The Spirit Room: An Adam Cole Mystery
Just in time for the Halloween season, a new and chilling Adam Cole short story in three parts…
With the Halloween season upon us and the shadows of autumn stretching longer by the day, I thought I’d use this time to delve into one of Adam Cole’s more haunting cases. While the festivities around Halloween were not very relevant in Victorian England, all things spectral were. The period was alive, so to speak, with seances, spiritualists, and spooks – and all things otherly. Looking back through the stacks of case-notes preserved from Cole’s career as a private enquiry agent, I’ve found more than a few odd occurrences that prove even his cold logic was, at times, tested by things perceived as supernatural or evil.
For instance, there was the “Terror of London” case which shocked the metropolis in the late summer of 1885, though more with the revelation of the culprit than with the sinister deeds committed. There was also the creepy case of the “Phantom Constable” in October 1887, a ghostly tale driven by tragedy and vengeance. Most notably, of course, was Cole’s soul-consuming investigation throughout the “Autumn of Terror” in 1888, as he worked tirelessly to end the murderous rampage and determine the identity of the miscreant known as Jack the Ripper. But that is a large and complex story better told another time.
I have instead pulled out one of his early cases, from October 1885 and known as The Spirit Room, as it touches on all manner of ghostly elements that the Victorians found fascinating. While it’s quite typical for private enquiry agents to track down missing people, the inclusion of mediums, seances, and spirits in the investigation is much less common. Despite his reluctance, Cole finds himself pulled into such a situation as he attempts to locate a bereaved mother who has turned to a pair of spiritualists for help in contacting her dead son. But are these supposed mediums fully to blame for what has become of the missing woman, or does someone closer to her have even more motive to see her gone? Cole prefers facts over phantoms, yet when he visits the infamous Salazar sisters and their notorious “Spirit Room” he is left with more questions than answers – including questions about his own past and the ghosts that haunt it.
The first part will be freely available to all subscribers beginning Tuesday, October 17, with the second and third parts available to members each subsequent Tuesday leading up to October 31. Of course, paid subscribers will be granted access to all other content, including the on-going serialised Adam Cole novel Sweet Things Dying.
So dim the lights, forget that eerie feeling that you’re being watched from the shadows, and delve into murder, madness and mayhem in late-Victorian London with private enquiry agent Adam Cole to guide you through the fog….
ALL THREE PARTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE BELOW!!!
Link to Part One:
Link to Part Two:
Link To Part Three:
