I was excited to read this book but something is missing. The story of Bella in the Wych Elm and the Nazi conspiracy theories has been investigated and rehashed on many occasions. Sadly, That Old Black Magic, doesn't bring anything new to the collection. Sure, a lot of research can be seen to have gone into this book, but it doesn't stop it from being both over-written and underwritten simultaneously. I cam for the magical realism but it doesn't feel like that is what I got.

Thank you for approving this title for me and I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to review it.

I was initially interested in reading this book, however my tastes have shifted and I do not think I will be able to get to it now. Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a digital copy!

This book is a big no-no for me. And, if I had known that this book was one that connected the Nazis to the occult, then I probably wouldn’t have requested it in the first place. That Old Black Magic attempts to connect Bella in the Wych Elm (a fascinating story that intrigued the hell out of me when I first heard it on the What’s Your Favourite Murder? podcast) to the paranormal, and then to Himmler and the Final Solution.
It felt offensive in a way, to blame the murder of fourteen million people on malicious forces; not exactly excusing it, or shifting the blame, but something that fell murkily in that direction. I know that we are endlessly searching for meanings about why evil people do the fucking terrible things that they do and that, through art, examination of that is possible. But frankly, most of the time it is not because of the presence of the occult, mental illness, drugs or any of the other things we blame in our attempts to distance ourselves, explain it all away or bring ourselves a little closure.
Because, if we’re being truly honest with ourselves, maybe the answer is simply because they deign to do so.

This was such a good idea for a book - a legend I knew nothing about, real life characters I had never heard of and a part of WWII that people rarely touch upon. I'd heard the Nazis had used the Occult for propaganda but had never explored it so was thrilled to read the authors ideas about just how this might have happened.

This was an involved and complex story with some fantastic scenes - especially the seances - and I really warmed to main character the investigator Spooner, I really believed in his purpose, thoughts and dialogue. Plus the amount of research and thought that had gone into this book was obvious.

The only thing I would say it that it was slightly too complex with one too many characters (all with quite large and important backstories) and to concentrate on all the different strands was a little confusing, especially as it was difficult to work out just how they were related.

I was still a little in the dark by the end and not really sure if the elm tree murder was solved or if Clara's story was resolved. And there were some points left undone - such as Spooner's vision at the seance, what happened there? As he was a sceptic we should have had his final reasoning about it.

I felt as if the novel could have been split into three different books - one about Harry Price/Helen Duncan, one about the use of the Occult in WWII and one about Bella in the Wych Elm - as I am not sure which storyline this novel was focussing on and am sure the author could have done all three stories better justice.

However, all of this was swept aside by the authors very detailed and fantastic notes - I found these almost a little more interesting than the story (truth always stranger than fiction!) and have looked up all of the resources she suggested and looked further into the lives of Harry Price, Helen Duncan and Bella in the Wych Elm. So thanks for that!

First of all, thank you for NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review. I grabbed this book as it was set in WWII times, no surprise there. However, I didn’t re-read the synopsis before diving into the book so this was all I knew, and lord was I confused! But, obviously, this was all my own fault and I managed to catch up to the gist of the plot by 20-odd% through.

This book engages in the mystical and the unknown, following a Scottish policeman in his work to uncover German spies. He manages to tangle himself up in a world of magic and spirits, with people supposedly speaking to the dead and transferring messages from the other side as well as being part of curious cults (for want of a better word) who terrify and control their members. Essentially this is a very odd book which mixes the occult with British 1940s/50s values and it’s incredibly entertaining.

I was invested in the plot and hooked right to the very end, I absolutely loved the mystery present within the story and how it entwined itself into the fantastical plot and the societal feelings of the times. Our Scotsman protagonist is a great viewpoint for the story, but there are also other points of view dotted about within the book which encompass the story more fully and allow for the reader to gather the gist of events and their relevance to each other.

I whole-heartedly recommend picking this book up if its synopsis intrigues you, as there are so many dimensions to this novel that something is sure to spark your interest! I definitely enjoyed the reading experience.

I was really looking forward to this book. It has everything you need for a good read, history, mystery, espionage......and yet it's missing something. Maybe, ironically, a little bit of magic.

