Matt Blake is an award-winning freelance journalist whose Guardian article House of Horror, the springboard for his first book, Hearth of Darkness, attracted over half a million reads in its first week of publication.

A former staff crime reporter for The Daily Mirror and The Independent newspapers, Matt has covered stories including the trial of serial killer Levi Bellfield, the News of The World phone-hacking scandal and the London riots of 2011. He now specialises in long-reads, investigations and interviews for a range of broadsheets and magazines, both in the UK and the US.

Hearth of Darkness tells the powerful true story of Matt discovering that his new home was once the lair of the notorious E17 Nightstalker and follows his struggle to unravel the chilling secrets of his house, where the weight of the past threatens to suffocate the present. It was meant to be a refuge for him and his young daughter after a painful divorce. But when strange things begin to happen, he is forced to confront his own fears and vulnerabilities. Can a house be haunted by a bad past? And how does a rationalist who doesn’t believe in religion or ghosts make sense of the paranormal?

Hearth of Darkness will be published by Elliott & Thompson on 31 October (Hallowe’en), 2025.