Black London series

The Black London series is written by Caitlin Kittredge.

Genre and Subgenres[]

Adult Urban Fantasy / Noir UF

Brief Series Description or Overview[]

Pete Caldecott was just sixteen when she met Jack Winter, a gorgeous, larger-than-life mage who thrilled her with his witchcraft. Then she saw Jack die right before her eyes—or so she thought. Now a detective, Pete is investigating a kidnapping case with the help of a tipster’s chilling prediction…but when Pete meets the informant, she’s shocked to find he is none other than Jack. Strung out on heroin, Jack is a shadow of his former self. But he’s able to help Pete solve her case—and the clues lead into the supernatural shadow-world of the fey. So begins this series of contemporary fantasy and thrilling mystery. ~ from: Goodreads | Black London

Lead's Species[]

Paranormal police detective

Primary Supe[]

Fey

What Sets it Apart[]

It’s the relationship between Pete and Jack that really sets this book apart. ~ All Things Urban Fantasy

Narrative Type and Narrators[]

Third person narrative mostly from Pete Caldecott and Jack Winter perspectives.

Books in Series[]

Black London Series:

Street Magic (2009)
Demon Bound (2009)
Bone Gods (2010)
Devil's Business (2011)
Soul Trade (2012)
Dark Days (2013) ~ Final

Shorts, Anthologies and Guides[]

0.5. "Newlydeads" in My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon (2008) ~ Anthology
1.5. "Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go" Huntress (2009) ~ Anthology
4.5. "The Curse of Four" (2011) ~ novella

Other Series by Author onsite, or of Interest[]

Nocturne City series
Hellhound Chronicles series
Iron Codex series ~ YA Steampunk

World Building[]

Fang-tastic Fiction: Caitlin Kittredge: BLACK LONDON SERIES

Setting[]

Black London, part of London

Places:

Highgate Cemetery
Southwark
Bangkok
Paddington
Dartmoor
Kartimukha
Patpong
Manchester
Princetown
Heathrow: airport
Dublin
Whitechapel
Los Angeles, California
Hell
Venice
Hollywood

Supernatural Elements[]

✥ Paranormal PI, Mages, Demons, Ancient Spirit, Zombie-type Creatures, spirit, fey, Hell, primordial demon, ghost, witch hunters, old gods, Armageddon, invisible fey underworld, sorcerers, ghosts, paranormal investigation agency, wraiths,

Glossary:[]

Belial — Prince of Hell
The Black: where the line between the normal and the magical is thin and the dark things in the corner of your eyes are waiting for a chance to ensnare you
Weir: "a channel for the darkest and oldest powers in the Black."
Crow Mage: Jack is a crow-mage under the power of Morgana, the Crow Goddess
Hecate: necromancy
Nergal: Mesopotamia deity — pictured as a lion; fiery god of destruction and war; deity of the desert, god of fire, which is one of negative aspects of the sun, god of the underworld, and also being a god of one of the religions which rivaled Christianity and Judaism, Nergal was sometimes called a demon and even identified with Satan.

Groups & Organizations:[]

World[]

Black London is the magical section of London, where the time is always just about midnight, and the supernatural creatures gather at the Lament Pub. It's fIllED with truly evil demons, fae and malevolent magic users. The Black is reminiscent of the magical London Nightside that is featured in Simon R. Green’s Nightside series. In later BLACK LONDON books, the meaning of the Black expands to include the magical world in general.

The heroine of the series is “Pete” Caldecott, who begins the series as a detective for Scotland Yard. (You’ll have to read to the end of book 1 to discover Pete’s actual first name.) Sixteen years ago, Pete and her friend Jack Winter, a powerful mage, had a fateful demon-summoning experience that ended tragically. Pete and Jack have a complex relationship that waxes and wanes throughout the series.

Here, Jack visits the neighborhood of an old friend: "Peckham echoed the ghost of an older London, one skinny and bleeding, with teeth out of its head, Thatcher in power, half the population drunk, out of work and pissing in the gutter. There was graffiti here, crime, dirt, and the howls of the city...A few badly punctuated BNP propaganda phrases, gang tags, an attempt at artfulness across one of the storefronts that showed a cluster of giant eyes staring down at passersby as they floated on a murky blue-black sea of stars and flowers." ("The Curse of Four," p. 49)

This is an action-packed UF series with extremely complex leading characters and compelling plots. Even the demon Belial's character has depth, occasionally showing signs of empathy and understanding (but not enough for us to forget that he's a demon). The tone of the series is very dark, and Jack's constant flow of sardonic wisecracks gives new meaning to the phrase "black humor." Each book plunges the reader right into the conflict from the very beginning, and the struggles and strife don't end until the last page.

Both Pete and Jack have made many dicey decisions throughout the series, all of which continue to affect their lives in many dangerous and unpredictable ways. Both also develop stronger and stronger magical powers as the series progresses.