I'm from near Hayley so pretty familiar with the infamous events in Hagley Woods despite the years that have passed so a novel about it and from a writer with such an interesting portfolio of work really grabbed my attention. But despite a great story, crafted into an intriguing plot for me it was too dry. This story needed characters rich in personality to connect to but I found it incredibly difficult to care at all, and often found the narrative disjointed. I just found it a bit of a slog to get through. The feeling I was left with is if the author had written this as an non fiction account I'd have loved it. But as a piece of fiction for me it just was lacking.

Gorgeous cover and intriguing plot, but I just didn't get into it. No fault of Cathi Unsworth; it just wasn't to my taste.

Ross Spooner is an undercover agent working for MI5 when he is asked to look at an unusual case. A German spy has been captured and he is babbling about black magic and another agent has gone insane talking about witches. Spooner is drawn into a world where the Third Reich's obsession with the supernatural is causing chaos, on a more mundane level a spiritualist in Portsmouth is claiming to channel the spirits of dead navy personnel to their families whilst the news of battle is still a secret.

Reading this book it is easy to think of it as a wild extension of 'horror' fiction with a setting in the 1940s. However this is far from the truth as the basis of this book is actually fact. The medium Helen Duncan was the last woman tried as a witch in Britain and the mysterious discovery of a body inside a tree in Hagley Woods is also true. The Nazis were obsessed by black magic and did incorporate those ideas into their espionage policy. Once I realised that the book was a fictionalised account of true events I actually started to enjoy it more and in the end found it quite readable. there is no doubt that Unsworth is a good writer and her research here to find a new angle on a wartime tale is excellent

That Old Black Magic tells the story of Ross Spooner, a detective investigating a group of potential Nazi spies in the 1940s who seem to have strong links to the occult. There were elements of this book that I loved - the descriptions of seances, the eeriness of the subject matter. I would say there were specific scenes and sections that I really enjoyed. But overall, I found it a little hard to follow. So much happened, and there were so many characters, and I couldn’t always see how things were linked. I wasn’t sure about the motivations of most of the characters and couldn’t always keep track of who was who. This could be more my fault than the author’s, of course. For me, a more streamlined plot might have been more effective, but overall it’s a good read.

Hi Karen,
My Next review is:-

“That Old Black Magic)”, written by Cathi Unsworth and published in paperback by Serpent’s Tail on 8 Mar. 2018. 368 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1781257272

April 1943: four boys playing in Hagley Woods, Worcestershire make a gruesome discovery. Inside an enormous elm tree, there is the body of a woman, her mouth stuffed with a length of cloth. As the case goes cold, mysterious graffiti starts going up across the Midlands: 'Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?'

To Ross Spooner, a police officer working undercover for spiritualist magazine Two Worlds, the messages hold a sinister meaning. He's been on the track of a German spy ring that have left a trail of black magic and mayhem across England, and this latest murder bears all the hallmarks of an ancient ritual.

At the same time, Spooner is investigating the case of Helen Duncan, a medium whose messages from the spirit world contain highly classified information. As the establishment joins ranks against Duncan, Spooner must face demons from his own past, uncover the spies hiding beneath the fabric of wartime society - and confront those who suspect that he, too, may not be all he seems ..

This World War Two historical fiction is a gripping blend of fact and fiction featuring the use of the occult by the Nazis to defeat Britain, initiated by Heinrich Himmler, with German spy rings supported by members of British aristocratic circles that hope to see the rise of fascism.

There are actual historical figures and events in the story, along with thinly veiled characters that represent real people from the era such as Intelligence chief Maxwell Knight. This is a story of the colourful world of music halls, magicians, seances, witches, spells, magic, , memory men, spies and the infiltration of this world by the intelligence services. Detective Sergeant Ross Spooner, is a police officer, who was moved to work with MI5, recruited by The Chief to unearth British traitors and German spies entrenched in show business and occult circles with their plans to help the German war effort. Spooner is ideally placed to play this role, given that he grew up in an Aberdeen Antiquarian Bookshop, owned by his father and read a lot of books on the occult as a result.

A German spy, Karl Kohl, is parachuted into the Fens, but unfortunately for him, breaks his foot and is caught by the locals. Kohl is interviewed by the security services, interested in mining him for crucial intelligence. They get more than they bargain for, learning of Clara Bauer, who is masquerading as a musical hall act under the name of Clara Brown. She is a powerful witch supplying German High Command with vital knowledge that orchestrates their accurate targeting of munitions and aircraft factories and more by the Luftwaffe, in the Birmingham Blitz. Spooner enters the world of showbiz to track down Clara and those close to her

This is a fascinating historical novel that gives us insights on aspects of the Second World War that has often received very little attention. The author in an entertaining post script lets us know at the end that she has personal family connections to this history. She has engaged in some impressive research that has shaped the narrative, she outlines her debt to the extensive occult writing s of the late Dennis Wheatley who provides a lot of the detailed background to her writing. I really enjoyed this very entertaining but very unusual historic mystery. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review..


