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Bad Penny Blues
A gripping crime novel inspired by the “Jack the Stripper” killings in 1960s London. Bad Penny Blues is the latest gripping crime fiction from Cathi Unsworth, London's undisputed queen of noir. Set in late 1950s and early 1960s London, it is loosely based on the West London “Jack the Stripper” killings that rocked the city. The narrative follows police officer Pete Bradley, who investigates the serial killings of a series of prostitutes, and, in a parallel story, Stella, part of the art and fashion worlds of 1960s “Swinging London,” who is haunted by visions of the murdered women.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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314 people want to read
About the author
Cathi Unsworth
17 books90 followersCathi Unsworth moved to Ladbroke Grove in 1987 and has stayed there ever since. She began a career in rock writing with Sounds and Melody Maker, before co-editing the arts journal Purr and then Bizarre magazine. Her first novel, The Not Knowing, was published by Serpent's Tail in August 2005.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
September 9, 2019
Prostitution is a so-called victimless crime . . . until you wind up with a string of murdered prostitutes.
There are two story lines going on here - a policeman searches for a serial killer, and a young designer, , earns fame and fortune while slowly watching her marriage crumble. But . . . the tales never really mesh, making the whole enterprise seem rather pointless. Though I liked PC Bradley, I honestly would have preferred reading just about Stella, and her struggles to find herself during the early to mid-sixties.
Unsworth is a devotee of Derek Raymond, and this novel did remind me a bit of He Died With His Eyes Open. Mostly, however, I would compare her work to that of Tana French: dense and heavy prose, with little action, yet so well written one feels almost embarrassed to admit to not liking it much.
There are two story lines going on here - a policeman searches for a serial killer, and a young designer, , earns fame and fortune while slowly watching her marriage crumble. But . . . the tales never really mesh, making the whole enterprise seem rather pointless. Though I liked PC Bradley, I honestly would have preferred reading just about Stella, and her struggles to find herself during the early to mid-sixties.
Unsworth is a devotee of Derek Raymond, and this novel did remind me a bit of He Died With His Eyes Open. Mostly, however, I would compare her work to that of Tana French: dense and heavy prose, with little action, yet so well written one feels almost embarrassed to admit to not liking it much.
June 29, 2016
I’ve mentioned on this website before that it’s a curious thing that Jack the Stripper is the most prolific, uncaught serial killer in Twentieth Century British history and yet is largely forgotten. Talk to most Brits about Jack the Stripper and they’ll think you have a lisp. One can only imagine that the soubriquet the press gave him was so close to THE serial killer that he just gets lost in the myth of the other Jack – an echo of Whitechapel in The Swinging Sixties
Not that he’s totally forgotten, of course, here Cathi Unsworth takes on the case in a really, classy piece of British literary crime fiction. She goes full David Peace and James Ellroy on the case, taking the murders and weaving into them all kinds of other skulduggery and nastiness which – of course – stretches across every strata of society. One half of the narrative focuses on the policeman who discovers the first victim and then rises to the level where he’s investigating the others; this alternates with the story of a young British dress designer who has psychic visions of the murders. It allows Unsworth to have the best of both images of 60’s London: hard goings-on under the harsh lights of Soho, and the bright young things shining up the national (and international) firmament.
The first hundred pages or so are brilliant and as close to perfect as you’re going to get, but the book itself has a few serious flaws: the tension lags in the middle, but more importantly Unsworth never finds a way to make the two halves of her narrative intersect – which really, really needs to happen – but this is a fantastically written, beautifully evocative snapshot of a long-ago London that wasn’t quite as swinging as we all imagine it.
Not that he’s totally forgotten, of course, here Cathi Unsworth takes on the case in a really, classy piece of British literary crime fiction. She goes full David Peace and James Ellroy on the case, taking the murders and weaving into them all kinds of other skulduggery and nastiness which – of course – stretches across every strata of society. One half of the narrative focuses on the policeman who discovers the first victim and then rises to the level where he’s investigating the others; this alternates with the story of a young British dress designer who has psychic visions of the murders. It allows Unsworth to have the best of both images of 60’s London: hard goings-on under the harsh lights of Soho, and the bright young things shining up the national (and international) firmament.
The first hundred pages or so are brilliant and as close to perfect as you’re going to get, but the book itself has a few serious flaws: the tension lags in the middle, but more importantly Unsworth never finds a way to make the two halves of her narrative intersect – which really, really needs to happen – but this is a fantastically written, beautifully evocative snapshot of a long-ago London that wasn’t quite as swinging as we all imagine it.
June 27, 2016
This is the second book I have read by Cathi Unsworth and, in common with The Singer, what impressed me was the clear evocation of the era. In this case, the unsolved "Jack the Stripper" murders that took place near Ladbroke Grove from 1959 to 1965. Cathi Unsworth's noir tale take us on a ride through early-mid 1960s London: a world of bent coppers, teddy boys, sleazy aristocrats, immigrant communities, prostitutes, the occult, bohemians, Soho, art colleges, pop music, and so on.
Real life events (e.g. Cassius Clay taking on Henry Cooper, and the election of Harold Wilson) mingle with thinly disguised fictionalised personalities from the era (e.g. Joe Meek, Heinz, Screaming Lord Sutch, Reggie Kray, and Freddie Mills).
It's a dizzying and impressive achievement, and a book I thoroughly enjoyed. My only criticisms are it's around a hundred pages too long, and there are so many characters who come and go I found it hard to keep track. Fortunately, through the Google Books search facility, I could find the page numbers for characters, and so go back and remind myself who they were and how they fitted in.
Another great book by Cathi Unsworth and recommended for anyone who enjoys well researched, credible, and evocative London fiction.
Real life events (e.g. Cassius Clay taking on Henry Cooper, and the election of Harold Wilson) mingle with thinly disguised fictionalised personalities from the era (e.g. Joe Meek, Heinz, Screaming Lord Sutch, Reggie Kray, and Freddie Mills).
