detective156

Tag: 1920sLondon

  • Podcast Episode: Inside Leila Voss’s Detective Agency

    1940s noir book cover portrait orientation. Over-the-shoulder shot from behind the three detectives, looking towards a large cork case board on the wall covered in black and white photographs, maps, newspaper clippings and red string connecting evidence. Centre: elegant woman with short dark wavy bob, pearl necklace, sharp black suit jacket. Left: young man early 20s with slicked dark hair, dark navy overcoat. Right: young man mid-20s with wavy light brown hair, three-piece grey suit. All three silhouetted slightly from behind, facing the dramatic case board. Green banker's lamp on the desk to the side casting warm glow. Rain on dark window to the side. Very cinematic, moody noir atmosphere. Title text at top in elegant gold serif font: "LEILA VOSS & ASSOCIATES". Subtitle at bottom: "No. 7 Clay Street, Marylebone". No watermarks, no AI branding.

    Pip: No.7 Clay Street, Marylebone — quiet address, discreet brass plate, and apparently the most interesting postcode in 1920s London.

    Mara: Lucy Cordell has been building out the world of Leila Voss and Associates, and today we’re covering the people who run it — the founder herself, and the two operatives who make the work possible.

    Pip: Let’s start with the woman whose name is on the door.

    Who Built the Agency

    Mara: The post on Leila Voss sets out her role plainly: she is the architect of the agency, and the condition her parents attached to the gift of No.7 Clay Street was this — “Use the eyes we taught you. Find the one who is lost — a man who matters to many. When you find him, your new life truly begins.”

    Pip: So the agency began as homework. One case became many, and Norwegian-British, twenty-one years old at the series start, she built it from there — discipline and a leather notebook against all of London.

    Mara: Her brother Elias, five years her senior and commissioned into the Royal Engineers, is worth noting too — their weekly letters are a quiet structural detail, and his correspondence occasionally carries observations that move her cases forward.

    The Operatives Behind the Cases

    Pip: So Leila has the insight and the notebook — what does the agency look like around her?

    Mara: The profile post on Josh Thorne and Pete Smith answers that directly. On Josh: “He is reliable to a fault and often places the safety of others above his own comfort or recognition.”

    Pip: The team’s conscience, then — steady, physically imposing, and the person you want beside you when an investigation moves into the darker parts of the city.

    Mara: His American roots are worth noting — born in the States, relocated to Britain at ten, his parents eventually returned but Josh stayed. That in-between quality, comfortable across cultures, makes him effective in a cosmopolitan 1920s London.

    Pip: And Pete is the other end of the spectrum entirely — slim, floppy-haired, and apparently capable of becoming whoever the room requires.

    Mara: The post describes him as the agency’s chameleon and social scout — private school education, an MP for a father, two military brothers. He understands how different social groups speak and behave, and he mimics those details with precision.

    Pip: Muscle and mirror. Between the three of them, the agency has most angles covered.

    Mara: That’s the shape of it — and the cases themselves are presumably next.

    Pip: A founder with a puzzle for an origin story, a protector, and a man nobody quite catches — that’s a functional unit.

    Mara: The world-building is careful. Worth watching what cases they’re handed next.

  • The Vaults of Glasgow

    The Vaults of Glasgow

    The Vaults of Glasgow

    Scotland has a way of getting under your skin. One rain-soaked weekend in Glasgow was all it took to spark a new case in my detective series—a story that begins beneath the university tower, where the stone remembers more than it should.

    Beneath the grand Gothic spires of the University of Glasgow lies a history steeped in whispers. Corridors run dark and narrow, stairwells twist into shadow, and the air tastes of dust, ink, and secrets long buried.

    Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the Main Building looms over the city like a watchful witness. Its sandstone arches, vaulted ceilings, and cloistered quads make the perfect stage for a mystery that doesn’t want to be solved.

    A Missing Student. A Trail of Notes. The Vaults Below.

    Glasgow, 1920s. A student vanishes after claiming to have uncovered something hidden beneath the university. No body. No witnesses. Just a trail of cryptic notes, each one stranger than the last.

    Leila, Josh, and Pete pick up the trail, chasing those notes down through forgotten stairwells and locked doors, until the campus gives way to the old vaults—a maze of stone, silence, and stale, unmoving air.

    Down there, the dark presses in. Footsteps echo where no one walks. The handwriting on the final note looks fresh, as if someone had been waiting for them to arrive.

    What secrets lie beneath the tower? What did that missing student really find in the vaults? And when Leila, Josh, and Pete finally reach the heart of the maze, will they uncover the truth—or simply join the list of names that never came back?

    The Vaults of Glasgow — a new 1920s detective mystery, coming soon.

    #scotland #mystery #ideas #wordpress #detectiveseries #glasgowuniversity #vaults #blog

    Moody night-time view of the Gothic towers of the University of Glasgow, hinting at hidden vaults below

  • To Scotland for the weekend!!!

    Off to Scotland for fresh inspiration! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🌫️

    Lets see what new characters I can create!!

    Collecting moody landscapes & secrets for my 1920s detective trio — can’t wait to weave these vibes into the story!!!

    #writing #scotlandinspration #scotland #detective #stories #blogs #ideas #scottish vibes!!

  • Podcast Episode: Building up the Characters of the story!!

    Pip: There is a detective agency forming somewhere in 1920s London, and we have been given the files before anyone else.

    Mara: Lucy Cordell is building out the world of detective156 — characters, backstory, atmosphere. Today we’re looking at who these people are and what makes them worth following into the fog.

    Pip: Let’s start with the woman at the centre of it all.

    Building up the Characters of the story!!

    Pip: The question this post is really answering is: who exactly is Leila Voss, and why should we trust her to solve anything in 1920s London?