Best wishes,
Terry

It is an intriguing premise – an underground world of disappearing witches, theatrical mediums, and real historical figures, all contained within a World War II setting. But unfortunately Cathi Unsworth’s recent historical noir novel That Old Black Magic doesn’t quite reach its potential, spreading itself too thinly across subplots and under-developed characters.

Driving this story along is Detective Sergeant Ross Spooner, a persistent police officer with a penchant for undercover operations. Spooner immerses himself in a world of occult, while attempting to track down German witch and musical hall performer, Clara Bauer. Spooner’s journey down the rabbit hole is permeated with an intensely grim atmosphere, built upon Unsworth’s incredible attention to historical detail where her writing is at its best. Her extensive research into England during the 1940’s allows her to put her own gothic spin on World War II, interweaving true historical events, such as the last conviction of a self-proclaimed medium under the British Witchcraft Act of 1735, and the unsolved murder of an anonymous woman found inside a tree trunk.

In the book’s blurb, the mystery behind the cryptic graffiti “Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?” is posed as an integral part of the story. The sheer creepiness and unknown implications of this single line has spurred theories for decades, ranging from the ordinary to the supernatural. However, this narrative hook does not come into play until two-thirds of the way through, and the subsequent enigma of the anonymous graffitist is disappointingly short-lived.

Up until this point, the story wanders from plot point to plot point, often jumping sharply and unexpectedly between locations. The result is a convoluted and confusing story that introduces bland characters, lets them go for a while, then only to bring them up again later once their significance has been forgotten. While the story does start to pick up momentum in its third act, its aforementioned flaws don’t completely disappear. Unfortunately, many subplots are either left too open-ended or altogether neglected.

Even the relationships between the main characters are vague, only blurred further by their frequent disguises and double crossings. Close attention needs to be paid to them, as it is incredibly easy to muddle up who is on good terms with whom, and how much individuals really know about each other.

At a couple of points in the novel there are brief suggestions of possible romantic inclinations between two leading characters, but given the circumstances surrounding them this ultimately feels odd and out-of-place. While there is a pay-off to this subplot that intertwines with historical events, it comes off as an awkward way to force the two stories together, serving no other purpose than to shoehorn an easy and abrupt resolution to both of them.

That Old Black Magic holds potential to be a gripping mystery novel, but it regrettably collapses beneath its own ambition to cover as much historical ground as possible. Had Unsworth decided to focus specifically on fewer characters, or alternatively given more time to flesh out each of their respective storylines, then perhaps this novel may have been more successful in its aspirations. While its strong, gothic atmosphere and intriguing take on World War II are exciting narrative elements that Unsworth obviously relishes delving into, they stand on weak foundations, making for a story that is more thrilling in theory than it is in practice.

My Thoughts

I was attracted to this book as it was based around two incidents from history: the Hagley Woods Murder of 1943; and also, the events leading up to the 1944 trial of Helen Duncan, a Scottish medium ( one of the last people convicted under the Witchcraft Act of 1735). Add into the mixture, World War II and Nazi spies and one would think you were on a winner.

The positives of this book was indeed the concept. A mixture of witchcraft and German spies set during the war is fascinating, especially considering it’s formation from real time events. The attention to detail from the time period was also well presented - a good mixture of fact and fiction that was obviously well researched and informative with the right balance of imagination. I also particularly liked the main lead of Spooner - easy to appreciate and empathise with. Sadly, however, these aspects were not enough to carry the book over the line for me. I struggled to finish it, finding it to be pretty dry and confusing at times.

My first confusion came with the synopsis and what I thought would be the initial catalyst for the story. No - this did not occur until well into the book and I was unsure of how it would all fit together. I felt misled. Some events were built up, but later left out to dry - not as important as I initially anticipated - whilst others led to nowhere. This provided another confusion for me, as I found the writing rather disjointed regarding who, what or where events were taking place. There are loads of characters that make it difficult to really engage in the plot and sift through who was pertinent and who wasn’t.

