Corinne Woodrow was fifteen when she was convicted of murdering one of her classmates on a summer’s evening in 1984, a year when the teenagers of Ernemouth ran wild, dressing in black and staying out all night, listening to music that terrified their parents.
Twenty years later, new forensic evidence suggests Corinne didn’t act alone. Private investigator Sean Ward – whose promising career as a detective with the Met was cut short by a teenage gangster with a gun – reopens the case, and discovers a town full of dark secrets, and a community that has always looked after its own.
‘A gripping tale of adolescent angst and genuine evil’ Daily Telegraph
‘An absorbing mystery, an extraordinarily powerful evocation of time and place’ Guardian
Editorial Reviews
Review
Unsworth’s best yet, as sharp as vinegar on chips ― FT Published On: 2012-06-30
A serious talent … she has brilliantly captured that desperate sense of teenage boredom, isolation, danger and mayhem ―
Daily Mirror Published On: 2012-07-13
A creepy, credible page-turner that delights and disturbs ―
Metro Published On: 2012-07-11
A great, page-turning read. I think the whole package works beautifully: memory traces, bad magic, sounds, smells — Iain Sinclair
Fans of Cathi Unsworth’s potent brand of period noir have come to expect her trademark fluid writing, tense plotting and believable characters but in
Weirdo Main Edition, she has added an extra dimension of intensity. Set partly in the 1980s and partly in the early 2000s, the bang-on and powerful evocation of being a Punk in the provinces twists round the switchback central story of madness and murder like a perfect riff. Satisfying and beautifully done, Weirdo is a brilliant read, by a brilliant author. — Joolz Denby Published On: 2012-04-05
A must for fans of crime fiction. — Anne Sexton ―
Hot Press Published On: 2012-05-19
Cathi Unsworth, follows up her masterly noir
Bad Penny Blues with another fine crime novel, Weirdo Main Edition, as a private detective travels to Norfolk to try and unravel the mystery of a schoolgirl’s murder. — Simon Evans ― Choice Published On: 2012-06-01
Another fine crime novel from Cathi Unsworth after her masterly noir,
Bad Penny Blues — Simon Evans ― Choice Published On: 2012-06-01
An absorbing mystery, an extraordinarily powerful evocation of time and place. ―
Guardian
A gripping tale of adolescent angst and genuine evil ―
Telegraph
A tale of treachery, crime and cover-ups. Unsworth is adept at bringing Thatcher’s Britain back to life — Fachtna Kelly ―
Sunday Business Post Published On: 2013-06-09
A dark tale that delicately captures an era, and the toxic power battles between teenagers — Arifa Akbar ―
Independent on Sunday Published On: 2013-06-23
Book Description
Wicked Witch of the East, the tabloids called her. Bloody Weirdo, is what the locals said.
About the Author
Cathi Unsworth began a career in journalism at nineteen on the music weekly Sounds, and has since worked for many music, arts, film and alternative lifestyle journals. She is the author of four other novels, Weirdo Main Edition[9781846687938] The Not Knowing [9781852428921], The Singer [9781846686405]and Bad Penny Blues[9781846686788], and the editor of the award-winning crime compendium London Noir, all published by Serpent’s Tail. She lives in London.
Wow! eBook
