Sunday at the Cross Bones

'John Walsh propels his narrative forward with irresistible vigour and delineates a host of entertaining characters with broad strokes of a brush heavily charged with primary colours.' Francis King, Literary Review 'Walsh gets the tragicomic tone just right and his description of the tawdry 1930's London is thoroughly enjoyable.' Daily Telegraph 'The narrative of "Sunday at the Cross Bones" is as lively and ambiguous as its main character!Pacy and entertaining, elegantly written, funny yet ultimately tragic, "Sunday at the Cross Bones" is full of hypocrisies and moral ambiguities. The abiding impression is of a very irritating man punished out of all proportions to his actual wrong-doing.' Times Literary Supplement 'The pleasures of comic fiction lie in the accomplishment of the writing and Walsh's enjoyable novel not only thrills with its regular top-ups of verbal Viagra, but hints at a darker subtext.' Independent 'Like Peter Ackroyd, Walsh demonstrates an intimate knowledge of London and the unique spirit of place that permeates different nooks and crannies of the city!Walsh captures dialect brilliantly from the cockney 'innit'-speak of the rector's protegees to the patronising but ever-so-polished tone of his Mayfair benefactress!Though we know how the story ends, there is a dreadful fascination in following it to the end of the journey.' Sunday Business Post 'If the secret of novel-writing is to find a voice, then John Walsh has cracked it in this entertaining comic novel!There is a lot here, much of it extremely funny, about the allure of hosiery.' Sunday Times 'Walsh writes with great fluency and gusto. His novel resonates in interestingly complex neurotic depths.' The Spectator 'A highly entertaining comic tale.' Sunday Times 'Walsh returns Davidson to his colourful and eccentric life.' Daily Mail '"Clever" seems an appropriate word to describe this book. It is clever from first to last, clever at every twist and turn!"Sunday at the Cross Bones" is a skilful first work of fiction.' Paul Bailey, The Independent 'A voluble, stylish, moving gem!Told almost entirely through Davidson's personal journals, rumoured to have been stolen by an agent of the Bishop of Norwich and then destroyed, Walsh has created an unforgettable character in his Norfolk redeemer -- comic, sympathetic, deeply affecting, almost carnivalesque in both his voice and in the life and times the he inhabits. It's an enthralling circus of a book.' Sunday Telegraph 'A gutsy novel -- enjoyable, lively and moving.' Independent on Sunday 'John Walsh's inventive, sprawling novel is made up of imaginary diaries and correspondence from the period. The tragedy of a well-intentioned man lured to his perdition is played out with just the right mixture of pathos and black humour.' The Mail on Sunday