Simone St. James
Author of The Sun Down Motel
About the Author
Image credit: photocredit: adam hunter
Works by Simone St. James
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Seguin, Simone
- Birthdate
- 20th century
- Gender
- female
- Awards and honors
- Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel
RITA - Short biography
- Simone St. James is the award-winning author of The Haunting of Maddy Clare, which won two prestigious RITA® awards from Romance Writers of America and an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada. She writes gothic historical ghost stories set in 1920s England, books that are known for their mystery, gripping suspense, and romance.
Simone wrote her first ghost story, about a haunted library, when she was in high school. She worked behind the scenes in the television business for twenty years before leaving to write full-time. She lives just outside Toronto, Canada with her husband and a spoiled cat. - Nationality
- Canada
- Places of residence
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Associated Place (for map)
- Ontario, Canada
Members
Reviews
You and your siblings get a supernatural invite straight from the ghost of your long-missing brother, asking you to return to your long-abandoned childhood home. Would I pack a bag? No way! But the Esmie siblings head back to the creepiest house in Fell, New York, ready to dig up secrets that have been gathering dust for nearly twenty years.
Thanks to the author and Berkley Publishing for providing this ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The characters shine. Violet is a ghost show more whisperer. Vail keeps everyone grounded, and Dodie is the skeptic. The sibling banter is sarcastic, messy, and real. It’s a haunted family reunion. Every page feels like a favorite dysfunctional family tackling Scooby-Doo mysteries—with real monsters.
The plot is eerie and suspenseful: a mysterious drowning, a dead girl by the tracks, a vanished brother. Simone St. James has a knack for wrapping mysteries, hauntings, and family drama into one twisty package. And yes, if you’re a fan, you’ll catch a sly reference to that infamous motel from one of her other books!
There are chills, thrills, and witty dialogue. While not my favorite of hers, if you want something creepy, clever, and full of family secrets, get “A Box Full of Darkness” on January 20. St. James always entertains.
#ABoxFullOfDarkness #SimoneStJames #NetGalley #BerkleyPublishing #CapCut show less
Thanks to the author and Berkley Publishing for providing this ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The characters shine. Violet is a ghost show more whisperer. Vail keeps everyone grounded, and Dodie is the skeptic. The sibling banter is sarcastic, messy, and real. It’s a haunted family reunion. Every page feels like a favorite dysfunctional family tackling Scooby-Doo mysteries—with real monsters.
The plot is eerie and suspenseful: a mysterious drowning, a dead girl by the tracks, a vanished brother. Simone St. James has a knack for wrapping mysteries, hauntings, and family drama into one twisty package. And yes, if you’re a fan, you’ll catch a sly reference to that infamous motel from one of her other books!
There are chills, thrills, and witty dialogue. While not my favorite of hers, if you want something creepy, clever, and full of family secrets, get “A Box Full of Darkness” on January 20. St. James always entertains.
#ABoxFullOfDarkness #SimoneStJames #NetGalley #BerkleyPublishing #CapCut show less
***SPOILERS HIDDEN***
The Broken Girls is a paranormal mystery where a lot happens but nothing is fully developed. Author Simone St. James structured this as a dual storyline, with chapters flipping back and forth between 2014 and 1950. The 2014 chapters star Fiona Sheridan, a journalist for a humble local publication. Years ago, her older sister was found murdered on the grounds of an abandoned all-girls boarding school that’s known to be haunted. The crime was solved quickly, but Fiona show more can’t shake the feeling that there’s still some unsolved element, and she’s determined to figure it out. Flashbacks to 1950 tell the story of four friends at the boarding school who experience the hauntings. Now a wealthy widow has bought the property, with plans to restore the ruined building--but why? Fiona wants to answer that question in a big, splashy news piece, some of the biggest news her little Vermont town will have seen in a long time. Early in her endeavor, however, a new murder mystery suddenly complicates matters, and she wants answers to that too.
