Salacious Sussex

Salacious means salty: not just the brininess of the sea, but of the spice-of-life-and-sometimes-death kind. It seemed the appropriate word to use for an invigorating gallop alongside the fast-and - loose livers of the Sussex-by-the-Sea, past and present. Some people try to claim that the filthing of Sussex is a result of the Brighton effect, the insidious metropolitan stain of London-sur-Mer oozing out over the rest of us, but history proves them wrong. It's not all down to Georgie Peorgie and his naughty puddings, pies, and tarts.You would not believe what used to go on in Steyning of all places, who would have thought it. And if you thought violence was something invented by asbo-wielding hoodies wait until you meet the Hawkhurst Gang and their spine-chilling cutlasses. In what other county could any one have pulled off a scam as eccentric as the Petdown Man? Sussex is just as renowned for its darkside as for its natural sunny beauty, and "Salacious Sussex" is the book to celebrate it.This title presents a scandal for every taste, from ancient history to the modern age (as far as the libel laws will allow). It is divided into five themed chapters, each covering a different kind of scandal from hanky panky to murder via chicanery and shenanigans, with a detour into lechery and satanism. The darkside of the county dragged into the sunshine. It is the latest addition to our exciting serie of books on Sussex for the enthusiast.

* Viv Croot is a writer who has spent much of her life in Brighton, the naughty capital of the county. Whether Brighton seduced Viv into the darker, seamier side of life or whether she was already there is hard to say.