Without the Moon

Two series of ghastly murders of prostitutes, not unlike the infamous Jack the Ripper killings, entwine this gloomy historical novel set during the London Blitz, which Unsworth (Weirdo) based on two real cases from 1942. Her fictional Det. Chief Insp. Edward Greenaway of Scotland Yard's Murder Squad heads both investigations, which take him through the bombed city's teeming underbelly of thieves, gangsters, pimps, and sex workers. After solving the first murders too late to save the final victim, a guilt-ridden Greenaway is immediately faced with a copycat killer. The second case is all the more puzzling given the similarities not just of the murders but of the suspects. The story, set in two parts, becomes quite fragmented, making it difficult to empathize with any of the characters. Few of them, aside from Greenaway, develop any real fullness, and those who do flit out of the narrative for much too long before reappearing. Potentially colorful story lines, such as the young boy Bobby learning his newfound criminal and sleight-of-hand trade at Soapy Larry's barbershop, are given short shrift. The atmosphere is the only star here. Unsworth transports readers into the ruined streets of a blacked-out city as Londoners feel their way through the rubble with only their dim torch beams to guide them. There are nice touches of noir, but as a genre novel, this work is shallow and disjointed. (July)