It's a dizzying and impressive achievement, and a book I thoroughly enjoyed. My only criticisms are it's around a hundred pages too long, and there are so many characters who come and go I found it hard to keep track. Fortunately, through the Google Books search facility, I could find the page numbers for characters, and so go back and remind myself who they were and how they fitted in.
Another great book by Cathi Unsworth and recommended for anyone who enjoys well researched, credible, and evocative London fiction.
October 31, 2019
A serial killer, dubbed the Jack the Stripper, lurks the streets of 1960s London.
Bad Penny Blues follows two different plot lines. One subplot follows Constable Pete Bradley, an up and coming man on the force hoping to make his name and work his way up. Specifically, we follow some of his exploits in trying to track down the serial killer responsible for strippers’ murders. The other subplot follows Stella, a fashion designer who is newly married, and has hopes to adjust to her new life. Stella has odd visions that come to her, as she experiences visions from the point of view of the victims minutes before their murders.
This novel was a mixed bag for me, and while, I definitely think the writing was very strong, the pace of the novel was probably the biggest problem.
I appreciate that the author is able to create a sense of time and place in Bad Penny Blues quite well. Unsworth places many of her characters around a historical context that gives it a truer sense of setting.
That being said, there is an unexpected detour the novel takes after the first murder that is sort of jarring. In this sense, the first half or so of this book seemed to drag as it is quite heavy on exposition and getting to know characters. This can definitely work in books, but here it felt uneven.
I felt like I didn’t work here because there is so much packed inside the book in terms of attention to detail about characters that didn’t seem that important to the overall scope of the novel. So, while I thought the author did an apt job attempting to give her principle characters depth and credibility by giving details into their lives, I think it lessened the impact of the suspense and really made the plot stall, especially in the book’s first half. Some of the details of Stella’s fashion enterprises and ventures and Pete’s marriage and inner force dealings at his work were a little difficult to wade through, especially since we are literally introduced to many interchangeable minor characters that didn’t bring that much to the book.
So, in this sense, the murder mystery introduced to us at the beginning of the book really takes a back seat for awhile, and is quite forgotten for good chunks of the narrative. This bogs the book down at points until it picks up in moments of the book’s final conclusion.
In the end, Bad Penny Blues felt a big uneven and the lessened what was a fascinating premise.
Still, I’m interested in reading more of Cathi Unsworth’s works in the future, as clearly she can write.
Bad Penny Blues follows two different plot lines. One subplot follows Constable Pete Bradley, an up and coming man on the force hoping to make his name and work his way up. Specifically, we follow some of his exploits in trying to track down the serial killer responsible for strippers’ murders. The other subplot follows Stella, a fashion designer who is newly married, and has hopes to adjust to her new life. Stella has odd visions that come to her, as she experiences visions from the point of view of the victims minutes before their murders.
This novel was a mixed bag for me, and while, I definitely think the writing was very strong, the pace of the novel was probably the biggest problem.
I appreciate that the author is able to create a sense of time and place in Bad Penny Blues quite well. Unsworth places many of her characters around a historical context that gives it a truer sense of setting.
That being said, there is an unexpected detour the novel takes after the first murder that is sort of jarring. In this sense, the first half or so of this book seemed to drag as it is quite heavy on exposition and getting to know characters. This can definitely work in books, but here it felt uneven.
I felt like I didn’t work here because there is so much packed inside the book in terms of attention to detail about characters that didn’t seem that important to the overall scope of the novel. So, while I thought the author did an apt job attempting to give her principle characters depth and credibility by giving details into their lives, I think it lessened the impact of the suspense and really made the plot stall, especially in the book’s first half. Some of the details of Stella’s fashion enterprises and ventures and Pete’s marriage and inner force dealings at his work were a little difficult to wade through, especially since we are literally introduced to many interchangeable minor characters that didn’t bring that much to the book.
So, in this sense, the murder mystery introduced to us at the beginning of the book really takes a back seat for awhile, and is quite forgotten for good chunks of the narrative. This bogs the book down at points until it picks up in moments of the book’s final conclusion.
In the end, Bad Penny Blues felt a big uneven and the lessened what was a fascinating premise.
Still, I’m interested in reading more of Cathi Unsworth’s works in the future, as clearly she can write.
July 28, 2010
Bad Penny Blues is an alternative world of swinging sixties, a séance for the victims of “Jack The Stripper”, and a quite convincing blend of creepy dreamscape, gritty police beat, and a living, breathing portrait of London. It takes an enthusiastic tour of the pop culture, the crime, and the scandals of the era while never losing the story. Faces of the time like Screaming Lord Sutch, Joe Meeks, Ronnie Kray, Freddie Mills show up under different names. The supernatural conceit is artfully done. Fans of Alan Moore’s From Hell, Jake Arnott’s The Long Firm, Ellroy and David Peace ( and for the tasteful combination of crime and non-cliched street level history Pelecanos and Mosley) will eat this book up. Needs more exposure.
June 26, 2024
I don't read many crime novels, but this is the worst one. This book is more than just poorly written and boring, it is in bad taste towards the real victims of the murders this book is based on. Having two story lines, one being a detective and the other a fashion designer, their plots never come in contact with each other, making the fashion designer's story feel like an utter waste of time. Combining that with a nonsensical mystery with way too many characters and plot twists that come out of nowhere, this book fails at every level. Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
March 27, 2013
I enjoyed this book, or at least I enjoyed it once I got beyond about page 200 and all the heavy handed time and place setting finished, the superfluous characters more or less disappeared and the author just got on with the story.
Set in the early 1960s and based around a number of grisly murders of prostitutes, Cathi Unsworth seeks to set the book firmly into its period. Unfortunately that means a whole series of gratuitous name and product dropping (Temperance Seven, Teddy Boys, Harold Wilson, Diana Dors, Dansette record player etc) along with some thinly disguised real life characters to whom she gives fictitious, and sometimes ridiculous, names. Freddie Mills the boxer becomes Teddy Hills; James Myers is Joe Meek; Heinz the one hit wonder protégé of Joe Meek is Heinz 57 and so on.
