Black London series

## Genre Information

Urban Fantasy
Dark Fantasy

Paranormal Romance

 (Series Content Ratings Click on Explicit Ratings for details.)

## About the Series

* **Genres:** Adult Urban Fantasy / Noir UF
* **Theme:**
* **Narrative style**: Third person narrative mostly from Pete Caldecott and Jack Winter perspectives.

## Series Description

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.

## Books in Series

**Black London Series**:

1. Street Magic (Black London Book 1) (2009)
2. Demon Bound (Black London Book 2) (2009)
3. Bone Gods (Black London Book 3) (2010)
4. Devil's Business (Black London Book 4) (2011)
5. Soul Trade (Black London Book 5) (2012)
6. Dark Days (Black London Book 6) (2013)

#### 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

## World Building

### 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. 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)

### 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.
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.
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, she 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.
## Book Descriptions

1. 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...
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
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.
6. 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...
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.
## References

1. ↑ Fang-tastic Fiction: Caitlin Kittredge: BLACK LONDON SERIES
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 All Things Urban Fantasy
3. ↑ Dear Author | Street Magic Review