    Mara: The post frames her as someone shaped by two worlds from the start — and here is the line that sets the tone: “witty, sharp, puzzle loving, super observant.”

    Pip: Four words, and you already know this is not a character who stumbles into answers. Those traits are a deliberate design — she is built to notice what everyone else misses.

    Mara: The background fills that out considerably. Her father Surgid is a decorated Admiral with Norwegian roots who also serves as a secret adviser. Her mother Ingrid is an Intelligence Secretary. Her brother Elias moves through the Royal Engineers into Corp Intelligence. This is a family where information is the family business.

    Pip: So Leila did not wander into detective work — she was practically raised inside the infrastructure of it. The boarding school detail is quietly telling too: both she and Elias excelled and left at sixteen, which in the 1920s says a great deal about how seriously this family took capability over convention.

    Mara: Her early career begins as a secretary in London — which, given everything we know about her family, reads less like a modest start and more like someone learning the city from the inside before setting up Leila Voss and Associates Detectives at Number 7 Clay Street, Marylebone.

    Pip: A Marylebone address, naturally. The fog practically comes with the postcode.

    Mara: The post also previews two colleagues — Josh Thorne, described as loyal and protective, and Pete Smith, a charming master of disguise. The post is explicit that fuller profiles for both are coming, so this is genuinely a first chapter in a longer character-building series.

    Pip: What this post does well is resist the urge to over-explain. It gives you the skeleton and trusts you to want the rest.

    Mara: The atmosphere is already doing real work — 1920s London, a family steeped in intelligence, a detective agency just getting its name on the door.

    Pip: Which means the mysteries themselves are still ahead of us.

    Mara: The world of detective156 is still assembling itself — characters arriving, addresses confirmed, secrets flagged but not yet opened.

    Pip: Foggy London, a sharp detective, and a family full of classified history. Next time, more of the same — and probably a disguise.

  • Character Profiles: Josh Thorne & Pete Smith

     

    Character Reference Sheet: Leila Voss & Associates

    Key supporting operatives in the 1920s London detective agency Leila Voss & Associates, profiled for internal reference and story continuity.

    Josh Thorne

     

     

    Basic Identity

    Age 28. American-born operative who relocated to Britain at the age of ten. Now a long-term resident of London, he moves easily between American and English sensibilities, making him a natural bridge between cultures in the cosmopolitan city of the 1920s.

    Voice: Speaks with an English accent softened by a smooth, subtle American lilt.

    Family & Background

    Born in the United States to a military father, Josh moved to the United Kingdom with his parents and younger sisters when he was ten. Five years prior to the events of the series, his parents returned to America, but Josh chose to remain in Britain. His decision to stay reflects both his independence and his attachment to London, which he now regards as home.

    Physical Appearance

    Tall, handsome, and muscular, Josh has the build of a soldier or boxer, which immediately signals that he is capable of handling himself in dangerous situations. His presence is quietly imposing rather than showy, giving him a grounded, reassuring air when walking the fogbound streets.

    Key Personality Traits

    Steady, loyal, and deeply protective of his colleagues. Josh prefers careful observation over rash action and has a calm temperament that helps to defuse tension. He is reliable to a fault and often places the safety of others above his own comfort or recognition.

    Skills & Strengths

    Physically strong and resilient, Josh functions as the team’s shield when investigations turn dangerous. His military family background gives him a working understanding of discipline, tactics, and chain of command. He has good street awareness, excellent stamina, and a talent for remaining calm under pressure, making him effective in surveillance, escort, and extraction work.

    Role in the Group

    Josh is the loyal protector of Leila Voss & Associates, serving as physical backup on field operations and a stabilising influence within the team. When cases lead into the darker corners of 1920s London, he is the one colleagues trust to walk beside them, steady and vigilant, ensuring they make it back to the agency in one piece.

    Pete Smith

     

    Basic Identity

    English-born operative working out of London in the 1920s. Pete is quick, clever, and effortlessly charming, moving through the city’s social layers with ease. His easy manner and quick wit often disarm suspicion before questions are even asked.

    Family & Background

    Pete grew up in a disciplined but intellectually engaged household: his father is a Member of Parliament, his mother a teacher. He has two older brothers, both in the military, one a year older and the other five years his senior. Their example, combined with his parents’ expectations, gave Pete an insider’s understanding of politics, protocol, and social performance.

    Educated at a private school, he is well-read and articulate, able to pass easily among the upper and middle classes while still understanding the concerns of those below stairs.

    Physical Appearance

    Pete is slim, with floppy blond hair and an open, engaging face. His build and features allow him to shift from unassuming bystander to polished gentleman or street urchin with a change of posture, clothing, and expression.

    Key Personality Traits

    Cheeky, charming, and irreverent on the surface, Pete is nonetheless sharply observant. He enjoys verbal sparring, improvisation, and misdirection, and he rarely shows the full extent of what he knows. He is restless, quick-thinking, and difficult to pin down—socially or geographically.

    Skills & Strengths

    A master of disguises, Pete can alter his voice, bearing, and appearance to inhabit a wide range of personas. His strong education supports this talent: he understands how different social groups speak, dress, and behave, and he mimics these details with precision. He excels at infiltration, impersonation, and gathering information in places where the agency would otherwise have no access.

    Role in the Group

    Within Leila Voss & Associates, Pete is the chameleon and social scout. While others provide muscle or strategic oversight, he slips through parties, clubs, and back alleys in borrowed faces, returning with crucial details that move cases forward. In the shifting shadows of 1920s London, he is the operative no one quite manages to catch—or forget.

    #LeilaVossAndAssociates #CharacterSheet #JoshThorne #PeteSmith #1920sLondon #DetectiveFiction #MysterySeries #HistoricalMystery