This isn’t all. There are actually three big mysteries that need solving. Two are the murder mysteries, one about Fiona’s sister and another concerning a former student at the school. The third mystery, about the school’s ghost--called “Mary Hand”--is implied: Did this ghost possibly play a role in the murders?
The plot unfolds evenly in the dual-timeline format, but I found the 2014 timeline more absorbing because it feels realistic and natural (possibly for the simple reason that the author was alive in 2014 but not in 1950). The happenings in Fiona’s life are also compelling. She isn’t, however, distinctly characterized. No characters in this book are; they’re merely physical descriptions and banal personality traits, not deeply human. The 1950 timeline, by contrast, is weak and strained. The ghostly encounters are oddly infrequent. The four teen girls are too different from each other for it to be obvious why they’re friends, and stiff dialogue only draws more attention to that. These two timelines intersect asthe student murder Fiona is investigating is of one of these four.
The Broken Girls is supposed to be a paranormal mystery, but although an eerie prologue teases a full-fledged ghost story, this book is actually a ghost story least of all. Encounters with Mary Hand are too few, and, when they do happen, are surprisingly lame. I was reminded immediately of [b:The Haunting of Hill House|89717|The Haunting of Hill House|Shirley Jackson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327871336l/89717._SY75_.jpg|3627]’s frustratingly ambiguous terror: The hauntings have creep factor but are too mild to be dread-inducing or to make the reader worry. The identity of Mary Handis revealed and explained, but disappointingly, why she haunts in the particular way she does and the question of whether she’s truly malevolent, goes unanswered . Opening as it does, The Broken Girls signals that St. James was set to write a ghost story; however, she then overwhelmed herself by adding more mysteries and more themes, forcing the haunting aspect into the background.
This book has some layers and surprises, but it doesn’t deliver on all that it promises because it can’t. There’s one mystery too many here. Only the mystery ofthe dead student gets full attention. The mystery of the sister’s murder has no connection to the 1950 storyline and should have been cut to make room for rich development of the ghost story. St. James even made its irrelevance obvious to herself by ignoring it for several chapters, then resurrecting it toward the end for a quick and straightforward resolution.
As if these two murder mysteries and a ghost weren’t already more than enough, St. James also touched on police corruption, anti-Semitism, the power of wealth and influence, and intimate-partner violence. However, she did so in the briefest way, rendering these important topics meaningless. The only thing she firmly established is sad tone, but the atmosphere is stiflingly dreary. The students live joyless and emotionally neglected lives in a prison-like school. They’re throw-away kids that no one, including the staff, thinks about. Fiona’s life is better, but still, a cloud hovers over her wherever she goes. Even the literal atmosphere is dreary: The sky is always gray and the weather windy and cold. The tone and setting are meant to have a gothic-tinged foreboding, but this is just gloom done to a fault.
The Broken Girls could have easily been tighter and more richly developed with a single adjustment: focusing on only one storyline. The dual-narrative structure is popular, but rather than resulting in full development, it can have the opposite effect depending on the plot. Such is the case with The Broken Girls. The 2014 setting may be interesting, but it doesn’t add anything to the 1950 setting that couldn’t have been integrated into a tidy plot focusing solely on that 1950 storyline. What happens in 2014 is merely more plot happenings for St. James to unsuccessfully manage. She should have axed all of it and turned it into its own book. Readers who like this genre would be happier with the more organized and developed works of skilled writers like [a:Sarah Waters|25334|Sarah Waters|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1409248454p2/25334.jpg] and [a:Laura Purcell|6550658|Laura Purcell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1559646503p2/6550658.jpg]. show less
The Broken Girls is a paranormal mystery where a lot happens but nothing is fully developed. Author Simone St. James structured this as a dual storyline, with chapters flipping back and forth between 2014 and 1950. The 2014 chapters star Fiona Sheridan, a journalist for a humble local publication. Years ago, her older sister was found murdered on the grounds of an abandoned all-girls boarding school that’s known to be haunted. The crime was solved quickly, but Fiona show more can’t shake the feeling that there’s still some unsolved element, and she’s determined to figure it out. Flashbacks to 1950 tell the story of four friends at the boarding school who experience the hauntings. Now a wealthy widow has bought the property, with plans to restore the ruined building--but why? Fiona wants to answer that question in a big, splashy news piece, some of the biggest news her little Vermont town will have seen in a long time. Early in her endeavor, however, a new murder mystery suddenly complicates matters, and she wants answers to that too.