In addition there is a whole raft of characters who appear only to be in the story as basic plot devices and to enable her to show a bit of knowledge of the sixties art and fashion world. Several of them, such as the leading woman’s husband, more or less disappear around half way through and are no loss at all. The dialogue in the case of these characters is very stilted and unbelievable.
There are also some really laboured images, for example; a door “sags on its hinges like an old itinerant stooped over his bundle of rags” – what on earth does that mean? And another one, “The fizzing of the [champagne] bubbles as they slid down the glass matched the effervescence pumping through my veins” - very bizarre imagery, and there were plenty more as odd as those.
Finally in the moaning section of this review, there are a number of factual inaccuracies that a good editor should have spotted. Witnesses do not go into the dock in a court, prisoners do. Police sergeants, like all other sergeants, have three stripes not two. January of 1964 was not freezing cold with blizzards, that was 1963. And were there pool tables in London in 1964? I don’t recall ever seeing one.
Yet suddenly, having gone through all this stuff, and getting to a stage where I almost gave up on the book, it improves dramatically. The plot takes over, the number of allusions to the period drop off, superfluous characters disappear well into the background and a good, well-written thriller emerges. And there is no doubt that Cathi Unsworth can write. And she writes about the dark stuff of life much better than she does about the normal every day. The narrative becomes stronger and the dialogue sharper. The plot doesn't thicken but it does grip more.
Is this, as the blurb on the book jacket states, “the English Black Dahlia”? Probably not, if that is meant to suggest that Ms Unsworth is as good a writer as James Ellroy. However, if she were to concentrate on writing as she does in the second half of this book, sharpens up her use of images and drops the over-dependence on unnecessary period setting, she might get somewhere very near that standard.
I would certainly be willing to have a read of more of her work.
Set in the early 1960s and based around a number of grisly murders of prostitutes, Cathi Unsworth seeks to set the book firmly into its period. Unfortunately that means a whole series of gratuitous name and product dropping (Temperance Seven, Teddy Boys, Harold Wilson, Diana Dors, Dansette record player etc) along with some thinly disguised real life characters to whom she gives fictitious, and sometimes ridiculous, names. Freddie Mills the boxer becomes Teddy Hills; James Myers is Joe Meek; Heinz the one hit wonder protégé of Joe Meek is Heinz 57 and so on.
In addition there is a whole raft of characters who appear only to be in the story as basic plot devices and to enable her to show a bit of knowledge of the sixties art and fashion world. Several of them, such as the leading woman’s husband, more or less disappear around half way through and are no loss at all. The dialogue in the case of these characters is very stilted and unbelievable.
There are also some really laboured images, for example; a door “sags on its hinges like an old itinerant stooped over his bundle of rags” – what on earth does that mean? And another one, “The fizzing of the [champagne] bubbles as they slid down the glass matched the effervescence pumping through my veins” - very bizarre imagery, and there were plenty more as odd as those.
Finally in the moaning section of this review, there are a number of factual inaccuracies that a good editor should have spotted. Witnesses do not go into the dock in a court, prisoners do. Police sergeants, like all other sergeants, have three stripes not two. January of 1964 was not freezing cold with blizzards, that was 1963. And were there pool tables in London in 1964? I don’t recall ever seeing one.
Yet suddenly, having gone through all this stuff, and getting to a stage where I almost gave up on the book, it improves dramatically. The plot takes over, the number of allusions to the period drop off, superfluous characters disappear well into the background and a good, well-written thriller emerges. And there is no doubt that Cathi Unsworth can write. And she writes about the dark stuff of life much better than she does about the normal every day. The narrative becomes stronger and the dialogue sharper. The plot doesn't thicken but it does grip more.
Is this, as the blurb on the book jacket states, “the English Black Dahlia”? Probably not, if that is meant to suggest that Ms Unsworth is as good a writer as James Ellroy. However, if she were to concentrate on writing as she does in the second half of this book, sharpens up her use of images and drops the over-dependence on unnecessary period setting, she might get somewhere very near that standard.
I would certainly be willing to have a read of more of her work.
February 28, 2018
A real page-turner as Cathi Unsworth unearths some dark secrets of London in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Of necessity, names have been changed to protect the innocent - and the guilty - but anyone with a knowledge of post war Britain's history will recognise most of the characters who fill these pages. Corrupt cops are to the fore as are London's gangland figures alongside pop stars, fashion designers, up-and-coming artists and members of Britain's aristocracy with their sordid secrets which they need to be covered up.
There are squalid sex stories and vicious murders, the latter carried out by a man the media nicknamed "Jack The Stripper" and based on true crimes - the Hammersmith nude murders, a series of murders in which the victims – all prostitutes – were found undressed in or near the River Thames, in 1964 and 1965 although other killings in 1959 and 1963, have also been linked to the same perpetrator.
Each chapter heading is the title of a 1950's/1960's pop song and the main characters - Pete, a London police detective and Stella, a fashion designer - fit right in to London's Swinging Sixties
scene.
As Pete struggles to save himself from the taint of police corruption, Stella's "gift" of second sight leaves her suffering horrendous nightmares as she "sees" the Jack The Stripper's victims lured to their deaths.
The action is fast moving and some of it needs a strong stomach as London's low life is revealed. This is 21st Century Noir at its finest.
There are squalid sex stories and vicious murders, the latter carried out by a man the media nicknamed "Jack The Stripper" and based on true crimes - the Hammersmith nude murders, a series of murders in which the victims – all prostitutes – were found undressed in or near the River Thames, in 1964 and 1965 although other killings in 1959 and 1963, have also been linked to the same perpetrator.
Each chapter heading is the title of a 1950's/1960's pop song and the main characters - Pete, a London police detective and Stella, a fashion designer - fit right in to London's Swinging Sixties
scene.
As Pete struggles to save himself from the taint of police corruption, Stella's "gift" of second sight leaves her suffering horrendous nightmares as she "sees" the Jack The Stripper's victims lured to their deaths.
The action is fast moving and some of it needs a strong stomach as London's low life is revealed. This is 21st Century Noir at its finest.
May 2, 2023
4.5 ⭐️
This took a bit to heat up.
