“Detling Adventures” is the blog of Arthur Ormand, who has moved back to his hometown.  He meets some of the locals who believe that something mysterious and supernatural is going on.  It takes several posts for the “story” to become mysterious but they’re short and well-written for a diary.

Many of the postings are only a few paragraphs long, making them a quick read.  Not much happens for a while.  The daily posts are wry summaries of the narrator’s day.  He talks to his mother, checks out the new bookstore, and meets the women who work at the bookstore.  One of them, Ella, is interested in old stories about the town of Detling, and asks the narrator to come with her to check out an old barn that belonged to the town’s eccentric.  He goes along for the ride but finds himself caught up in her search.

The narrator comes across as an average guy, looking to re-evaluate his life, meet someone, and get along with his mother.  He’s easy-going, skeptical (but willing to listen), and has time on his hands.  All in all, he’s a nice guy to spend time with.

I did find the first “adventure” seemed to wrap up fairly quickly.  It’s probably a by-product of the blog format, since each posting is a summary of the day, but there never is much dramatic tension or feeling of danger—or even spookiness—in the postings.  There is some light humour, which keeps things moving.

The web site is a bit awkward to navigate for the new reader.  There’s no “Start here” link but there were a lot of links down the right side of the page.  I started with “Noteworthy posts – First post” and that seems to have been the beginning of the blog.  You can also go to Archives and click on the calendar.  On the plus side, the narrator often includes photographs of the places he’s describing.

If you like a story with supernatural overtones that enfolds slowly in short bites, you might want to give “Detling Adventures” a try.

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