This isn’t all. There are actually three big mysteries that need solving. Two are the murder mysteries, one about Fiona’s sister and another concerning a former student at the school. The third mystery, about the school’s ghost--called “Mary Hand”--is implied: Did this ghost possibly play a role in the murders?
The plot unfolds evenly in the dual-timeline format, but I found the 2014 timeline more absorbing because it feels realistic and natural (possibly for the simple reason that the author was alive in 2014 but not in 1950). The happenings in Fiona’s life are also compelling. She isn’t, however, distinctly characterized. No characters in this book are; they’re merely physical descriptions and banal personality traits, not deeply human. The 1950 timeline, by contrast, is weak and strained. The ghostly encounters are oddly infrequent. The four teen girls are too different from each other for it to be obvious why they’re friends, and stiff dialogue only draws more attention to that. These two timelines intersect as
The Broken Girls is supposed to be a paranormal mystery, but although an eerie prologue teases a full-fledged ghost story, this book is actually a ghost story least of all. Encounters with Mary Hand are too few, and, when they do happen, are surprisingly lame. I was reminded immediately of [b:The Haunting of Hill House|89717|The Haunting of Hill House|Shirley Jackson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327871336l/89717._SY75_.jpg|3627]’s frustratingly ambiguous terror: The hauntings have creep factor but are too mild to be dread-inducing or to make the reader worry. The identity of Mary Hand
This book has some layers and surprises, but it doesn’t deliver on all that it promises because it can’t. There’s one mystery too many here. Only the mystery of
As if these two murder mysteries and a ghost weren’t already more than enough, St. James also touched on police corruption, anti-Semitism, the power of wealth and influence, and intimate-partner violence. However, she did so in the briefest way, rendering these important topics meaningless. The only thing she firmly established is sad tone, but the atmosphere is stiflingly dreary. The students live joyless and emotionally neglected lives in a prison-like school. They’re throw-away kids that no one, including the staff, thinks about. Fiona’s life is better, but still, a cloud hovers over her wherever she goes. Even the literal atmosphere is dreary: The sky is always gray and the weather windy and cold. The tone and setting are meant to have a gothic-tinged foreboding, but this is just gloom done to a fault.
The Broken Girls could have easily been tighter and more richly developed with a single adjustment: focusing on only one storyline. The dual-narrative structure is popular, but rather than resulting in full development, it can have the opposite effect depending on the plot. Such is the case with The Broken Girls. The 2014 setting may be interesting, but it doesn’t add anything to the 1950 setting that couldn’t have been integrated into a tidy plot focusing solely on that 1950 storyline. What happens in 2014 is merely more plot happenings for St. James to unsuccessfully manage. She should have axed all of it and turned it into its own book. Readers who like this genre would be happier with the more organized and developed works of skilled writers like [a:Sarah Waters|25334|Sarah Waters|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1409248454p2/25334.jpg] and [a:Laura Purcell|6550658|Laura Purcell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1559646503p2/6550658.jpg]. show less
I absolutely love Simone St James' writing!
This is another 2nd read for me, and I loved it even more than the first time! It's short, it's creepy, it's dark – and it had me in its clutches for 3 hours straight.
I always make excuses for short stories missing that x-factor because they're short.
Simone St. James makes me want to go back to every short story rating/review I've ever done and rate them down.
THIS is how you write a short story!
