All the way through this book I felt that there was a fascinating and well researched story waiting to grab me; witchcraft, the 1940's, the world of theatre and murder should have added up to a knock out read. Instead I often found myself confused by the little story lines that seemed to lead nowhere and were too bogged down in the details to capture my attention. There were also too many characters for me to really immerse myself in the plot, and those that were critical to the plot seemed to flit in and out with no real development.
I was fascinated by the authors note at the end that much of the plot was rooted in real life events, and it was interesting to read that some of her own family history had crept into the pages, but felt that overall it was a book let down by trying to cram too much into it.

Thanks go to the publishers and net galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Wow, what an amazing read! All the way through I was on the edge of my seat, eager to find out what would happen next.

This rattled along at a reasonable clip - with a slight lull post one characters demise ... An interesting premise to mix the occult with a WWII chase - works well; and the ending is quite superbly done .. The authors notes at the end also show she has done a fine job with good pointer towards further reading - much appreciated!
Any fan of weird fiction or the occult would probably enjoy this. My only slight criticism is it could have been made slightly tighter if a bit shorter ..

Truth be told, I didn't really enjoy this book and the writing style was too dry and incredibly confusing for my tastes. I lost track of what was going on a few times and found that I didn't really care enough to go back and muddle it out.

This book takes place in Britain during WW2, an undercover police investigator is trying to locate a missing woman and investigate the validity of a medium (why not?). I was expecting this book to be rich with atmosphere, characterisation and possibly a strong supernatural element but it didn't really deliver. There's a lot of bouncing about from place to place, with lots of peripheral characters popping up repeatedly. Though I think it was historically accurate and very well researched, I don't feel that the entertainment element was quite right.

I know that there was a lot of fascination with spiritualists and mesmerism around this time, especially when there was so much death around and this book revolves a lot around the 'is there any truth to it?' mystery but I wasn't satisfied with the take on it or the result.

This book may be better suited to fans of historical fiction during wartime, but it wasn't for me.

I expected more from this book. It has obviously been well researched and a lot of thought has gone in to it. From the description of the book I expected there to be more about the body being found and that that would be the starting point of the book. That was not the case. I cannot give this book any more than 3 stars. I expected a more detailed thriller with more action in it.

This is well written and very odd book - as the narrative proceeds we sense that the usual tensions around the supernatural are further suspended - no one is as they seem to be either - a German spy has been captured after he landed, hurt in a field, dropped by his colleagues. - we soon discover there is a mysterious 'Clara' in his life who seems to link to a covert spying operation in wartime London - our detective tracks her from here to there, meeting more and more sinister characters ... and we are lead to a conspiracy of Germans operating by black magical means to undermine the british government. I somewhat found the trail of the search rather linear, but the ambient is extraordinary and the detective appealing even as he seems to begin to attach himself to the supernatural. - absorbing and well-observed.

The start of this novel really drew me in with the séance held by Helen Duncan. Who is this mysterious spirit conjured up and what fate befell her? Who is the spirit projected and what troubles her? We discover her identity to be a lady named Clara but where is she now? It sees that her disappearance plagues more than one person.
And so this tale begins, set in World War Two, in a time where spies used secret societies as cover. Ross Spooner is the police inspector, tasked with hunting out the subversives, secret agent and Nazi sympathisers in secret societies.
The mystery of the spirit known as Clara deepens with the arrival of Karl Kohl, a spy enamoured with her and who is quickly captured. He is not her only love, it seems however for Spooner discovers a man known as Nicholas Ralphe who had been involved with her. But even with tracking him down, Spooner finds no answers.
Wanting to know what happened to Clara was what carried me through this story. I was intrigued by the references to Baphomet and rituals and I found some of these descriptions particularly memorable. I would have loved to read more about Clara because she is a very mysterious character to me. I did however find the plot a little difficult to follow but this may be because it is the kind of novel you need to read through continuously.

I had previously rally enjoyed Cathi Unsworth’s Weirdo so I came to That Old Black Magic with high hopes. I expected a nourish plot uncovering a sinister underbelly to theatrical witchcraft and séances, set in the Second World War. And I suppose that’s what I got. The trouble is, I was never really convinced by any of it, and for much of the journey I was completely confused by it.