But once I started the second section, I couldn’t read it fast enough ♥️
This took a bit to heat up.
But once I started the second section, I couldn’t read it fast enough ♥️
January 9, 2011
Bad Penny Blues is based around the unsolved ‘Jack the Stripper’ murders that took place near Ladbroke Grove from 1959 to 1965, sparking the most extensive manhunt in Metropolitan Police history. With an engrossing narrative that includes bohemianism, the occult, a corrupt legal system and a hedonistic aristocracy with debauched and dangerous sexual tastes, Bad Penny Blues is a seductive and dizzying mix of fact and fiction.
Jennifer Minton for example, an aristocratic architect’s rebellious daughter, artist and actress, is based on Pauline Boty, the glamorous and enigmatic ‘first lady’ of British pop art. Joe Meek is reincarnated as James Myers, an experimental record producer with the same penchant for seances and other occult experiments.
Meticulously researched right down to the last detail, Bad Penny Blues throbs with vivid, riotous colour. From the cruel Cockney threats of the menacing Soho mafia to the prostitutes’ street slang; the art, music, politics, fashions and terminologies of the the time are authentically conveyed with an easy eloquence, making Bad Penny Blues a voyeuristic and addictive journey through a long gone London.
(Excerpt from full review of Bad Penny Blues at For Books' Sake.)
Jennifer Minton for example, an aristocratic architect’s rebellious daughter, artist and actress, is based on Pauline Boty, the glamorous and enigmatic ‘first lady’ of British pop art. Joe Meek is reincarnated as James Myers, an experimental record producer with the same penchant for seances and other occult experiments.
Meticulously researched right down to the last detail, Bad Penny Blues throbs with vivid, riotous colour. From the cruel Cockney threats of the menacing Soho mafia to the prostitutes’ street slang; the art, music, politics, fashions and terminologies of the the time are authentically conveyed with an easy eloquence, making Bad Penny Blues a voyeuristic and addictive journey through a long gone London.
(Excerpt from full review of Bad Penny Blues at For Books' Sake.)
May 26, 2011
Part fact, part fiction, this novel is based around the real life unsolved "Jack the Stripper" serial killings of prostitutes that took place in London in the early 1960's. The author mixes the police hunt for the killer into the burgeoning fashion, art and music scenes of the time as well as the seedy sexual underbelly of that time that surfaced most notoriously in the Profumo Affair. All very interesting stuff and I did enjoy reading it.........BUT..........this novel had the potential to be great, and it lost its way once the route that the author was going to use as a means of identifying the killer became clear. I cannot say what that it is without spoiling it, but at that point for me, the novel went from being believable to fantastical and thus lost it's power.
Obviously that's just a personal view and I'm sure many others will not agree with me on that last point - so if you like a good thriller, give it a go and see what you think.
Obviously that's just a personal view and I'm sure many others will not agree with me on that last point - so if you like a good thriller, give it a go and see what you think.
May 21, 2017
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but now I have put away childish things.” [pg. 425] This sounds so familiar. Where have I heard it before? In my mind it sounds like a phrase from the song. But it was not sung, it was told between verses. And I just can’t figure out, what song that could be… I tried googling it and found that it is a verse from the Bible. But I am sure that I haven’t heard this in the church, because I have only been in Lithuanian speaking Mass. Yet another mystery to be solved…
On April 29th there was Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon. I decided at least partly participate in it. So I started reading Cathi Unsworth “Bad Penny Blues”. I read pretty slowly in English and I managed to finish just half of the book in 24 hours (minus sleeping break). And I think it wasn’t the best book for my first read-a-thon.
The book has an interesting narration: there are two main characters (Stella and Pete) and the chapters are alternating between their stories. The reader sees everything through the eyes of Stella: story is told in first person. While in Pete’s chapters reader is side-by-side with him: story is told in third person. This is not the only difference in narration. Stella is an artist having dreams about dead girls. Since the story is told through first person perspective, the reader gets to know her quite well – her life, her job, her husband, her friends, her worries about realistic dreams. Pete is a police officer, who becomes a detective and tries to find the killer. These chapters are mostly about his job. It is mentioned that he gets married and has a child, but there is no further character development in that direction. Pete meets a lot of people, has a lot of co-workers, purses a lot of criminals, so for me it was hard to cope with all new names appearing then and now. In the end, I was so lost, that I am not even sure, if I understood the ending as it was meant to be understood. Thus I found Stella’s chapters easier to read and her dreams were among most entertaining things in this book.
On April 29th there was Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon. I decided at least partly participate in it. So I started reading Cathi Unsworth “Bad Penny Blues”. I read pretty slowly in English and I managed to finish just half of the book in 24 hours (minus sleeping break). And I think it wasn’t the best book for my first read-a-thon.
The book has an interesting narration: there are two main characters (Stella and Pete) and the chapters are alternating between their stories. The reader sees everything through the eyes of Stella: story is told in first person. While in Pete’s chapters reader is side-by-side with him: story is told in third person. This is not the only difference in narration. Stella is an artist having dreams about dead girls. Since the story is told through first person perspective, the reader gets to know her quite well – her life, her job, her husband, her friends, her worries about realistic dreams. Pete is a police officer, who becomes a detective and tries to find the killer. These chapters are mostly about his job. It is mentioned that he gets married and has a child, but there is no further character development in that direction. Pete meets a lot of people, has a lot of co-workers, purses a lot of criminals, so for me it was hard to cope with all new names appearing then and now. In the end, I was so lost, that I am not even sure, if I understood the ending as it was meant to be understood. Thus I found Stella’s chapters easier to read and her dreams were among most entertaining things in this book.
May 30, 2011
It is always a bit difficult if you are handed a book by an author as a gift – how honest dare you be, especially as she is the friend of friends? I decided to be fearless ...
Fortunately, this is an excellent London ‘noir’, exquisitely written with that dash of the supernatural that now marks out London’s psycho-geography and which would have been approved by Conan Doyle, if not in the slightest by his creation Sherlock Holmes.
