Richard Odell — Stories & Books
I have always been drawn to the places where history and folklore become difficult to separate.
Many of the stories here begin with something that really happened, an old newspaper report, a local legend, a forgotten belief, or simply a place where the past still seems unusually close. I research what I can, then allow the fiction to take over.
Some belong to the world of Easterwich and feature familiar characters such as Mabel Shirley. Others may wander somewhere entirely different. They are not intended to form a single series, and you do not need to have read anything else before starting one.
They are simply stories that caught my attention and refused to leave.
Novels
The Corpse Door
Novel · Supernatural fiction · Contemporary fantasy
When the boundaries between the living and the dead begin to fail, Dennis Batkin finds himself drawn into a world of psychopomps, ancient powers and responsibilities he never expected to inherit.
The Corpse Door introduces the supernatural world that lies behind Richard Odell’s fiction and some of the characters and ideas that later lead towards Easterwich.
Finding Mabel
Novel · Historical supernatural mystery · Easterwich
A mystery reaching from the strange history of Easterwich into Britain’s hidden supernatural past, Finding Mabel follows Joyce Turner as she begins to discover why the town has called her back — and what Mabel Hazelgrove has been waiting for her to understand.
Short Stories
Historical mysteries, local legends and unusual events retold through fiction. Some belong to the Mabel Shirley Case Files and the world of Easterwich; others stand alone.
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The Hairy Hands of Dartmoor | A Mabel Shirley Mystery
A short story inspired by the 1921 Hairy Hands legend of Dartmoor Strange things happen on Dartmoor. They always have. It’s not Dartmoor’s fault, there are just certain places where the dark can get a little too close. As to its legends, they come from a time when nobody was really certain where the natural world ended and the supernatural began. However, one legend…
The Things We Left Behind
Richard also writes essays exploring folklore, place, intuition, atmosphere, inherited traditions and those experiences that resist easy explanation.