from that, i really enjoyed and recommend this book. When Private enquiry agent William Garrett, a man damaged by a dark childhood spent on Birmingham's canals, specialises in facilitating divorces for the city's male elite. This adds a nice dark and seedy touch to the period without getting down to the dregs of society of the Berlin of the period as inhabited by Bernie Gunther. These are ordinary sometimes poor people just getting by the best they can and their banter and slang was great!

Needless Alley by Natalie Marlow | Hachette UK

But then the bodies start piling up, and Billy discovers that the Birmingham demi-monde is much worse than Dumas ever envisaged that of Paris. When the first big twist comes along it will catch most readers unawares (I spotted it coming but only when almost on top of it). He bears the mental scars of war and comes to realise that he will not find happiness and love living the way he is and so becomes a man looking for redemption. Photographs and film play a large part in narrative and are ultimately responsible for throwing light an all the mysteries. Alongside this, the history that’s woven through is fascinating, knowing almost nothing about the politics of the time.Most of all I loved its exploration of a vibrant, jostling city - and of the darkness just beneath the surface. Very gritty, no punches are spared and the reader will need fortitude to get through the maelstrom of violence and anger that is unleashed. Ronnie is an attractive man, a little fey and living a bohemian life, like a streetwise Oscar Wilde but with a deep libertine streak. Set in the early 30s Birmingham, Needless Alley explores the contradictions of that city - the powerful and wealthy with their country houses and vast incomes from manufacturing, and the demimonde.