Four years after bringing the infamous child-killer known as the ‘Nursery Butcher’ to justice – and still haunted by the brutal vengeance exacted by the psychopath’s ruthless allies – Cockney private eye George Harley is finally back in business, operating a new detective agency in the heart of London’s Soho. Harley and his new assistant Bunty are presented with their first case when a distressed father engages them to investigate the disappearance of his daughter, who has run away from home to join a cabaret troupe led by the notorious ‘Queen of Depravity’ Ilse Blau, now in London after being driven out by the Nazis from Weimar-era Berlin. But in Harley’s liminal world, things are never straightforward, and the detective soon finds himself embroiled in another pitch-dark scenario, with London’s decadent, thrill-seeking gentry on one side and West End mobsters and wide-boys in search of easy cash on the other. When he discovers that a six-year-old has been kidnapped from an orphanage, Harley is convinced his old nemesis has somehow broken out of the lunatic asylum and is back on the streets of London, up to his old tricks. Set in 1933 and following on from the events of Midnight Streets, this second instalment in the Piccadilly Noir series sees George Harley return to the frowzy alleyways and sleazy nightclubs of the UK capital in search of answers – no matter how uncomfortable they might turn out to be. But when he becomes ensnared in the mind games of a wily femme fatale, and finds himself up against ruthless Glaswegian gangsters, well-connected occultists, and undercover SS agents, those answers become increasingly hard to find.
About the Author :
Phil Lecomber was born on the outskirts of South East London. Although he now resides in the beautiful city of Bath, he has spent most of his working life in the capital, in a variety of occupations. Phil’s diverse career has included time as a musician performing in the city’s clubs, pubs, and dives; a steel-fixer working on the towering edifices of the Square Mile; and a designer of stained-glass windows. For 35 years, he worked in Mayfair at the internationally renowned fine art auction house Sotheby’s, where he oversaw electronic security for some of the world’s most valuable works of art. His debut novel, Midnight Streets – the first in the Piccadilly Noir series – was published in spring 2025. The second in the series, The Devil’s Banquet, is set for release in 2026.
All of which, of course, has provided wonderful material for a novelist’s inspiration.
Always an avid reader, a chance encounter as a teenager with a Gerald Kersh short story led to a fascination with the ‘Morbid Age’—the years between the wars. The world that Phil has created for the Piccadilly Noir series is the result of the consumption and distillation of myriad contemporary novels, films, historical accounts, biographies and slang dictionaries of the 1920/30s—with a nod here and there to some of the real-life colourful characters that he’s had the pleasure of rubbing shoulders with over the years.
Review :
Praise for Midnight Streets
A walk on the wild side of 1920s London. Dark, atmospheric and utterly compelling.
-Jake Arnott, bestselling author of The Long Firm and The Fatal Tree
It's 1929. While Sam Spade is busy chasing a black bird through the mean streets of San Francisco, war vet and private sherlock George Harley is following the bloody trail of a book of the damned through the streets of Jazz Age London. Phil Lecomber's jaw-dropping debut is exactly what I want from a historical hardboiled novel: passionate nihilism and a tough-as-nails loner making his way through a depraved underworld whose darkness goes all the way down. Actually, I'm lying. I didn't know that's what I wanted until Lecomber served it up to me in Midnight Streets, and I very much hope he has more in store for us.
-Duane Swierczynski, New York Times bestselling author of Lion & Lamb, California Bear and Secret Dead Men
I loved this fast-paced, atmospheric adventure through the smoke and neon of 1920s Soho, vividly written and rich with historical detail. The twists and turns will leave you reeling.
-Alex Pavesi, bestselling author of Eight Detectives
If Patrick Hamilton and Dashiell Hammett had got hammered in some boozer in old Soho, Midnight Streets is the novel they'd have come up with. Dodging razor-wielding gangsters, ponces, streetwalkers and bent coppers, cockney private eye George Harley armed only with his wits and a pair of knuckledusters, navigates his way through a pitch-black noir cityscape. All of London (low) life is here. A cracking debut.
-Martyn Waites, author of the Joe Donovan crime series
A polished story set in a vibrant and colourful London between the wars. Full of twists, it gradually unveils a horrific set of crimes. The dogged George Harley will appeal to anyone who loves a private detective story.
-Mick Finlay, author of the Arrowood Mysteries series
A gripping mystery, steeped in the deliciously seedy side of the Golden Age crime.
-Lucy Barker, author of The Other Side of Mrs Wood
A clever mix of Silence of the Lambs and Dennis Wheatley, all set in the dark and dangerous world of Jazz Age Soho.
-Stuart Douglas, author of Death at the Dress Rehearsal and Death at the Playhouses
Absolutely terrific - incredibly gripping... brought the seamy streets and seamier denizens of 1920s London to brutal life.
-Ajay Chowdhury, author of The Waiter and The Cook
Set in London in 1929 - prime Golden Age territory - Midnight Streets is as dark as any noir classic. In this book, evil has its gloves, and its monocle, off, and we see the darkness we knew was there.
-S. J. Rozan, co-author of the Judge Dee and Lao She mysteries
An atmospheric thriller set in 1920s London, which reveals Lecomber's keen ear for the off-beat rhythms of the city. Midnight Streets burrows into the darker facets of the glittering Golden Age, with a cast of shadowy characters dragged from the back alleys. Immersive and mysterious, this debut will delight historical crime fans.
-Jo Furniss, author of Dead Mile
It's dark, it's gory, evoking an earlier time of the penny dreadfuls, that traded on the ability to shock, added to which is a real feel for the macabre and the grotesque... Midnight Streets is a magnificent period noir that is steeped in the atmosphere of London and a touch of the classic hardboiled.
Peter Turns the Page blog
Praise for Phil Lecomber's self-published debut The Mask of Verdoy
The smoky and smoggy atmosphere of 1930s London is captured beautifully... an excellent debut.
-Crime Fiction Lover
Readers will practically see the city's pea-soup smog and smell Harley's ubiquitous Gold Flake cigarettes wafting off the page... An engrossing historical murder mystery.
-Kirkus Reviews
An enthralling tale of murder and manipulation that'll place you in 1930s London.
-Crime Thriller Hound
