By Nick Baker

The Stone of Madness

The Stone of Madness is an urban fantasy novel set in twentieth-century London where alchemy flourishes as a respected science practised by a dwindling number of individuals with the ability to perform powerful metaphysical feats. The story concerns the lifelong rivalry of two brilliant alchemists—the brooding Henry Price, and the charismatic Pearly Black—but as their talents flourish, their friendship deteriorates into a bitter rivalry.

Following Black’s establishment of a shadowy organisation with dark, inscrutable goals, the men are firmly set on a collision course that culminates in Black’s death at the hands of his rival.

Ten years later, the theft of an obscure sixteenth-century manuscript hiding a powerful secret forewarns Price of a resurgence of Black’s former cultist allies, pitting an eclectic mix of alchemists, murderers, thieves, media tycoons, spies and academics against one another in a search that is seemingly being controlled from beyond the grave.