LITTLE LONDON SCANDAL

London 1967. Nik Christou has been a rent boy since he was 15. He knows the ins and outs of Piccadilly Circus, how to spot a pretty policeman and interpret a fleeting glance. One summer night his life is turned upside down, first by violence and then by an accusation of murder. Anna Treadway, fleeing the ghosts of her past, works as a dresser in Soho's Galaxy theatre. Experience has taught her never to put too much faith in the law, so, convinced Nik is innocent, she determines to find him an alibi. Merrian Wallis, devoted wife to an MP whose career has already been tarnished by sandal, just wants proof that her husband couldn't have been involved. As Anna searches for clues amongst a cast of MPs, actors, members of gentlemen's clubs and a hundred different nightly clients, will anyone be willing to come forward and save Nik from his fate? Emmerson portrays summer nights in the city with all their 'distemper and discretions' and a cruel, surprisingly small world in which privilege and prejudice quash any compassion, a world where actors need 'lead stomachs, steel minds and loose knickers.' A pitch-perfect evocation of 60s London, well-plotted, engrossing and moving particularly in that the novel gives voice to the marginalised and disdained. Written by a well-regarded dramatist. 280pp, paperback.