So all up I was deflated after what at the outset had appeared a good basis for an engaging story. Perhaps it would have been better served if the stated synopsis and the discovery of 'Bella in the Wych Elm' had indeed been the initial hook and then the author had worked back from that point? Who knows?



This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Cathi Unsworth is a very good writer whose previous work I have liked very much, but I'm sorry to say that That Old Black Magic was a severe disappointment.

Set in 1942, the plot is about Nazi spies who use spiritualist and other occult circles for their nefarious ends. There is an engaging protagonist in Spooner, a policeman turned undercover agent who sets out to unravel the mystery, but apart from that I found very little to keep me reading here. The pace is funereally slow, the plot is convoluted and rather confusing and - although I'm astonished to be saying this of a Cathy Unsworth novel – it's not all that well written. For one thing, there is masses and masses of clunky exposition; Unsworth has plainly researched her subject and period very thoroughly, but the picture she paints is to me rather crude and clichéd. There are some pretty predictable developments among the seemingly endless stream of just telling us things – including stuff like every single component of one very minor character's Sunday roast, for example.

I'm sorry to say that I got so fed up that, after persevering well beyond the point where I was the remotest bit interested, I gave up – which was a considerable relief. I hope Cathi Unsworth returns to form in the future, but this one most definitely wasn't for me.

(My thanks to Serpent's tail for an ARC via NetGalley.)

<i>That Old Black Magic</i> (review copy received from Netgalley in exchange for this honest review) begins in January 1941, when medium Helen Duncan apparently channels the spirit of a woman who is being murdered in a wintry wood. Later that same month, the hapless Karl Kohl, on a spying mission from Germany, breaks his ankle and is captured by the security services. He doesn't tell them much -- but what he does confess is enough to involve MI5, and in particular the shadowy section known as 'Triple-U' -- witches, warlocks and wizards.

Detective Sergeant Ross Spooner, who grew up in a 'rare and occult' bookshop in Aberdeen, is assigned to trace the woman who was Karl Kohl's contact. His investigation takes him into a bohemian world of musicians, actors and circus performers -- and, later, into the equally theatrical world of seances and spiritualism. He meets historical characters such as ghost hunter Harry Price, journalist Hannen Swaffer and medium Helen Duncan: the latter was the last person to be tried under the 1735 Witchcraft Act in the UK, in 1944, and though Spooner is well aware of the trickery behind her performance, he also experiences the inexplicable.

This novel ties together historical events (Helen Duncan's trial, the bombing of arms factories in Birmingham, the discovery by four boys of a woman's bones in a hollow tree) with fiction. Spooner is a good protagonist, at once sceptical and eager to believe, determined to root out potential traitors, and beguiled by the mysterious musician Anna. What I found most interesting, though, was Unsworth's depictions of the spiritualist circuit, and the theatrical world, in World War II.

The narrative did jump around a lot: typically, Spooner would be walking somewhere; then he'd reflect on the circumstances that prompted his walk; then he'd get to his destination. A plethora of dream sequences, too (and Spooner is prone to bad dreams). There's a sense of fading, rather than closure, at the end of the book: I didn't find the ending wholly satisfactory. And I sometimes felt that too much information and too many subplots were being shoehorned in. Overall, though, this is an interesting, well-researched and well-paced read.

This is World War Two historical fiction that is a blend of fact and fiction featuring the use of the occult by the Nazis to defeat Britain, spearheaded by Heinrich Himmler, with German spy rings supported by members of British aristocratic circles that want to see the rise of fascism. There are actual historical figures and events in the story, along with thinly veiled characters that represent real people from the era such as Intelligence chief Maxwell Knight. This is a story of the colourful world of music halls, magicians, seances, witches, spells, magic, mesmerists, memory men, spies and the infiltration of this world by the intelligence services. DS Ross Spooner, is a police officer, who has moved to work with MI5, recruited by The Chief to unearth British traitors and German spies entrenched in show business and occult circles with their plans to help the German war effort. Spooner is ideally placed to play this role, given that he grew up in an Aberdeen Antiquarian Bookshop, with a history of a personal interest in the occult and books on the subject.

