Publisher's Synopsis
Mr Madden, Dickens enthusiast, muses with his beautiful and bohemian prisoner on possible endings to the famous author's unfinished final mystery. She is captivating and captive, but more interested in his background than spilling her own. Mr Madden, spy, infiltrates a far right nationalist group in order to set up the thugs for something far more serious than their usual boozy street fights. But he's not the only one interested in their work. Mr Madden, serial killer, sculpts his Candidates into bizarre and macabre artworks within the bare walls of his dungeon workshop. And if he is to keep one step ahead of the police, the secret service and his own gory instincts, Mr Madden is going to have to answer the one question that hangs over all our heads: What would Charles Dickens do? "A laugh out loud, erudite, sly, blood-and-gore-soaked evisceration of an England we would prefer to pretend does not exist, with a series of cut-throat observations and knock-out one-liners that would make even the best political satirist weep with envy. A set of finely-tuned characters tread the boards in a horrifyingly amusing, twisted, sex 'n' drugs-crazed examination of vengeance - both personal and state sanctioned. Oh yes, and did I mention that it's a love story?" -Lesley Ann Sharrock (author of The Seventh Magpie and Fatal Reaction) More praise for the work of Mark Ramsden "Delightful." Maxim Jakubowski, The Guardian "Agreeably distasteful.' The Sunday Times "A baroque and uproarious parody of every genre you could think of. You'll laugh along till your piercings ache." Time Out "Witty and absolutely hilarious." Stuff "Deliciously dark." Desire "Weird but great." Front "An excellent novel. Very, very, very funny." Headpress "Lashings of humour, generally of a hue blacker than a thigh-high leather boot." Big Issue Number Thirteen Press is building a list of 13 quality crime novellas, to be published over 13 consecutive months, on the 13th of each month. For more details go to www.numberthirteenpress.com