This all starts with a German spy parachuting into Britain in the dead of night, caught because he breaks his leg on landing. He has a satanic symbol in his possession. This leads his police and MI5 interregators into the world of black magic, trying to find the German agent’s contact. Led by Spooner, a detective brought up in a second hand bookshop full of grimoires in the north east of Scotland, we meet a steady parade of mediums, circus performers, entertainment managers and provincial policemen. Everybody seems to be pretending to be somebody else and these bluffs and double bluffs quickly become baffling. There is some period detail, conveying a feel of a country that refuses to shut down completely despite the privations of rationing – where a class of person still had free access to petrol and hotel roast dinners when the rest of the country stayed at home with powdered eggs.

The plot, though, was impenetrable. I mean, why would German spies benefit from infiltrating theatrical witchcraft? What information would they pick up, and how would this be assisted by satanic rituals in woods at night? Why would they feel the need to keep adopting new personae – especially ones of the opposite sex? And why would there need to be so many of them?

And some of the writing is clunky and repetitive; some of the dialogue is expository. When I came across a “female policewoman” I almost screamed.

I struggled to finish the novel but persisted in the hope that the fog would clear and it would all click into place. It didn’t.

Cathi Unsworth’s last book 'Without the Moon' (2015) was her fictionalised account of the crimes of Gordon Cummins (aka The Blackout Ripper), and the unsolved murder of Margaret MacArthur on Waterloo Bridge.

'That Old Black Magic' (2018) is another drama set during World War 2, and is also based primarily on two real incidents: the Hagley Woods Murder of 1943, and the events leading up to the 1944 trial of Helen Duncan, a Scottish medium, and one of the last people convicted under the Witchcraft Act of 1735.

I have read all of Cathi Unsworth’s novels and this one continues her rich vein of form. I love literature set in the 1930s and 1940s, and once again this is right up there with the likes of Patrick Hamilton, Norman Collins, and Alexander Barron.

The story is a little convoluted but where it scores highly is in the attention to period detail. It also has a wonderfully idiosyncratic protagonist and understated hero in Ross Spooner. 'That Old Black Magic' brilliantly melds fact and fiction in a highly credible manner. If you know about this era you will instantly recognise some of the people that inform key characters, not least the eccentric spymaster Maxwell Knight. Helpfully Cathi reveals all of her sources at the end of the book and even how some of her own family history unexpectedly found its way into the book.

Magic and witchcraft inform much of the plot and, as I read, I was reminded of Dennis Wheatley. Coincidentally this is something Cathi acknowledges in the book’s concluding author’s note. It turns out Wheatley also worked for the Secret Service during World War 2 and was a good friend of Maxwell Knight. Anyway, the book’s exciting finale is worthy of a Dennis Wheatley novel and makes for a gripping conclusion.

Well written, evocative, brilliantly researched, imaginative, informative, and compelling. Another winner from Cathi Unsworth.

4/5

I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

'That Old Black Magic' will be published on 8 March 2018

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and Cathi Unsworth for my ARC of That Old Black Magic.

I’m quite on the fence with this book, rounding it off at a safe 3* so I’m going to break this review into 3 parts. A synopsis, what I liked and what I think could have been done better.

So first off, the storyline/synopsis. The story is mostly about witchcraft and spiritualism during World War II, it also features spies, MI5 agents and reporters. It follows the life of a German spy who is also a witch, and the investigation into her and her actions.


What did I like?

The premise of the story was great, I found the concept of witchcraft mixed with German spies during the war to be fascinating as well as it’s relation to ghosts and mediumship. The character of Spooner was really interesting and easy to like and empathise with.

What didn’t I like?

The story was a bit all over the place, it switched quickly between characters and lines of the story which made it hard to keep up or understand the relevance, there were also other minor stories going on which seemed to have little to do with the main story and left me with a lot of unanswered questions. Some of the character had similar names which got confusing too. Also, the synopsis is misleading as it details something which doesn’t actually happen while halfway through the book.

Laid out better, with the strong storyline this could have easily been a five star read.