Hugh Walpole 
Above the Dark Circus 

Hugh Walpole's thrilling adventure novel of the 1920s revolves around Piccadily Circus. Richard Gunn is an ex-soldier in trouble after the end of the Great War. Jobless and starving in Piccadilly Circus, he encounters his nemesis, Leroy Pengelly. From this encounter the secrets of their shared past start to unravel. A novel which combines elements of the horror and supernatural with the puzzle element of the whodunnit — all wrapped up in one unsettling and uncanny whole.