Ashen By Jeff Rowland
One hundred years after nuclear fire consumed Britain, the Kingdom of England stands upon the ruins of the old world.
Behind its walls, beneath its towers, and deep within the forgotten tunnels of London, fear has become law.
Detective Sebastian Clarke serves the Kingdom's police force, investigating murders in a city that has learned to live with curfews, rationing, and the quiet hatred reserved for those born different. To his colleagues, he is a gifted detective with an uncanny instinct for the dead.
To the Kingdom, he is a loyal servant of the Crown. But Sebastian carries a secret that would destroy him if it were ever discovered.
When a series of brutal murders begins to sweep through London's streets, the victims appear to share no connection except one: each played a role in a terrible act committed decades earlier. The killer leaves behind no evidence, no witnesses, and no clear motive—only fear.
The newspapers call him Ashen.
As the body count rises, Sebastian finds himself hunting a murderer born from the same nuclear scars that reshaped England itself.
A man who was hated before he ever became a monster. A man who believes the Kingdom deserves to burn for what it has done.
With every corpse that speaks and every secret dragged back from the grave, Sebastian moves closer to uncovering the truth behind the killings and the truth about himself.
Because in a city built upon ashes, the dead do not always stay silent. And some secrets were meant to remain buried.