If I mark it down slightly, it is only because, like David Peace’s ‘Tokyo Year Zero’, it appears to be built up in part from a reading list (and this is not my imagination: as in Peace’s work, such a reading list is presented as further reading at the back).
Unsworth was a journalist and she perhaps cannot always forget she is one. And yet ... and yet ... the book is a tour de force of synthesis.
Inside this book are those (discreet) references to the ‘Black Dahlia’ (also reviewed here) that the cover tells us to expect (including a rather good account of a boxing match in homage) but also to the common heritage of the English - the 1960s - and to her own literary reading of past Notting Hill.
Her homage to the ‘Black Dahlia’ perhaps goes too far. The boxing match in Ellroy’s book would have been hard to match and his is a masterpiece of exposing the mind-set of corrupt officials but his book is marred by ‘grand guignol’.
If I had her talent, I would have written about the borders of Islington and Hackney. All Londoners are like this. They do not belong to London but to one or two places within London. Her literary home is in Soho and points West, with only a nod to the East End as the mythic past for some of the characters.
Above all, she is highly sensitive to the mentality of the period. She does not modernise. She is a reconstructionist but, as our pagan friends know, reconstruction is not necessarily truth.
This leads to another discomfort – does she think like the people of fifty years ago or does she think they thought in this way because this is how popular culture and the media reported them in this way? Ellroy was very convincing in the first half of his novel, more derivative of Chandler in the second.
In fact, I believe in the copper hero. I believe in the heroine of the story. But the further that we move away from the central characters, the more we move into stereotypes drawn from the popular culture of the period.
At a certain indefinable point, an inner circle of very real persons elides into an outer circle of characters operating on a chess board. A synthetic genius for good background clashes with the ‘telling a story’ of any good interview.
Maybe we can see Christopher Lee in the role of a particular night club owner. Certainly the aristocratic rich are played to ‘Sir Jasper’ type. Between these extremes of our beautifully drawn heroine and the popular culture stereotypes lies her next novel, I hope.
I also fear that Californian moral turpitude as portrayed by James Ellroy does not quite translate to post-war London. I feared the edge of a libel action would have crept around the edges of the novel once or twice if it had been contemporaneous.
There is nothing wrong with this invention. It is, after all, fiction. Moreover, it is genre entertainment and I am being far too earnest. I just see some real talent there that might drive on to the next stage if it so wished and get a full five stars.
For example, the portrayal of the women of the underworld as uniformly victims seemed to be an after-the-fact construction of a top-down feminist vision of past realities which is a little unfortunate as we move into a more sex-positive world. It does not feel comfortable as either past or present.
Unsworth is, to conclude, a superb synthesist with a truly remarkable ability to make you believe in her central characters and in the London of the late 1950s and early 1960s but what you really want to know (being a crime story) is whether you will enjoy it. I think you will.
I gave the ‘Black Dahlia’ only four stars as well (I am a tough reviewer) because of its excess of grand guignol (a mistake not made to nearly the same extent by the more restrained Unsworth) so ‘Bad Penny Blues’ is in very good company. Only Elmore Leonard and Cormac Macarthy did better.
Fortunately, this is an excellent London ‘noir’, exquisitely written with that dash of the supernatural that now marks out London’s psycho-geography and which would have been approved by Conan Doyle, if not in the slightest by his creation Sherlock Holmes.
If I mark it down slightly, it is only because, like David Peace’s ‘Tokyo Year Zero’, it appears to be built up in part from a reading list (and this is not my imagination: as in Peace’s work, such a reading list is presented as further reading at the back).
Unsworth was a journalist and she perhaps cannot always forget she is one. And yet ... and yet ... the book is a tour de force of synthesis.
Inside this book are those (discreet) references to the ‘Black Dahlia’ (also reviewed here) that the cover tells us to expect (including a rather good account of a boxing match in homage) but also to the common heritage of the English - the 1960s - and to her own literary reading of past Notting Hill.
Her homage to the ‘Black Dahlia’ perhaps goes too far. The boxing match in Ellroy’s book would have been hard to match and his is a masterpiece of exposing the mind-set of corrupt officials but his book is marred by ‘grand guignol’.
If I had her talent, I would have written about the borders of Islington and Hackney. All Londoners are like this. They do not belong to London but to one or two places within London. Her literary home is in Soho and points West, with only a nod to the East End as the mythic past for some of the characters.
Above all, she is highly sensitive to the mentality of the period. She does not modernise. She is a reconstructionist but, as our pagan friends know, reconstruction is not necessarily truth.
This leads to another discomfort – does she think like the people of fifty years ago or does she think they thought in this way because this is how popular culture and the media reported them in this way? Ellroy was very convincing in the first half of his novel, more derivative of Chandler in the second.
In fact, I believe in the copper hero. I believe in the heroine of the story. But the further that we move away from the central characters, the more we move into stereotypes drawn from the popular culture of the period.
At a certain indefinable point, an inner circle of very real persons elides into an outer circle of characters operating on a chess board. A synthetic genius for good background clashes with the ‘telling a story’ of any good interview.
Maybe we can see Christopher Lee in the role of a particular night club owner. Certainly the aristocratic rich are played to ‘Sir Jasper’ type. Between these extremes of our beautifully drawn heroine and the popular culture stereotypes lies her next novel, I hope.
I also fear that Californian moral turpitude as portrayed by James Ellroy does not quite translate to post-war London. I feared the edge of a libel action would have crept around the edges of the novel once or twice if it had been contemporaneous.
There is nothing wrong with this invention. It is, after all, fiction. Moreover, it is genre entertainment and I am being far too earnest. I just see some real talent there that might drive on to the next stage if it so wished and get a full five stars.
For example, the portrayal of the women of the underworld as uniformly victims seemed to be an after-the-fact construction of a top-down feminist vision of past realities which is a little unfortunate as we move into a more sex-positive world. It does not feel comfortable as either past or present.
Unsworth is, to conclude, a superb synthesist with a truly remarkable ability to make you believe in her central characters and in the London of the late 1950s and early 1960s but what you really want to know (being a crime story) is whether you will enjoy it. I think you will.
