The Little Moscow, a shady basement bar at the side of the Grand Union canal in Birmingham, stamping ground for thieves, gangsters and conmen – plus some of the city’s more glamorous creatures. Blue-skinned Nathan, a hardknock tattooist, refuses to pay Crawford’s protection racket. Nearby, a refugee from Middle Eastern wars finds a body hanging from a lamppost and becomes entangled with a goodtime girl called Veronica and an apartment decorated with abstract art. Roles get reversed, debts get claimed and colours collide – while two would-be Andy Warhols make away with incriminating evidence.

An acutely intelligent writer with a style that can deal with murder and rape, but is also capable of deft comedy. Scully is working a fresh seam in the fiction of the inner city, and it will be fascinating to see what he does next

— Independent

Mick Scully’s interconnecting stories are poignant, pacy vignettes that merge into one brilliant portrait of a city on the make. He has a fine eye for human frailty, a wry compassion for the doomed and a meticulous ear for dialogue that renders all of these characters vividly real. Somebody buy him a drink

— Guardian

You want it down and dirty? Up the arse or right between the eyes? Then Scully’s your man

— John Harvey

Mick Scully is a dark new talent. Little Moscow is full of shocking stories with characters who are disturbingly familiar

— Jake Arnott