Quick note: The romance story is suggested, but show more there's not much development there. If you're looking for steamy, you won't find it here. However, I do like the actress and detective angle.
♡◜✧˖°*:･ﾟ✧
(Ian &) Ginette
Overall Rating:
⭐️: 5/5 🔥: 0/5
Content Warnings: It's not clear, nor descriptive but it is suggestive ofchild abuse show less
This is another 2nd read for me, and I loved it even more than the first time! It's short, it's creepy, it's dark – and it had me in its clutches for 3 hours straight.
I always make excuses for short stories missing that x-factor because they're short.
Simone St. James makes me want to go back to every short story rating/review I've ever done and rate them down.
THIS is how you write a short story!
Quick note: The romance story is suggested, but show more there's not much development there. If you're looking for steamy, you won't find it here. However, I do like the actress and detective angle.
♡◜✧˖°*:･ﾟ✧
(Ian &) Ginette
Overall Rating:
⭐️: 5/5 🔥: 0/5
Content Warnings: It's not clear, nor descriptive but it is suggestive of
A Perfect Mix of Ghost Story and Murder Mystery!
The first thing I did when I finished this book was to look up all of Simone St. James’s books!
This is a masterfully crafted work and I just fell right into the murky atmosphere of the Sun Down Motel. The motel had always sat in the wrong part of town, and attracted the wrong sort of people ... some of whom never left.
Some books struggle to be scary. Some struggle to move along fast enough. Some don’t develop their characters enough to show more make the reader care about them. But St. James sets each scene beautifully and I regretted each time I had to set the book down because other life duties called.
The story is told from two different times - the story of Viv in 1982, and of Carly (Viv’s niece) in 2017. Right from the start we know Viv went missing from the Sun Down Motel in 1982. We also know the town of Fell, NY, (home of the Sun Down Motel) has had many girls go missing in the past — some found dead, others never seen again, and some that barely made the back pages of the local newspaper. Jumping between the two timelines works really well as we watch Carly try to solve the mystery of what happened to her aunt while we also watch her aunt rushing headlong into her fate. In both timelines the Sun Down Motel (nearly unchanged after thirty-five years) serves as the spooky backdrop, complete with its own other worldly residents.
This story works as a murder mystery, a serial killer thriller, a coming of age drama, and as an atmospheric ghost story. If you are able to squeeze in one last quick trip to the beach this year, pack this one along with your towel and sunscreen. You won’t regret it!
4 out of 5 stars! show less
The first thing I did when I finished this book was to look up all of Simone St. James’s books!
This is a masterfully crafted work and I just fell right into the murky atmosphere of the Sun Down Motel. The motel had always sat in the wrong part of town, and attracted the wrong sort of people ... some of whom never left.
Some books struggle to be scary. Some struggle to move along fast enough. Some don’t develop their characters enough to show more make the reader care about them. But St. James sets each scene beautifully and I regretted each time I had to set the book down because other life duties called.
The story is told from two different times - the story of Viv in 1982, and of Carly (Viv’s niece) in 2017. Right from the start we know Viv went missing from the Sun Down Motel in 1982. We also know the town of Fell, NY, (home of the Sun Down Motel) has had many girls go missing in the past — some found dead, others never seen again, and some that barely made the back pages of the local newspaper. Jumping between the two timelines works really well as we watch Carly try to solve the mystery of what happened to her aunt while we also watch her aunt rushing headlong into her fate. In both timelines the Sun Down Motel (nearly unchanged after thirty-five years) serves as the spooky backdrop, complete with its own other worldly residents.
This story works as a murder mystery, a serial killer thriller, a coming of age drama, and as an atmospheric ghost story. If you are able to squeeze in one last quick trip to the beach this year, pack this one along with your towel and sunscreen. You won’t regret it!
4 out of 5 stars! show less
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Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 11
- Members
- 10,954
- Popularity
- #2,157
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 595
- ISBNs
- 139
- Languages
- 8
- Favorited
- 13