I gave the ‘Black Dahlia’ only four stars as well (I am a tough reviewer) because of its excess of grand guignol (a mistake not made to nearly the same extent by the more restrained Unsworth) so ‘Bad Penny Blues’ is in very good company. Only Elmore Leonard and Cormac Macarthy did better.
January 15, 2019
This fictional take on the unsolved real-life "Jack the Stripper" murders in London from 1959-64 delve deeply into the era's sordid side. The city is on the cusp of breaking out of the postwar gloom and into the so-called "Swinging Sixties", but meanwhile, someone is killing prostitutes and dumping them in the Thames. The story alternates between two characters: copper Pete (who rises from patrolman to detective inspector over the course of the story) and Stella (who rises from art student to acclaimed fashion designer over the course of the story). The former finds the first body and is later deeply involved in the hunt for the killer, while the latter is tied to the killings through her psychic "gift," which allows her to experience the last minutes of each woman's death.
That's right, for some reason, what could have been a perfectly good gritty noir is marred by an unnecessary dose of the supernatural. Now, I'm not completely opposed to mixing the supernatural and the crime genre (for example, Colin Cotterhill's Laos-set series does it quite well), but here it jars badly. I can only imagine that the author had decided to write about the burgeoning art and music scene of the time, and felt the need to connect that aspect to the murders much more directly than it already was. It's not a good choice, but nor does it wreck the book -- it's more of an irritant.
The story oozes atmosphere, and anyone interest in the cultural history of modern London will probably find it worth reading on those merits (Colin MacInnes' trilogy is clearly a heavy influence). Those with an interest in music of the era will also have fun matching some of the fictional characters to their real-world counterparts (the two I'm pretty certain of are the pioneering producer Joe Meeks and the provocateur Screaming Lord Sutch). On the whole, it's a sleazy world, and as the story progresses, it comes as little surprise that plot elements and characters start to mingle with the Profumo Affair. And if you're familiar with that, then the ultimate destination of the story should come as little surprise.
So, while the book is pretty engaging and full of atmosphere, by the end it starts to feel a bit like a nostalgic synthesis of 50-year old touchstones: the rise of modern art, the birth of British rock-and-roll, subcultures like Teddy Boys, the sleazy West End before it was gentrified, the high-level corruption, the lords and ladies up to their eyeballs in porn and S&M, and soforth. It's all remarkably well-done, but I'm not sure to what extent readers will find it satisfying.
Note: Those interested in the real-life case can find plenty of info about it in various serial killer anthologies, as well as two hard to find books published about a decade after the events: Murder Was My Business by John Du Rose (the autobiography of the cop who led the investigation) and Found Naked and Dead by Brian McConnell.
That's right, for some reason, what could have been a perfectly good gritty noir is marred by an unnecessary dose of the supernatural. Now, I'm not completely opposed to mixing the supernatural and the crime genre (for example, Colin Cotterhill's Laos-set series does it quite well), but here it jars badly. I can only imagine that the author had decided to write about the burgeoning art and music scene of the time, and felt the need to connect that aspect to the murders much more directly than it already was. It's not a good choice, but nor does it wreck the book -- it's more of an irritant.
The story oozes atmosphere, and anyone interest in the cultural history of modern London will probably find it worth reading on those merits (Colin MacInnes' trilogy is clearly a heavy influence). Those with an interest in music of the era will also have fun matching some of the fictional characters to their real-world counterparts (the two I'm pretty certain of are the pioneering producer Joe Meeks and the provocateur Screaming Lord Sutch). On the whole, it's a sleazy world, and as the story progresses, it comes as little surprise that plot elements and characters start to mingle with the Profumo Affair. And if you're familiar with that, then the ultimate destination of the story should come as little surprise.
So, while the book is pretty engaging and full of atmosphere, by the end it starts to feel a bit like a nostalgic synthesis of 50-year old touchstones: the rise of modern art, the birth of British rock-and-roll, subcultures like Teddy Boys, the sleazy West End before it was gentrified, the high-level corruption, the lords and ladies up to their eyeballs in porn and S&M, and soforth. It's all remarkably well-done, but I'm not sure to what extent readers will find it satisfying.
Note: Those interested in the real-life case can find plenty of info about it in various serial killer anthologies, as well as two hard to find books published about a decade after the events: Murder Was My Business by John Du Rose (the autobiography of the cop who led the investigation) and Found Naked and Dead by Brian McConnell.
March 16, 2013
Bad Penny Blues is London noir novel set in 1959-1965 when Jack the Stripper (frankly, I didn't know much about it until now) serial murders in Hammersmith, London. The vicitimology was same as that of Jack the Ripper's, victims all prostitutes around Ladsbroke Grove.
What Cathi also sets out to do is establish the period of 60's in London - the political situation, fascists, the boxing fight between Cassius Clay and Henry Cooper (TV show Mad Men also had Cassius Clay vs Sonny Liston fight to establish the period), underbelly of Soho. This is presented through the eyes of young, sharp detective Pete Bradley who is still learning along the way. He is the one to find the first body in 1959.
Parallel to Pete's story, Cathy takes us to London's art burgeoning art word, the Bohemians. Lives of variety of characters take you through the world of homosexuality and dykes, the weird experiments (seances), fashion and occult. This part of the story is presented through Stella, a young fashion designer who is married to a fellow artist - a painter who draws the jazz notes. Stella has a gift, she can feel and dream the last moments of these dying prostitutes.
Stella and Pete never meet and yet their stories entwine, a literary device I loved. Some real life characters appear through the book (as can be guessed from the bibliography) at the end of the book. For example, Pauline Boty is Jennifer Minton, Joe Meek (of Buddy Holly seance fame) appears as elusive, weird James, Ronald Kray as Marks, Freddie Mills as Teddy, Screaming Lord Sutch as Dave and so on.
Each chapter title is actually a song title, there is so much trivia and cross-referencing that it is mind-boggling. I suspect, due to the sheer number of characters and the rush of following the (fictitious) conclusion of the murders ensure that I may have missed many things in the first reading. Plot also includes corrupt detectives, pervert aristocracy and occult - all of which are enough to attract a reader's interest.