A German spy, Karl Kohl, is parachuted into the Fens, but breaks his foot and is caught by locals. Kohl is interviewed by the security services, interested in mining him for crucial intelligence. They get more than they bargain for, learning of Clara Bauer, masquerading as a musical hall act under the name of Clara Brown. She is a powerful witch supplying German High Command with vital knowledge that orchestrates their accurate targeting of munitions and aircraft factories and more by the Luftwaffe, in the Birmingham Blitz. Spooner enters the world of showbiz to track down Clara and those close to her, such as Anna, Nils Anders, Nicolas Ralphe, and the powerful wealthy aristocrat, Simon De Vere, a feared man with his ancestral home of Hagley Hall. Spooner finds himself chasing down leads in Birmingham, Manchester and Portsmouth. He gets entangled with subterfuge world of the occult as it seems Clara's murder is accessed by renowned medium, Helen Duncan at a seance. Is she for real or is she a fraud? Spooner finds himself sinking into the supernatural world of magic and spells, such as the hand of glory, encountering famous debunking Ghost Hunter, Harry Price, who has sold to De Vere the most famous grimoire in German history, once owned by Goethe. However, Spooner has not gone unnoticed by the enemy as danger begins to envelop him.

This is a fascinating historical novel that gives us insights on aspects of the Second World War that has often received little attention. Unsworth lets us know at the end that she has personal family connections to this history. She has engaged in some impressive research that has shaped the narrative, providing the bedrock for the compelling and gripping story that unfolds. There is much ambiguity as to the power and truth of the supernatural world, with the strong suggestion that it is not all to be disregarded. I really enjoyed reading this gripping piece of fact based historical fiction, finding it both entertaining and utterly absorbing. Many thanks to Serpent's Tail for an ARC.

Partly based on fact, this book takes the historical fiction genre turns it inside out and then some. In 1943 some boys found the body of a woman stuffed into a tree, within days the now infamous graffiti "Who put Bella in the Wych Elm" started popping up around the Midlands. Rumours have long persisted about Bella's identity and killer and this book puts a noir based tinge on the story.

Ross Spooner is a undercover police detective working during World War 2. Skilled at his work mainly due to his ability to fade into the background, Spooner is looking to track down a German spy ring who have links to the spiritualist community. His search takes him across the country and into the world of mediums and seances, soon crossing paths with the infamous Harry Price.

This is a densely plotted novel with a lot of characters. Events move at a pretty quick pace and as with any spy story there's a fair amount of double crossing so the reader needs to be paying close attention. I recently read Neil Spring's The Lost Village which features Harry Price and I did find myself getting slightly confused at points but that's not a negative towards this book in particular.(The two books really compliment each other in fact so if you like one, I'd really recommend getting the other!) The setting is as atmospheric as they come, 1940s England under a cloud of smog and threat of bombing. It's obviously been thoroughly researched and feels like it could have been written at the time as authentic as the dialogue and setting feel.

Fascinating subject matter and really, really well written. Straddles a few different genres but definitely a must read.

I received a ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

This novel merges fact and fiction, with the storyline revolving around the real life Hagley Woods Murder of 1943 and the events leading up to the 1944 trial of Helen Duncan; a Scottish medium who was one of the last people to be tried under the Witchcraft Act of 1735.

The book begins in 1941, with Karl Kohl parachuting out of a plane on a mission. Landing in England, he breaks his ankle and is quickly caught by local farmers. Detective Sergeant Ross Spooner is recruited by spymaster, Maxwell Knight, to investigate the woman that Kohl was mean to contact – Clara Bauer, a German actress, currently touring British music halls. Spooner grew up in a bookshop, which specialised in mystical works, which is helpful as Kohl was found with a pendant suggestive of devil worship.

What unfolds is a meandering and, sometimes a little confusing, storyline, involving double agents, witches, séances and spymasters. As well as Maxwell Knight, Harry Price (the ‘Ghost Hunter,’ who has also featured in novels by Neil Spring) features and there is a recurring refrain of Lord Haw-Haw’s, “Germany Calling,” which echoes through the book. What saved the novel for me, and kept me reading, is the likeable Spooner, who is an unlikely, intelligent and thoughtful main character. I am glad I persevered with this and hope Spooner appears in future books. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

The story follows the life of a German spy, who happens to be a witch. It is set during World War 2, and covers a mixture of topics, witchcraft, spirituality, spies and MI5.
I love anything witchcraft related so was eager to read the book, however it was hard to follow. The storylines were confusing, often leading nowhere and too many characters.
Unfortunately a disappointing read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for my advance copy in return for an honest review.

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.