Needless Alley

 

The debut novel by Birmingham based author, Natalie Marlow, out in January from John Murray Press/Baskerville

Arriving on a wave of fanfare on this side of Christmas 2022, this reader had the pleasure of reading Needless Alley devouring this debut novel by Natalie Marlow. It is the highly promising beginning of a probable long-running series featuring Birmingham gumshoe William Garrett in 1933. 

Garrett we meet as an individual, a private detective, who sets up honey traps by photographing adulterous wives in illicit affairs, therefore forcing divorces from the wealthy male elite of the city who want out of their now loveless marriages.

Garrett, has a good way of life, he gets help from his friend and out-of-work actor Ronnie Edgerton in these traps, his world is turned upside down when he encounters Clara Morton - who upon first meet with her is the next wife a husband wants divorcing from.

Set in that tricky period between world wars when the world was still coming to terms from the heavy scars of the Great War(1914-18), while the pounding foot of impending fascism is heard across continental Europe and shaking itself from the doldrums of a global recession/depression. Marlow has created a world which is ripe for cultivating narrative fodder, Morton's unloving husband is intrinsically tied to Oswald Mosley and his blackshirt brigade, who came so very close to power and popularity in the mid-1930s of Britain.

Now this may strike you as familiar if you had watched the latter series of that other Birmingham cultural touchstone, Peaky Blinders, and Mosley is used creatively in the narrative as a person of great relevance and importance in pre-World War 2 British history, a sobering reminder as to how close our nation was to following in the footsteps of Nazi Germany but for the rationale minds to prevail thankfully.

Marlow writes with a flair and panache that is refreshing and enticing, she has created a character in Garrett she is clearly fond of and like most detectives he has to overcome the odd fistfight and moral dilemma, sometimes in the same instance.

This book features one of the cleverest 'did not see that coming' moments I can remember, and yet rather than stop the narrative in its tracks it does the opposite and prompts the reader to plough on and digest the remainder of the book.

Delicately balancing between homage and originality and definitely leaving the door open for more stories to come from the Brum, Needless Alley is a welcome addition to the British Detective Noir genre and Mrs. Marlow promises to be a voice we will pleasingly hear more of in the coming years.

Needless Alley is out from Baskerville on 19th January.