Welcome
Cathi Unsworth is a novelist, writer and editor who lives and works in London. She began her career on the legendary music weekly Sounds at the age of 19 and has worked as a writer and editor for many other music, film and arts magazines since, including Bizarre, Melody Maker, Mojo, Uncut, Volume and Deadline.
Her first novel THE NOT KNOWING was published in 2005, followed the next year with the award-winning short story compendium LONDON NOIR, which she edited, and in 2007 with the punk noir novel THE SINGER. Her third novel, BAD PENNY BLUES, inspired by the unsolved 'Jack the Stripper' murders of 1959-65 was published in 2010 to great critical acclaim.
As well as working on her books, Cathi writes paperback crime reviews for The Guardian, has appeared on TV and radio including reviewing for BBC2's The Culture Show. She regularly takes part in live events, including screen talks at The Barbican in London and spoken word gigs organised by Tight Lip and The Sohemian Society. She has also presented her work as live readings with music and audio accompaniment.
All her books are published by and available from Serpent's Tail.
Photo: Allison McGourty 2009
Latest News Site Updated 24/5/12
Cathi on Bad Penny Blues at HISTORYtalk, The London Lighthouse, Thursday 14 June
HISTORYtalk
Lighthouse West London
111-117 Lancaster Road
London W11 1QT
Telephone: 020 7243 9806
Email: info@historytalk.org
THURSDAY 14 JUNE 6.30pm
EVENT FREE
Cathi will be talking about the true crimes, hidden histories and geographical connections behind the novel Bad Penny Blues, set in and around Ladbroke Grove in the years 1959-65. She will be accompanied by HISTORYtalk's celebrated local psychogeographer Tom Vague, who will be providing documentary photographs of the W11 area and the faces involved from the time.
HISTORYtalk was founded in 1989 (registered as Kensington and Chelsea Community History Group) to encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to study, understand and contribute to the history of the local area and its varied communities.
Lighthouse West London
111-117 Lancaster Road
London W11 1QT
Telephone: 020 7243 9806
Email: info@historytalk.org
THURSDAY 14 JUNE 6.30pm
EVENT FREE
Cathi will be talking about the true crimes, hidden histories and geographical connections behind the novel Bad Penny Blues, set in and around Ladbroke Grove in the years 1959-65. She will be accompanied by HISTORYtalk's celebrated local psychogeographer Tom Vague, who will be providing documentary photographs of the W11 area and the faces involved from the time.
HISTORYtalk was founded in 1989 (registered as Kensington and Chelsea Community History Group) to encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to study, understand and contribute to the history of the local area and its varied communities.
Cathi's Gresham College Lecture
The Dark Eyes of London
at the Museum of London, 25 June, 1pm
MUSEUM OF LONDON
150 London Wall
London EC2Y 5HN
MONDAY 25 JUNE, 1PM
Part of Gresham College's Literary London Crime series. Event is free, no reservations required (first come, first served), and run by Gresham College. If you have any queries please contact Gresham College directly on 020 7831 0575 or via email at enquiries@gresham.ac.uk.
London is a city of secrets, a shifting, seething mass of intrigue, venality and violence, in constant cultural flux. The perfect setting for crime fiction - but how does the modern writer decode this centuries' old conurbation?
Cathi Unsworth investigates those authors who haunt certain regions of the capital – Ken Bruen’s Dirty South; Dreda Say Mitchell’s Illicit East; Derek Raymond’s West End Jungle – those, like Jake Arnott, who create epic pop histories from our forgotten past; and those, like Iain Sinclair, whose meditations on the geography of violence have inspired a different kind of crime fiction.
Along the way, she will also explore the cult writers who helped to shape these contemporary authors' visions and the clandestine vocabulary of the City of Slang.
150 London Wall
London EC2Y 5HN
MONDAY 25 JUNE, 1PM
Part of Gresham College's Literary London Crime series. Event is free, no reservations required (first come, first served), and run by Gresham College. If you have any queries please contact Gresham College directly on 020 7831 0575 or via email at enquiries@gresham.ac.uk.
London is a city of secrets, a shifting, seething mass of intrigue, venality and violence, in constant cultural flux. The perfect setting for crime fiction - but how does the modern writer decode this centuries' old conurbation?
Cathi Unsworth investigates those authors who haunt certain regions of the capital – Ken Bruen’s Dirty South; Dreda Say Mitchell’s Illicit East; Derek Raymond’s West End Jungle – those, like Jake Arnott, who create epic pop histories from our forgotten past; and those, like Iain Sinclair, whose meditations on the geography of violence have inspired a different kind of crime fiction.
Along the way, she will also explore the cult writers who helped to shape these contemporary authors' visions and the clandestine vocabulary of the City of Slang.
