Skinless: The Story of a Female Survivor
Maggie Moor
A thrilling crime novel. A female survivor. A story that refuses to stay quiet.
SKINLESS — SPECS
1999 NYC, Lower East Side.
A singer masks her “skinless” vulnerability behind a glittering alter ego to navigate the margins of street life—
until the persona begins to destroy her.
With the gritty New York underworld of The Sopranos and Ray Donovan, Skinless combines the tension of crime noir with the raw interior intimacy of literary fiction—something fiercely human.
At the turn of the millennium in New York City, sharp-witted, resourceful singer-songwriter Charmay is fighting to find her voice in the entertainment industry while living with the aftermath of teenage sexual abuse and homelessness.
Pulled into the city’s drug, crime, and sex world, she moves between exploitation, addiction, and fleeting refuge, seeking solace in Cindy—a persona shaped by survival and manipulation.
Caught in a web of money, ambition, and hunger for intimacy, Charmay clings to an increasingly violent marriage with a weed kingpin while navigating a Wall Street financier obsessed with Cindy and a music producer determined to cut her open to reach her honest voice.
Hustles on fire, Charmay blurs into Cindy. Beats. Bullets. Bedsheets. When her identities collide in a fever of flashbacks and betrayals, she is hurled into her most horrific reckoning yet.
Voice
Interior. Stream-of-consciousness.
Several psychological perspectives occurring simultaneously inside one person, on the page.
For Readers of:
In the Cut • The Basketball Diaries • Cherry • Kerouac’s The Subterraneans
Psychological Crime Noir • Gut-raw urban trauma narratives
Details
Series: Charmay: New York Noir
Title: Skinless: The Story of a Female Survivor
Edition: Second Edition — Writer’s Edit (Expanded & Revised)
Setting: 1999–2001 Lower East Side, NYC
Formats
Hardcover • Paperback • eBook
Publication
eBook: Oct 22, 2025
Print: Nov 12, 2025
Length: 350 pages
ISBN / Pricing
Hardcover: 979-8-9931212-3-9 — $27.99
Trade Paperback: 979-8-9931212-2-2 — $18.99
ePub: 979-8-9931212-4-6 — $5.99
Publisher & Distribution
Pearl of Peace Publishing
Distributed by Ingram (iPage)
Returnable • 55% trade discount
Multimedia
Series
Charmay: New York Noir — standalone
Edition
Second Edition — Writer’s Edit (Expanded & Revised, Nov 2025)
Music
Skinless: Songs from the Book
Jazz-noir and downtempo, featuring Kenny Rampton and Eddie Ojeda
Inside the Story
A 9-part Substack series
Critical Praise
“A deeply moving, deliciously weighty work of fiction.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Moor’s poetic, stream-of-consciousness prose drops readers directly into the mind…
her gifts for introspection and observation make her the perfect lynchpin for the author’s subversion.
Those who surrender to the flow will be rewarded.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“A must-read… stark, unsentimental prose.” — IndieReader
“Uncomfortable, occasionally overwhelming, and undeniably powerful… a portrait of survival that doesn’t sanitize the mess.” — BookLife by Publishers Weekly
“Street poetry… lush, sensual language and a heroine’s raw will to live.” — Benjamin Welton, Foreword
“A humane, unsparing portrait—wringing hope from the streets of 1990s New York City.” — Danielle Ballantyne, Foreword
4.6★ on Goodreads (30+ reviews)
From Readers
“This is different… a writing style that pulls you directly inside the protagonist’s mind.”
— Louise Gray, NetGalley / Goodreads
⸻
“Moor’s prose has a lyrical, poetic flow… with the New York City grit of Jim Carroll.”
— David H.K., Goodreads
⸻
“Maggie Moor has a voice unlike any I’ve encountered—both hip and illuminating.”
— Kate Lardner, author
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“Quirky, singular… Language so original it vanishes words as we know them… Skinless is a stunner.”
— Stacey Donovan, editor
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“Written in the first person… a style that grabs you inside the protagonist’s mind—different and original.”
— Vincent J. Wallace, author
Behind Charmay New York Noir: Maggie Moor
Dark psychological noir from a writer shaped by performance, investigation, and psychoanalysis.
Maggie Moor is a psychoanalyst, author, fitness competitor, and recording artist. Her work centers on trauma, addiction, and fractured identity—bringing street‑poetry prose, layered timelines, and sharp psychological insight to Charmay: New York Noir.
The Series
CHARMAY: NEW YORK NOIR
The hunter is haunted—
and the line between performance and self becomes a war for the soul.
Dark psychological suspense rooted in the NYC underground—
where music, money, memory, paranoia, and control collide in a visceral descent.
A Book & Music Cycle
Each standalone novel is paired with a companion album.
Skinless: Works Cited
A curated archive of the texts and references woven through Skinless.