14 Results with the "finding Mabel" tag
1921 (1)
Admiralty Constabulary (1)
Cold War (1)
Dartmoor (1)
Devon (1)
Devon Folklore (1)
Divination (2)
Edwardian (1)
Esotericism (1)
esoteric phenomena (1)
esoteric traditions (1)
Folklore (1)
Ghosts (2)
ghost stories (1)
Investigation (1)
Mabel Shirley (2)
Mid-20th Century (5)
Military Secrecy (1)
mysticism (1)
naval base security UK (1)
Naval policing (1)
occult (1)
Occult Detective (1)
paranormal (1)
Psychic Phenomena (1)
Spiritualism (2)
stories (1)
supernatural (1)
supernatural fiction (1)
supernatural storytelling (1)
supernatural writing (1)
The Hairy Hands of Dartmoor (1)
The Mabel Shirley Case Files (1)
Victorian (7)
Women Sleuths (1)
writing the supernatural (1)
WWII (1)
-
It was now two weeks later. Joyce had spent much of that time under Mabel's instruction, rediscovering abilities she had long forgotten: psychometry, automatic writing and, perhaps most importantly, how to remain detached while using them. "All these practices come at a cost if you don't learn to distance yourself," Mabel had warned her. "There are forces in this world that feed upon emotion. Let them in and they'll cling to you like parasites. I've seen people destroyed by them, Joyce, and I won't…
-
25.9 K • Ongoing
-
-
![Chapter 1 – Finding Mabel [ discovery ] Cover](https://www.richardodell.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Finding-Mabel-cover-400x587.png)
She awoke slumped at her desk. As she lifted her head, fear spiked within her that she was late for duty. She jolted upright in her chair, scanning the room for the clock and calendar. A moment later, relief washed through her. Saturday. Eight a.m. Her shoulders dropped. She let out a quiet laugh at herself. After twenty-eight years of police service, duty was now a desk job. And weekends were no longer stolen by the call of a whistle or the ring of a phone. The previous evening began to…-
25.9 K • Ongoing
-
-
There is always a certain serendipity to life that cannot be predicted or harnessed, but when it presents itself it can fortuitous. Months back Mabel had been sent an invitation to a lecture by the British Embassy in Berlin. Due to her connections to many countries, and her patronage of many antiquarian studies. she routinely got many of these every month. It was hard to accept all and in some cases like this invitation, too risky to accept. But it gave them the chance to be in Germany at exactly the…
-
25.9 K • Ongoing
-
-
Joyce had returned to the bureau with tea. She set it down beside the map case and tried to recall what she had taken from the first page. The first page resisted her. She read the opening line twice and found that it did not settle. The words were ordinary enough, but they failed to hold together. She reached the end without knowing what she had read, only that something had passed through her attention without stopping. On the third attempt, she realised she had been reading for some time. Not…
-
25.9 K • Ongoing
-
-
Will had brought a file with him and placed it on Arthur's desk. "I asked for some enquiries to be made about the man we met in Berlin." "The one who knew about Rosenfeld?" Arthur asked. "Yes, sir." Arthur reached for the file, but Will kept his hand on it. "I haven't finished yet." Arthur withdrew his hand and settled back into his chair. Mabel caught the look he gave the young lieutenant and suppressed a smile. Berlin had evidently done something for Will's confidence. "Professor Dr…
-
25.9 K • Ongoing
-
-
Joyce had tried to read the third page. Then the second. Then the first. Blank. Every one of them. It was Sunday evening, already late. She needed to get to bed, back to work in the morning. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, easing the dull ache that had settled behind them. Seated at the bureau, she felt herself drifting, that soft pull toward sleep that came before you realised it was happening. From somewhere deep in her mind, a hushed voice called her name. “Look…
-
25.9 K • Ongoing
-
-
Joyce had not meant to leave the house. She remembered sitting at the small desk beneath the window, the lamp turned low, her pen resting against the margin of a half-written page. The shop below had long since gone quiet. Even the boards seemed to have settled for the night. She had been thinking, not writing. The sea had been louder than usual, or perhaps she had only begun to notice it. Then she was standing on Blackmere Point. The wind pressed against her coat and salt lay sharp on the air.…
-
25.9 K • Ongoing
-
-
Joyce had been in her new post for three weeks, and already it felt older than the building itself. The first had been chaos, chasing files across London as divisions closed and merged under the new order. The second had been consolidation, stacking lives into steel cabinets beneath humming lights. By the third, she began to wonder whether she had stepped forward into promotion or sideways into exile. Her team, five fresh constables from Hendon, were eager and painfully green. She spent more time…
-
25.9 K • Ongoing
-
-
Vane let the silence settle after his last sentence. He did not blink. He did not fidget. He simply watched her over the rim of his teacup. “You won’t reach the village gates,” he said quietly, “unless you are under our protection.” Joyce did not look away. “I’ve managed thirty years without it.” “Thirty years of pickpockets and public order. This is not that.” He reached into the leather case at his side and withdrew a slim buff folder. It was unmarked. “There is a…
-
25.9 K • Ongoing
-
-
Joyce watched as Vane's car turned the corner and began its journey back to London. She stood motionless, not from fear, but from the simple effort of processing what she had just been through. It took more than a few moments to comprehend. Her life had changed irrevocably, as though the past fifty-three years of her existence had been preparation for this one moment in time. There was no fear or trepidation, only an odd sense of belonging. That concerned her most. Why should such a feeling arise…
-
25.9 K • Ongoing
-
- 1 2 Next
![Chapter 1 – Finding Mabel [ discovery ] Cover](https://www.richardodell.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Finding-Mabel-cover.png)