Coming soon… WEIRDO
WEIRDO, Cathi's fourth novel, will be published by Serpent's Tail in July 2012.
In 1984, 15-year-old Norfolk schoolgirl Corrine Woodrow was sentenced indefinitely for the ritualistic murder of a schoolfriend. With rumours of Satanism surrounding her, Corrine became a notorious hate figure. But 20 years later, re-examination of the forensic evidence suggests that the 'Wicked Witch of the East' didn't commit her crime alone.
Pensioned out of the Met after an altercation with a teenage gunman, Sean Ward finds himself investigating another juvenile delinquent when he agrees to take on Corrine's case for the QC determined to get her a re-trial. Travelling to the coastal resort where the crime unfolded, outsider Sean enters a world which has always known how to look after its own…
WEIRDO is tipped as a Cult Book of 2012 by STYLIST
In 1984, 15-year-old Norfolk schoolgirl Corrine Woodrow was sentenced indefinitely for the ritualistic murder of a schoolfriend. With rumours of Satanism surrounding her, Corrine became a notorious hate figure. But 20 years later, re-examination of the forensic evidence suggests that the 'Wicked Witch of the East' didn't commit her crime alone.
Pensioned out of the Met after an altercation with a teenage gunman, Sean Ward finds himself investigating another juvenile delinquent when he agrees to take on Corrine's case for the QC determined to get her a re-trial. Travelling to the coastal resort where the crime unfolded, outsider Sean enters a world which has always known how to look after its own…
WEIRDO is tipped as a Cult Book of 2012 by STYLIST
New Video - The Culture Show BBC2
In April 2011 Cathi joined Mark Kermode on BBC2's The Culture Show to provide her take on L.A Noire the latest epic video game from Rockstar Games.
Watch Cathi's contribution to The Culture Show on the VIDEO page.
Watch Cathi's contribution to The Culture Show on the VIDEO page.
New Video - Bokprogrammet NRK 2
In Spring 2011 Cathi was interviewed by Bokprogrammet for NHK 2 Norway's state broadcaster about the influence that punk rock has had on her work and life.
Watch Cathi's interview on the VIDEO page.
Watch Cathi's interview on the VIDEO page.
Bad Penny Blues - Out Now!
Set against the background of 1960's London Bad Penny Blues explores the murky world of the unsolved ‘Jack the Stripper’ murders of the 1960s in which the bodies of eight working girls were found in or along the Thames.
The killings sparked the biggest manhunt in Metropolitan Police history, but the killer was never found. In Bad Penny Blues Cathi aims not to solve the mystery, but rather, as she puts it, to “create a parallel universe in which an explanation can be offered that ties together a series of intriguing coincidences uncovered during the course of my research.”
BUY BAD PENNY BLUES HERE
Bad Penny Blues is so fully a thing in itself, slowly developing its own rules, playing them, teaching them to the reader, breaking them, then enforcing them even more strongly, until, with the book over, the world does not look quite as settled as it did before the book started – Greil Marcus
Bad Penny Blues is the English Black Dahlia and will establish Cathi Unsworth as the First Lady of Noir Fiction - David Peace
BUY BAD PENNY BLUES HERE
Le chanteur — fabulous French edition of The Singer available now
Rivages edition of Le chanteur, translated by Karine Lalechère is available now HERE
1981: Vincent Smith meets Steve Mullin and Lynton Powell at a Sex Pistols gig in Doncaster, where he tries to kiss Sid Vicious’ bass and gets a bloody nose. With this baptism they form Blood Truth with drummer Kevin Holme. Notoriety soon follows. Riots in the audience, fighting with journalists and Vincent’s self-styled persona as The King of Nothing stoke up their reputation as the most incendiary act around.
But when Vincent falls in love with beautiful American singer Sylvana it all starts to go horribly wrong. Plagued by her jealous ex-boyfriend, gradually ostracised by the rest of the band and developing a frightening appetite for bad drugs, it takes only six months from their wedding day to Sylvana’s suicide. Vincent breaks up the band and disappears, fading into cult obscurity.
2001: Journalist Eddie Bracknell sees a video of one of Blood Truth’s performances and is hooked. Yearning for the days when music really meant something, he decides to investigate what really happened to Vincent Smith. He gets a book deal and all the right contacts, but somehow he can’t get all the different angles to fit together. Was Vincent a genius or a psychopath? A visionary or a self-obsessed junkie? Eddie knows he has a dynamite story, but to truly make his name he will have to find Vincent Smith and bring him back from obscurity in the flesh.