What Cathi also sets out to do is establish the period of 60's in London - the political situation, fascists, the boxing fight between Cassius Clay and Henry Cooper (TV show Mad Men also had Cassius Clay vs Sonny Liston fight to establish the period), underbelly of Soho. This is presented through the eyes of young, sharp detective Pete Bradley who is still learning along the way. He is the one to find the first body in 1959.
Parallel to Pete's story, Cathy takes us to London's art burgeoning art word, the Bohemians. Lives of variety of characters take you through the world of homosexuality and dykes, the weird experiments (seances), fashion and occult. This part of the story is presented through Stella, a young fashion designer who is married to a fellow artist - a painter who draws the jazz notes. Stella has a gift, she can feel and dream the last moments of these dying prostitutes.
Stella and Pete never meet and yet their stories entwine, a literary device I loved. Some real life characters appear through the book (as can be guessed from the bibliography) at the end of the book. For example, Pauline Boty is Jennifer Minton, Joe Meek (of Buddy Holly seance fame) appears as elusive, weird James, Ronald Kray as Marks, Freddie Mills as Teddy, Screaming Lord Sutch as Dave and so on.
Each chapter title is actually a song title, there is so much trivia and cross-referencing that it is mind-boggling. I suspect, due to the sheer number of characters and the rush of following the (fictitious) conclusion of the murders ensure that I may have missed many things in the first reading. Plot also includes corrupt detectives, pervert aristocracy and occult - all of which are enough to attract a reader's interest.
April 5, 2016
I used to read Cathi when I read sounds all those years ago. I kind of knew the name was familiar.
Theres a lot to admire in this book. Primarily, its a crime story, but it mixes genres and styles and is more than that, but unfortunately less than the sum of its parts and ultimately not a great read.
It starts with two unrelated characters. Stella is haunted by dreams of dead prostitutes. Peter is the young up an coming police office who finds the first body and then starts the investigation.
The story moves through the 60s, although with the two stories not adding anything to each other. This gives the author the chance to document the fashions the music and the politics of london and society in a state of change.
And thats the problem, by cramming so many forgettable characters and stories into a reasonably basic story, it makes little sense. By half way through, I was admiring the scope but hating the story.
I will definitely read more of her work, but for me, this was a let down.
Theres a lot to admire in this book. Primarily, its a crime story, but it mixes genres and styles and is more than that, but unfortunately less than the sum of its parts and ultimately not a great read.
It starts with two unrelated characters. Stella is haunted by dreams of dead prostitutes. Peter is the young up an coming police office who finds the first body and then starts the investigation.
The story moves through the 60s, although with the two stories not adding anything to each other. This gives the author the chance to document the fashions the music and the politics of london and society in a state of change.
And thats the problem, by cramming so many forgettable characters and stories into a reasonably basic story, it makes little sense. By half way through, I was admiring the scope but hating the story.
I will definitely read more of her work, but for me, this was a let down.
August 16, 2014
I liked this book although my expectations based on the reviews of other readers was different. I'm not really sure what I was expecting. I thought the author did a good job overall but at times there was a dizzying array of characters, some integral to the story and others not and it became difficult for me to distinguish who was important and who wasn't. That said it was still a decent read.
July 29, 2019
Billed by no less than bestselling author David Peace as the English answer to The Black Dahlia, Bad Penny Blues has a lot to live up to. For the most part, it met the hype.
There are two concurrent stories going on here, both of which brush against each other in the setting of Swinging 60s London. One is a rising star detective who is trying to figure out what’s behind the brutal murders of random women, most of the prostitutes. The other is an up-and-coming clothing designer who has a gift of foresight into who the women are and how they are being killed.
I would have expected to enjoy the former more than the latter but Unsworth does a great job fleshing out both characters. She probably gives more detail to the designer/medium but that’s fine. I’ve read plenty of grizzled, lone wolf detectives to know what ensues with a person like that. All the while, she does a great job building the story from small time murders, to front-page grabbing sensations while the two heroes poke behind the curtain for both empathy (medium) and conspiracy (detective).
It is through the designer’s profession and the detective’s investigation that we get good looks at what London was like during this particular time. I always appreciate writers who give me just enough atmosphere without laying it on too thick. Unsworth is good at that. I learned a lot about a place and culture that I’m not too familiar with, having visited London but for two days in 2013. The postwar kids just wanted to have fun, the wartime adults were psychologically ruined and it all plays out in 430 pages.
There are quibbles about pacing and editing. This could have been about 25-50 pages lighter. But it’s still a good read and it’s nice to have a feminine touch on a male serial killer story.
There are two concurrent stories going on here, both of which brush against each other in the setting of Swinging 60s London. One is a rising star detective who is trying to figure out what’s behind the brutal murders of random women, most of the prostitutes. The other is an up-and-coming clothing designer who has a gift of foresight into who the women are and how they are being killed.
I would have expected to enjoy the former more than the latter but Unsworth does a great job fleshing out both characters. She probably gives more detail to the designer/medium but that’s fine. I’ve read plenty of grizzled, lone wolf detectives to know what ensues with a person like that. All the while, she does a great job building the story from small time murders, to front-page grabbing sensations while the two heroes poke behind the curtain for both empathy (medium) and conspiracy (detective).
It is through the designer’s profession and the detective’s investigation that we get good looks at what London was like during this particular time. I always appreciate writers who give me just enough atmosphere without laying it on too thick. Unsworth is good at that. I learned a lot about a place and culture that I’m not too familiar with, having visited London but for two days in 2013. The postwar kids just wanted to have fun, the wartime adults were psychologically ruined and it all plays out in 430 pages.
There are quibbles about pacing and editing. This could have been about 25-50 pages lighter. But it’s still a good read and it’s nice to have a feminine touch on a male serial killer story.
June 27, 2024
Had to read this for a summer class while studying abroad in London, and am disappointed in the amount of time I gave up while on this trip to read it.
