‘Sgt. Janus: Spirit-Breaker’

An occult detective I have been aware of but hadn’t obtained yet is Sgt. Janus created by Jim Beard. He first appeared at Airship 27 in both print and audio format in 2013 and ’14 in a pair of books. They have been reprinted by Flinch! Books in an “expanded edition” along with a further work: Sgt. Janus: Spirit-Breaker, Sgt. Janus Returns, and Sgt. Janus on the Dark Trace.

Sgt. Roman Janus is an occult detective in the mode of Carnacki and similar Edwardian-era characters, and is set in the same timeframe. While one item I read said he’s set in England, it seems clearly set in the U.S., though it’s not clear where exactly. He operates from Janus House on the outskirts of a small town named Mount Airy. There’s no indicatation of what state, and it seems it’s about a two-hour drive from any sizable city, but it’s large enough to have a newspaper called The Mount Airy Eagle.

In this first volume, all the stories are told in first-person by the Sergeant’s clients. Thus what we learn about him comes from his clients, so we don’t get as full a picture if the story was coming from a close associate or a third-person narrator. They don’t know much about him, so can’t convey too much information to us. As noted, Janus was in the army and still wears military-style clothing. One person was suspicious of his service and checked up on him and could find no record. However, in a reprint from The Eagle, he notes his service was very secretive and his records sealed.

Janus seems sensitive to occult or supernatural presences. He appears to have some vague set of powers beyond that, and also posesses knowledge and a strange artifact or two that he uses. His house is bizarre, with unusual rooms and dimensions, and this helps with some of his cases.  He has an assistant or housekeeper, unnamed, who helps him, tho never leaving the house. Janus’s aim is to “break” ghosts, basically help spirits who are somehow attached or rooted to a location or object to move on. If it’s due to some tragedy, then this means revealing or exposing this tragedy. Sometimes he must contend with darker forces, but unlike other occult detectives he is not on a mission to vanquish evil, but to help spirits move on.

This volume has eight stories, interspersed with selections from The Eagle that don’t necessarily tie to specific stories. As noted, the stories are narrated by his clients, so even the tone is different. As some stories make references to prior ones, I’d recommend reading them in order and not skipping around.

In the first, a woman about to get married seeks his help after staying at her would-be new home, senses a strange presence, and then burns down the house. In the next, a businessman sees strange events at his offices, and had heard of Janus through the husband of the woman in the first story. Then we have a neigbor who has a problem with a strange locked trunk, and the Sergeant reveals and releases a group of spirits. Another has a woman haunted by her lost love. Another story made me think of Carnacki, as Sgt. Janus hosts a group of associates for dinner and have them stay the night.

The final one leaves things on a cliffhanger that will be addressed in the next volume, Sgt. Janus Returns.

Beard notes that he wanted to avoid stories like in Scooby Doo, where it was revealed the ghost to be fake. So in each one, the supernatural presence is real. While I prefer occult detectives who are more challenging evil forces or creature, these stories are interesting. I hope to get the next two volumes and check them out as well.