Black Earth: 1 (Stoke Rising) - Hardcover

London, Kate

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1918107033 ISBN 13: 9781918107036

Publisher: Firefinch Publishing, 2026

Synopsis

*** The first limited print run of Kate London's new hardback are all signed and feature sprayed-edges - order now! (While stock lasts. All signed by hand. Signature may vary.) ***

'Kate London, the new rising star of crime fiction, is the real thing’ Tony Parsons, bestselling author of Man and Boy

Change will divide a country. Murder will destroy a family.

1959. A group of boys from the mining village of Murton run out to play together. When a tragedy occurs, it changes the lives of these boys and everyone around them forever, sending shockwaves that reverberate through their lives.

1984. Detective Constable Ian Weldon has been running away from himself since he was a boy. He worked in Merseyside covering serious crime, but now lives in a remote police house working as a local cop. His brother, Stephen, is on the front lines of the miners' strike in Stoke.

The force is already stretched to breaking point when Ian is called in to investigate the brutal murder of a childhood friend. The case brings Ian face-to-face with his past, his family, and with the life he left behind. As tensions erupt and tempers fray, the community fractures. When Stephen's son Christopher goes missing, it becomes a race against time to solve the case. Ian and his family must fight for the answers they need and the future they want, before it’s too late.

About this title

About the Author

Kate London is the daughter of an RAF sergeant and spent the first years of her life living on an air force base in Germany. She spent the rest of her childhood in Stoke-on-Trent, the setting for her latest series. Kate has a degree in history from Cambridge University. After working in theatre as an actor, writer and director she ran away from the circus to join the Metropolitan Police Service. She finished her service working as a detective on the Met’s homicide command but in 2014 resigned to focus on her writing. In 2019 her story, We Do Not Deal in Guilt or Blame, was runner-up in Harper's Bazaar’s 2019 short story competition. She is the author of four books in her Tower series, which have been adapted and broadcast by ITV.  

Edition details

• Publisher: Firefinch Publishing
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1918107033
• ISBN 13: 9781918107036
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352