Bad Penny Blues tries to write a historical fiction narrative about the Jack the Stripper murders in London in the late 1950s and 60s, but pays no care to the actual victims — rather, they act as pawns to advance the stories of literally everyone else.
There’s a million characters and you won’t care about any of them but Jenny, who is killed off at the end for no real reason other than shock value I guess? Really could not tell you why.
The Pete chapters are so boring they made me fall asleep, and Stella’s, while enjoyable, seem to have no real purpose in connection to the murders — it seems like the author wanted to write a story about 60s fashion and threw it in here to accomplish that with the murders in one book. Her powers have no actual consequence and don’t help her or the police to solve the murder.
Overall, seems very exploitative of the lives of the murdered women and does not pay them any care or respect. It felt gross reading this, with these women resting on my conscience, and I wish that we had focused on them and the worth of their lives rather than their horrific deaths and that being all.
Bad Penny Blues tries to write a historical fiction narrative about the Jack the Stripper murders in London in the late 1950s and 60s, but pays no care to the actual victims — rather, they act as pawns to advance the stories of literally everyone else.
There’s a million characters and you won’t care about any of them but Jenny, who is killed off at the end for no real reason other than shock value I guess? Really could not tell you why.
The Pete chapters are so boring they made me fall asleep, and Stella’s, while enjoyable, seem to have no real purpose in connection to the murders — it seems like the author wanted to write a story about 60s fashion and threw it in here to accomplish that with the murders in one book. Her powers have no actual consequence and don’t help her or the police to solve the murder.
Overall, seems very exploitative of the lives of the murdered women and does not pay them any care or respect. It felt gross reading this, with these women resting on my conscience, and I wish that we had focused on them and the worth of their lives rather than their horrific deaths and that being all.
April 30, 2021
At the start of the Swinging Sixties, a serial killer nicknamed Jack The Stripper stalked te streets of West London. In Bad Penny Blues, Cathi Unsworth smartly weaves together fact and fiction as she tells the stories of Stella – a young fashion- designer who is haunted by visons of the dead women – and PC Peter Bradley, a policeman who is investigation the killings.
First published in 2010 by Serpents Tail, Bad Penny Blues as been republished by Strange Attractor Press and now includes an introduction from no less than Greil Marcus as well as The Ghosts Of Ladbroke Grove, a revealing afterword from Cathi Unsworth.
Bad Penny Blues remains a cracking yarn with a great sense of time and place and is, of course, highly recommended.
First published in 2010 by Serpents Tail, Bad Penny Blues as been republished by Strange Attractor Press and now includes an introduction from no less than Greil Marcus as well as The Ghosts Of Ladbroke Grove, a revealing afterword from Cathi Unsworth.
Bad Penny Blues remains a cracking yarn with a great sense of time and place and is, of course, highly recommended.
November 9, 2018
3.5-4 stars. A really enjoyable and beautifully researched read that takes you through 1960s London with a colourful cast of characters. I didn't enjoy it as much as Weirdo (which I adored) but it was a fascinating read. It starts off strong, then the story dips slightly until page 200 and then it returns and becomes an addictive read. Can't wait to read more than Cathi Unsworth. She is an incredibly talented author.
February 19, 2018
I like this book for many reasons. First each chapter's title is a song and the way the chapters switch from Stella then Pete. Secondly, I'm not old enough to remember this period, the swinging 60s, but it was the basis for the following decade. Lastly this "crime" is still happening today. Will people never learn,
March 30, 2018
I dig that each chapter title is based on a song. Vry cool way to orient the reader to time and place. Also, an intriguing look into the London 60's scene, from music to street grit, murder and more!
At times, a little long-winded with back-story, but still, historically interesting stuff, so wouldnt read the same without it.
Overall, a definite recommended read!
At times, a little long-winded with back-story, but still, historically interesting stuff, so wouldnt read the same without it.
Overall, a definite recommended read!
September 3, 2018
I kind of felt I had read this story before, a little too familiar to Anthony Frewin's London Blues which I though was excellent.
Whilst not totally plagiarised London Blues this had enough about it to make it an interesting plunge into the dark side of Swinging London. A little over written and plodding at times but well worth a read.
Whilst not totally plagiarised London Blues this had enough about it to make it an interesting plunge into the dark side of Swinging London. A little over written and plodding at times but well worth a read.
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August 23, 2022A great reminder that another time can also be as foreign as another country. Cathi Unsworth takes us to 60s London with all of its slang, fashion and societal rifts. This has the pacing and tangled plot lines fans of crime noir love set in the instantly compelling and dangerously unsettling underbelly of London.
September 10, 2017
I enjoyed this London noir set in the late fifties and early sixties involving corrupt coppers, murdered prostitutes and kinky, protected aristos. David Peace calls it "The English 'Black Dahlia.'" Definitely for fans of David Peace, Ken Bruen (Inspector Brant series) and Sam Millar.
November 13, 2019
Fabulous recreation of 50s London, with lashing of music and a deeply disturbing plot that has definite echoes of films like Scandal and Get Carter. Unsworth is an ex-music journalist and it shows. The whole story is soundtracked beautifully throughout.
January 9, 2022
A dense and dirty novel, strung with characters whose fairy lights flickered with colourful but only intermittent illumination; reminding me of night-time 1960s views from within a sidecar, rain-reflected glimpses of other lives, lived dangerously. Noir indeed.
June 9, 2024
This is an okay crime novel, which I read for a class I'm teaching. There are two intertwined story lines, some mystical elements (which didn't seem entirely explained/fleshed out), a series of dead prostitutes, and conspiracies. I found the story of the detective more interesting and relevant to the crime novel part than much of the fashion designer's story line. But the detective's story line basically ends with exposition in the penultimate chapter (I think), where another detective essentially lays out the entire killing spree--though, in fairness, the primary focus detective had worked out a lot of what was going on. The problem is that exposition is a lazy approach to story telling.
https://youtu.be/Fxau-klGgzM
https://youtu.be/Fxau-klGgzM
October 4, 2022
This is a seriously good book.
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