Macabre but piqued my interest!

Midnight Streets (Piccadilly Noir) by Phil Lecomber     

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Children being lured or stolen from the streets of Soho and subjected to the wiles of a crazed organisation called Ancient Order of the Unicursal based on an ancient occult order. A forbidding, gutsy novel noir complete with the gumshoe English equivalent and a host of shady characters.

The time frame is between the wars, 1929.

Private detective George Harley becomes involved as a consultant with Scotland Yard, supposedly to be kept quiet. Of course there’s the bent Detective who’s trying to take the glory, even if the case is more complicated than Inspector Detective Quigg could even dream. There’s always someone who’s been bribed, or pressured and closely guarded evidence is released by the newspapers.

Harley is ex MI5. His girlfriend Cynthia Masters is a gem, from an upper middle class, slightly bohemian family. 

Harley’s acquainted and friendly with the various gangs around Soho. However the people in the Ancient Order circle are chilling psychopaths, including one German contender.

I was sympathetic with Harley as he tries to seperate fact from fiction.

The end is induces a chilling note and I’m left wondering. One case is closed but it seems another closely related is going to draw George Harley to new investigations.

Grim and dark, a London on the eve of World War II. Nasty things are trying to be summoned by those who would.

A Titan Books ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.