Punk is dead, no question. But with her novel, Cathi Unsworth provides it with the tombstone it deserves – Elisabeth Phillipe, Les Inrockuptibles
1981: Vincent Smith meets Steve Mullin and Lynton Powell at a Sex Pistols gig in Doncaster, where he tries to kiss Sid Vicious’ bass and gets a bloody nose. With this baptism they form Blood Truth with drummer Kevin Holme. Notoriety soon follows. Riots in the audience, fighting with journalists and Vincent’s self-styled persona as The King of Nothing stoke up their reputation as the most incendiary act around.
But when Vincent falls in love with beautiful American singer Sylvana it all starts to go horribly wrong. Plagued by her jealous ex-boyfriend, gradually ostracised by the rest of the band and developing a frightening appetite for bad drugs, it takes only six months from their wedding day to Sylvana’s suicide. Vincent breaks up the band and disappears, fading into cult obscurity.
2001: Journalist Eddie Bracknell sees a video of one of Blood Truth’s performances and is hooked. Yearning for the days when music really meant something, he decides to investigate what really happened to Vincent Smith. He gets a book deal and all the right contacts, but somehow he can’t get all the different angles to fit together. Was Vincent a genius or a psychopath? A visionary or a self-obsessed junkie? Eddie knows he has a dynamite story, but to truly make his name he will have to find Vincent Smith and bring him back from obscurity in the flesh.
Punk is dead, no question. But with her novel, Cathi Unsworth provides it with the tombstone it deserves – Elisabeth Phillipe, Les Inrockuptibles
Tapeworm release: Cathi & Pete Woodhead present Johnny Remember Me
In an exclusive release for the esteemed Tapeworm cassette-only series, Cathi and musical co-conspirator Pete Woodhead are delighted to announce the arrival of Johnny Remember Me. An original short story by Cathi, read on the A-side by the author and on the flip by Pete, is a trip back in time to the cellar clubs of Fifties Soho, populated by rock'n'rollers, music moguls, gangsters, working girls, beatniks and art students.
The story spun out of research for Bad Penny Blues, in particular the life and times of Joe Meek and the Number One hit single Johnny Remember Me that he created for television star John Leyton. A song that is so evocative of ghosts and curses that it lent itself perfectly to the creation of a little urban myth.
With fabulosa original sleeve art by the legendary Sav X, Johnny Remember Me is a limited edition release of 250, priced at £3.50 plus £2 P&P. Full details from the Tapeworm website, linked below.
For more information on the story, please go HERE
To buy the cassette, please go HERE
The story spun out of research for Bad Penny Blues, in particular the life and times of Joe Meek and the Number One hit single Johnny Remember Me that he created for television star John Leyton. A song that is so evocative of ghosts and curses that it lent itself perfectly to the creation of a little urban myth.
With fabulosa original sleeve art by the legendary Sav X, Johnny Remember Me is a limited edition release of 250, priced at £3.50 plus £2 P&P. Full details from the Tapeworm website, linked below.
For more information on the story, please go HERE
To buy the cassette, please go HERE
Londres Noir: Fabulous French edition
The French edition of the short story collection LONDRES NOIR has just been published by the exciting Aspahalte éditions, a young publishing house dedicated to pop culture, noir fiction and the romance of the open road. Edited by Cathi, the collection was translated by Miriam Perier and features original short stories by BARRY ADAMSON, DESMOND BARRY, DANIEL BENNETT, KEN BRUEN, MAX DÉCHARNÉ, JOOLZ DENBY, KEN HOLLINGS, STEWART HOME, PATRICK McCABE, JOE McNALLY, MARK PILKINGTON, SYLVIE SIMMONS, JERRY SYKES, MARTYN WAITES, MICHAEL WARD and JOHN WILLIAMS.
For more information on the book (in French), please go HERE.
Some great pictures of the Paris launch HERE
For more information on the book (in French), please go HERE.
Some great pictures of the Paris launch HERE
Website Exclusive: The Transmissions
The Transmissions are the fruit of a sonic meeting between Cathi Unsworth and electronic composer Pete Woodhead.
"The river gave her up as dawn broke on 2 February 1964, stranding her body on a floating pontoon in the Upper Mall. By accident or diabolical design, she lay directly between the previous two murder sites of Chiswick and Mortlake…"
In these website exclusives Cathi reads extracts from her latest novel Bad Penny Blues.
More about this work and High Quality Transmission 1, 2 & 3 file downloads HERE
Use the player below to listen to Transmission 3 now.
(This work is intended for Adult Audiences)
"The river gave her up as dawn broke on 2 February 1964, stranding her body on a floating pontoon in the Upper Mall. By accident or diabolical design, she lay directly between the previous two murder sites of Chiswick and Mortlake…"
In these website exclusives Cathi reads extracts from her latest novel Bad Penny Blues.
More about this work and High Quality Transmission 1, 2 & 3 file downloads HERE
Use the player below to listen to Transmission 3 now.
(This work is intended for Adult Audiences)
Cathi Unsworth 2009