Both also develop stronger and stronger magical powers as the series progresses. Jack is a crow-mage under the power of Morgana, and Pete is a Weir, "a channel for the darkest and oldest powers in the Black." (Soul Trade, p. 17) ~ Fang-tastic Fiction: Caitlin Kittredge: BLACK LONDON SERIES

Protagonists[]

✥ Jack Winter: there is very little romantic about him. He’s a complete train wreck of a person. The first time Pete sees him after a dozen years, he’s an emaciated heroin junkie who lets fly a string of hyper crude profanity the moment he sees her. It’s not exactly a meet-cute. With a handful of vitally important exceptions, Jack stays pretty much at that level of hostile wretchedness throughout the book. What does change is how we as readers perceive him as we learn more about him. No matter how many times he falls, Pete refuses to give up on him. She sees something worth saving and so do readers. ~ All Things Urban Fantasy

✥ Pete Caldecott: She’s an amazingly tenacious woman. The realities she has to come face to face with in STREET MAGIC would have destroyed a weaker person, but she keeps getting back up, keeps fighting. She’s not some Amazon warrior chick either. She works with her strengths and is aware of her weaknesses, but isn’t afraid to get hurt. ~ All Things Urban Fantasy

✥ Back Story: When Pete was a teenager, Jack Winter dated her older sister, MG (short for Morning Glory—the names in Pete’s family crack me up). He was hot, part of a rock band, and larger than life, all of which contributed to her massive crush. Then one day, Jack asked Pete to come with him to a cemetery so he could do some magic. Pete humored his whims — he’d always been something of a street hustler when it came to performing magic tricks and well, what teenage girl can resist the lure of the forbidden? Unfortunately, that day, she learned that Jack’s magic tricks might actually be more than sleight of hand and even worse, he saw him die because of it. The incident traumatized Pete. She doesn’t really recall what happened that day because a part of her mind desperately wants to deny what it witnessed. ~ Dear Author

Sidekick[]

Name: — What: — Sidekick-to: — About: — Book First Seen In:

Characters[]

Characters	What	About
“Pete” Caldecott	Weir	protagonist; "a channel for the darkest and oldest powers in the Black."; starts as a Cop-detective, later becomes a Para-PI.
Jack Winter	crow-mage	co-protagonist;
Belial	demon
Morgana	crow god	Jack is a mage under the power of Morgana;
Gemma	mage	buys and sells magical ingredients, including those needed for ghost binding.
Prometheus	group of typically arrogant mages	spend their time gathering power for their own nefarious uses.
Morwenna	Prometheus leader
Belial	demon

To expand the table, in Edit–Visual mode, right-press on a Row of the table or Column (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add Row or Column.

Author[]

Caitlin Kittredge

Website: Caitlin Kittredge - Wikipedia
Genres: Urban Fantasy, YA Steampunk

Bio: Caitlin Kittredge is the author of the Nocturne City and Black London series, as well as several short stories. She started writing novels at age 13, and after a few years writing screenplays, comic books and fan-fiction, she wrote Night Life, her debut novel. She is the proud owner of an English degree, two cats, a morbid imagination, a taste for black clothing, punk rock, and comic books. She’s lucky enough to write full time and watches far too many trashy horror movies. She lives in Olympia, Washington. ~ Caitlin Kittredge | Authors | Macmillan

Cover Art: Artist[]

Artist: Chris McGrath — source: Bibliography: Cover: Street Magic

Publishing Information[]

Publisher:
Author Page:

Street Magic:
Demon Bound:
Bone Gods:
Devil's Business:
Soul Trade:
Dark Days:

Book Cover Blurbs[]

✤ BOOK ONE BLURB—Street Magic (2009): Her name is Pete Caldecott. She was just sixteen when she met Jack Winter, a gorgeous, larger-than-life mage who thrilled her with his witchcraft. Then a spirit Jack summoned killed him before Pete’s eyes—or so she thought. Now a detective, Pete is investigating the case of a young girl kidnapped from the streets of London. A tipster’s chilling prediction has led police directly to the child…but when Pete meets the informant, she’s shocked to learn he is none other than Jack. Strung out on heroin, Jack a shadow of his former self. But he’s able to tell Pete exactly where Bridget’s kidnappers are hiding: in the supernatural shadow-world of the fey. Even though she’s spent years disavowing the supernatural, Pete follows Jack into the invisible fey underworld, where she hopes to discover the truth about what happened to Bridget—and what happened to Jack on that dark day so long ago… ~ Goodreads | Street Magic (Black London, #1) by Caitlin Kittredge

