A Seen in Silverbridge novel
The funniest moment comes
right before it all goes wrong.
Friendship is survival. Love complicates justice. Four student journalists take on a town that has spent a very long time protecting the people who run it.
3 books published · a fourth is coming
The series
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Book 0A Student Has Drowned
The prequel novella, and the easiest place to start. A drowned student, a rowing club with too many secrets, and a paper that should have folded years ago.
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Book 1A Rock Star Has Exploded
Luce and Huds pick up their first accidental murder case: a Swedish rock star who detonates in his own hotel suite.
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Book 2An Actress Is Missing
The whole team returns. Stella Winston-Frazer has gone missing, and the people who want her found are not the people who want her safe.
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Book 3A Fiancé Has Flatlined
The Silverbridge Arrows goalkeeper is found dead at Luce's engagement party. The Seen team take the case.
Buy bookIt started with an explosion.
A rock star dies in a mysterious blast.
An actress vanishes without a trace.
But beneath the scandals lies something bigger.
Luce. Huds. Faven. Rodney.
Four unlikely allies. One investigative outlet. And a conspiracy that reaches to the top.
In Silverbridge, power protects its own — until four student journalists decide it doesn't have to.
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A Student Has Drowned
The mystery that started the Seen in Silverbridge series.
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FROM THE DESK
Notes on writing, published fortnightly. Behind the books.
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The journalists
Luce Sharp 22
Sharp-tongued and ambitious. The engine of the group, torn between love and truth.
Hudson "Huds" Haile 22
Kind and intelligent, but quietly reckless. The moral counterweight to Luce.
Faven Osmun 19
Shy but strategically brilliant. An immigrant student finding her footing.
Rodney Holliday 48
Veteran investigative journalist. The moral anchor and reluctant adult in the room.
About the author
Emerson Black
Emerson writes warm, witty YA mystery thrillers about young journalists uncovering corruption inside the institutions that are supposed to be running the place. The tone is affectionate rather than cynical: these are books about people who love their town and are willing to be angry on its behalf.
Originally from New Zealand, Emerson now lives in London — which is a considerable distance to maintain an accent for, and shows in the dialogue.
Beyond the fiction there's the Desk, a fortnightly note on what it's like to actually write these things: the plotting, the drafting, the parts that go wrong. If you're interested in the craft rather than the cons, that's the more honest version of this site.