Photo credit: Nick Ingamells

In the following extract from William Sutton’s Lawless and the Flowers of Sin, the eponymous Scotland Yard detective, Lawless, glimpses trafficking at Portsmouth Harbour. The extract is quoted with the kind permission of the author:

I slept right through Petersfield and woke at the end of the line. I walked blindly on to Portsmouth Harbour, where I stood on the pier like an inarticulate slave. Boys were frolicking in the mudflats, as the quality hurried through the drizzle to the Isle of Wight ferry. A girl flipped a farthing into the mud below. The boy turned a somersault for her; he came up like a painted minstrel, the coin gleaming between his teeth. The girl gave a shy wave, while her father bought the tickets. How many obstacles love will overleap. A boatload of women was ferried ashore from the hulking destroyer at anchor in the harbour: black-haired, dark-skinned, dishevelled and excitable. What they had to do with the British Navy I could not imagine. “Why, sir,” said the station guard, with a wink. “Officers’ wives, them.” “Officers’ wives?” I winked in return. “Any bargains?” “Not here, sir. Nobody does business here. There’s Spice Island if you wants a passing taste. For purchasing, you wants to go up the hill, to the new forts.” He pointed and winked again. The chalky hilltop was pocked with half-built battlements. Palmerston’s follies: I’d read of them in the papers, bankrupting the nation against phantom enemies. “Tell ’em you’d like to buy a piglet. That’s it. A nice little piglet.” I gave the man a shilling. I was always out of pocket.

William Sutton is a gifted and prolific novelist, playwright musician and teacher. Among his Titan Books historical mysteries, Lawless and the Flowers of Sin was a Book of 2016 (Mail on Sunday, Morning Star). He has appeared at Edinburgh Book Festival, Crimefest Bristol, and Highdown Prison.

Having lived in Portsmouth for ten years, he plays a full part in the city’s vibrant cultural life He has been involved with Portsmouth Writers Hub and appeared in local festivals from Portsmouth Festivities to Victorious, and from Subaquatic Steampunk to Holmes Fest. He established the long-running events Day of the Dead, Valentine’s Day Massacre and Premature Articulation, which spawned the spoken word troupe T’Articulation. In Portsmouth Bookfest, he’s set up Typewriter Tales Typewriter Tales in Southsea Coffee, interviewed Mark Billingham and compered the ‘Guide to Victorian Sex’. His writing workshops have helped many writers take their novels to the next stage.

A talented musician, he also sings in Southsea Community Choir and plays in Southsea Community Orchestra. He is bass and double bass player for chansonnier Philip Jeays and for Jamie and the Jets.

William teaches classics and creative writing. He’s successfully tutored applicants to top schools and universities in the UK and USA. He’s delivered workshops in schools and universities, and currently lectures part-time at University of Portsmouth’s Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries. He’s involved in the Supernatural Cities project and app under development Portsmyth. He is about to complete his PhD by Publication in Creative Writing.

His articles have appeared in publications such as The Times, Fortean Times, and The Author. He has had plays broadcast on LBC Radio and produced on London stages. His journalism and short stories appear in magazines across the world and in local collections, Portsmouth Fairy Tales (for Grown-ups), Dark City , Day of the Dead, and Pompey Writes.

On top of all this, Sutton has played cricket for Brazil, and now plays for Authors CC XI (for whom Portsmouth author, Arthur Conan Doyle, used to play alongside J.M. Barrie and P. G Wodehouse).

If you have any comments, queries, or suggestions about any of the map entries, please contact the Map Director, Mark Frost: mark.frost@port.ac.uk#