✤ BOOK TWO BLURB—Demon Bound (2009): Thirteen years ago, Jack Winter lay dying in a graveyard. Jack called upon a demon and traded his soul for his life… and now the demon is back to collect its due. But Jack has finally found something to live for. Her name is Pete Caldecott, and because of her, Jack's not going to Hell without a fight. Pete doesn't know about Jack's bargain, but she does know that something bigger and far more dangerous than Jack's demon is growing in the Black. Old gods are stirring and spirits are rising--and Jack doesn't stand a chance of stopping them without Pete's help. ~ Goodreads | Demon Bound (Black London, #2) by Caitlin Kittredge

✤ BOOK THREE BLURB—Bone Gods (2010): Witch hunts are on the rise and supernatural turf wars are reaching a boiling point. Then, just when it seems life couldn’t get any worse for Pete, Jack reappears—but he’s no longer the man she’s always known. Hell has changed him forever. And he’s brought back with him a whole world of trouble… A cabal of necromancers are using ancient, unspeakable magic to turn the tide of war in their favor. Then, as the city is about to sink into chaos, Pete receives a chilling directive: To end the war, you must kill the crow-mage. Beset from all sides, Pete finds herself turning to an unholy source for help…even if doing so could destroy Black London—and life as she knew it—once and for all. ~ Goodreads | Bone Gods (Black London, #3)

✤ BOOK FOUR BLURB—Devil's Business (2011): Pete Caldecott did everything she could to save Jack from Hell, even reigning in the dark machinations of the Morrigan to help bring him home. Still, Black London has not welcomed Jack back with open arms. . . So when a friend in Los Angeles asks for help tracking a sorcerous serial killer, Pete and Jack decide a change of scenery couldn’t hurt. . . But the shadow side of the City of Angels turns out to be more treacherous than they ever imagined. Together, Pete and Jack must navigate a landscape teeming with hostile magic-users— and fight an unknown enemy. When their investigation leads to a confrontation with the demon Belial, Jack learns that he wasn't the only thing to escape from Hell. Now it’s up to him and Pete to track and eliminate an evil older than the Black itself—before it turns L.A. into Hell on Earth. And destroys life as they know it back at home. ~ Goodreads | Devil's Business (Black London, #4)

✤ BOOK FIVE BLURB—Soul Trade (2012): The crow-mage Jack Winter returns—to crash a secret gathering of ghost hunters, soul stealers, and other uninvited guests, both dead and alive… Normally, Pete Caldecott stays far away from magical secret societies. But ever since her partner and boyfriend Jack Winter stopped a primordial demon from ripping into our world, every ghost, demon, and mage in London has been wide awake—and hungry. And the magical society in question needs their help putting things right.

SOUL TRADE

It all begins with an invitation. Five pale figures surround Pete in the cemetery to “cordially” invite her to a gathering of the Prometheus Club. Pete’s never heard of them, but Jack has—and he’s not thrilled about it. Especially the part that says, “Attend or die.” The Prometheans wouldn’t come to London unless something big’s about to go down. So Pete and Jack decide to play it safe and make nice with the club—even if that means facing down an army of demons in the process. But now that they’ve joined the group, they’re about to discover that membership comes at a cost…and has apocalyptic consequences. ~ Goodreads | Soul Trade (Black London, #5)

✤ BOOK SIX BLURB—Dark Days (2013): Jack Winter is back. But his demons are far from behind him… Jack Winter and his girlfriend Pete Caldecott have encountered a lot of strange creatures in the Black—primordial demons, hungry ghosts, witch hunters, and the Prince of Hell himself, Belial. When Belial asks Jack for one last favor to help him keep his throne, Jack may have finally met his match because Belial's rival is something that no one— human or demon—has ever seen before…

DARK DAYS

There’s a revolution brewing in Hell, and Jack might be the only one who can stop Belial’s rival from ripping a hole between the Black and the mortal world—a catastrophe that could be worse than Armageddon. But to win, Jack will have to do the one thing he swore he never would: become a servant to the Morrigan, and risk losing everything he knows and loves… including Pete. ~ Goodreads | Dark Days (Black London, #6) by Caitlin Kittredge

First Sentences[]

Black London Series:

Street Magic (2009) — Michaelmas daisies blossomed around Pete Caldecott's feet the day she met Jack Winter, just as they had twelve years ago on the day he died.
Demon Bound (2009) — A crow sat on the dead branch of the dead tree that watched over two gravestones in the corner of Brompton Cemetery.
Bone Gods (2010) — The dead man lay in repose at the feet of Ramses II.
Devil's Business (2011) — When the checkout girl at Sainsbury's tried to murder him with her bare hands, Jack Winter decided he should probably get out of London for a while.
Soul Trade (2012) — Pete Caldecott sat on a tombstone, watching fog curl soft fingers against the graveyard earth and waiting for Mickey Martin's ghost to appear.
Dark Days (2013) — Everything taste like ashes.