The Spiral and The Smoke

Joyce Parker is a seasoned crime scene investigator in Hull, East Yorkshire. She is a brash, foul-mouthed, and brilliant at her job. She's spent years compartmentalising trauma, humouring bureaucracy, and walking the razor's edge of emotional burnout. When she witnesses an impossible murder; committed by a shadowed entity that drains its victim of life, her ordered world collapses.

As she delves deeper into the case, Joyce is drawn into a chilling tapestry of folklore, ritual, and psychological manipulation, where her memories begin to shift and her past begins to rewrite itself. With the help of folklorist Patricia Lowden and a fractured investigative team, she uncovers a horrifying truth: a malevolent, ancient force known only as The Spiral is returning; and it remembers Joyce.

Unbeknownst to her, she's been its vessel for years; ever since witnessing a similar murder in a lift five years ago, when black smoke entered her body and buried itself deep within. Now, as hallucinations intensify and former friends turn into enemies, Joyce must confront her own trauma, fractured identity, and the darkness festering within her if she hopes to stop the Spiral from taking root again.

Set against the atmospheric backdrop of Yorkshire's villages, ruins, and forgotten religious history, The Spiral and The Smoke blends gritty crime procedural with escalating supernatural horror. It is the first in a proposed series exploring folklore, memory corruption, and inherited evil, appealing to fans of T. Kingfisher, Lauren Beukes, and early Neil Gaiman.

This series offers strong crossover potential for both horror and crime fiction markets, featuring a vividly flawed female protagonist, and layered mythologies.