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Now adapted as a film titled The Critic starring Ian McKellen and Gemma Alderton.
London, 1936: Nina Land, a West End actress, accidentally interrupts an attempted murder in a hotel room. But she faces a dilemma: she shouldn't have been at the hotel in the first place, and certainly not with society portrait-painter Stephen Wyley, a married man. But once it becomes apparent that she has seen the face of the man the newspapers have dubbed ‘the Tie-Pin Killer’ she realises that unless she acts quickly, more women will die.
Jimmy Erskine is the raffish doyen of theatre critics - conceited, self-indulgent, abrasive, disloyal, yet utterly mesmerising - he is nicknamed 'Barrack-Room Bertha' due to his proclivity for young men in uniform. But he fears that his star is fading: age and drink are catching up with him, and his late-night escapades with young men are getting risky. He has depended for years on his loyal and longsuffering secretary, Tom, but he has his own secrets too, which are beginning to catch up with him. Along with the prostitute Madeline, whose life was saved by Nina's interruption, this group of people are all drawn into a fascinating and dangerous kaleidoscope including the gay and theatrical worlds of London, the rise of fascism, the dawn of the movie industry, and the coming cataclysm of World War 2.
This is a deeply poignant love story, a murder mystery and an irresistible portrait of a society dancing towards the abyss.
Fans of this book should also check out Anthony Quinn's novel 'Freya', which involves characters from this novel, but in the aftermath of the war.
Author: Anthony Quinn
Paperback, 336 Pages, Orig. Published 2014, This Ed. Publ. November 2015