The Book of Cold Cases

Oh, I have been eagerly awaiting Simone St. James' newest novel - The Book of Cold Cases! I ended up devouring it in a day - her books are page turners that you just can't put down.

St. James again weaves a mixture of mystery, murder and … an otherworldly element. Seriously, does anyone else literally get goosebumps reading St. James?! (If you've read it already you'll get this - I will never look at an open kitchen cupboard door the same again...)

Okay, so what's this latest about you ask? The lead character is Shea Collins, who works a mundane day job in an office. But, her true passion is blogging about true crime. Her site is The Book of Cold Cases. The 1977 case of the Lady Killer Murders in Shea's hometown of Claire Lake has show more never been solved. The lead suspect at that time still lives in Claire Lake in 2017. When Shea approaches Beth for an interview, she is surprised when she agrees. But something is off with Beth Greer - and her (creepy) house. But Shea can't help herself, she wants to know more...

Shea was a great lead character. She's suffered a childhood trauma that has affected her thoughts, actions and more. I was whole heartedly behind her. St. James fleshes out her personal life well. he supporting is a large part of that and they too were well drawn.

Oh my gosh. Creep factor of ten. That otherworldly feeling is insidious and will awaken your primal brain. The mystery of the murders is slowly unfolded through past and present chapters and the narrative changes from Shea to Beth. But the doubt is always there - what is the truth? Beth rarely gives Shea clear cut answers instead providing enigmatic clues or suggestions. The path to the final pages is winding and treacherous. And addicting!

St. James knows how to tell a story - hook the reader from the opening pages, keep the questions coming and the reader on the edge of their seat. Five stars for a fantastic read. show less

In The Book of Cold Cases, by Simone St James, Shea is a doctor's receptionist and a true-crime blogger. When Beth Greer, the acquitted suspect in the cold-case Lady Killer Murders, comes in for a medical appointment, Shea has to ask her for an interview for her site. Although Beth has refused to tell her story for years and basically lives as a recluse in the family mansion, she agrees to talk to Shea about it.

There are almost immediately signs of supernatural activity in this story. But is it Shea's own traumatic history coming back to the surface, is Beth actually the twisted Lady Killer playing twisted pranks, or is there something even darker going on in the Greer house? Something that the criminal investigators missed, but Shea show more can discover? The possibilities pulled me in very quickly.

I almost didn't request The Book of Cold Cases, because true crime gives me the creeps. I'm all for imaginary murders in suspense fiction and thrillers, but it's somehow ghoulish to rake over a real tragedy for entertainment. Plus, there's usually gore in true-crime stories. No, thanks. But fortunately for me, there's almost nothing bloody in this novel. The story hinges on murder, yes, but it's not described with a lot of gross detail.

I've read two of Simone St James' other novels, The Sun Down Motel and The Broken Girls. In both stories, there's a supernatural element that seems to prey on powerless girls, girls who definitely won't be taken seriously. Actually, a great deal of supernatural horror fiction and movies relies on a girl or woman seeing something strange, and her boyfriend/husband just ignoring what she experienced, until the strange sightings are full-blown monster attack. St James uses this theme in her stories, where the characters are aware that no one will believe their experiences, except maybe other women. For eaxmple, The Broken Girls has generations of castoff daughters in a boarding school writing notes in their textbooks to piece together the sightings of the campus ghost.

Here, Beth Greer is the opposite. She's rich and pretty, and drinks too much, so instead of being forgotten and ignored, she's obviously a slut. She's written off for exactly the opposite reasons, but the result is the same. Beth has no one to talk with about her experiences and no one who would believe her if she did want to talk about it. Until, maybe, she decides to let Shea in on what really happened.

There's a great deal of tension in The Book of Cold Cases, without much blood, which is exactly what I like in a suspense story. I spent a lot of the book wondering about Beth and the whole Greer family. I thought Beth was, well, maybe not the cold-hearted Lady Killer, but not exactly a good guy, either. I was constantly worried about Shea, and what she might find. Shea's past trauma made her seem particularly vulnerable (outside of her true-crime research hobby, that is), and I always need a character to care about in a suspense novel. Plus, there was the same ambience I loved in The Sun Down Motel and The Broken Girls, that constant ominous feeling that things were just not quite right below the surface.

Crossposted to my book blog show less

Finally, a decent story! The murder mystery, supernatural element and even the autumnal atmosphere of the Oregon setting were all on point here - and the cat wasn't mistreated in the slightest! Bonus point!

Shea Collins, who narrowly escaped being murdered herself as a child, runs a blog called the Book of Cold Cases. Top of her list is the 'Lady Killer' case of 1977, when a young heiress was accused of being a female serial killer after two men were shot by the roadside. Beth Greer was arrested for the deaths but later released due to lack of evidence, yet the town of Claire Lake still believes she is guilty. When Shea meets the elusive Lady Killer in the doctor's surgery where she works, she bravely asks to interview her - and Beth show more agrees. But why? And what dark secrets is she hiding at Greer mansion, long thought to be haunted?

I absolutely loved the first half of the story, with Shea's combination of curiosity and neuroses driving her interest in the lives and deaths of other people, and the classic haunted house tropes at the Greer house. Beth is also a fascinating character, a recovering alcoholic battling personal demons - literally - but who faces the world with a cool manner and a blank expression. Like Shea, I was in awe of Beth's style and power too.

The identity of the Lady Killer, a plot twist saved only by the supernatural subplot of the novel, didn't work as well for me. The psychopathic behaviour of the killer fell flat against the deeper characterisation of Shea and Beth, although I'm glad that the author didn't force the whole 'traumatic childhood' angle as an excuse.

The perfect novel for the cold, dark nights of Halloween season, which will have readers feeling cold drafts and checking the shadows! show less

When you pick up a book from Simone St. James you know you’re in for at least a touch of the supernatural, but The Book of Cold Cases really amped up the haunted house story. With true crime podcasts (and shows) being so popular I can see a lot of people being drawn to The Book of Cold Cases, even if they are not familiar with St. James.

St. James slowly draws us in by alternating the story between Shea, who was almost abducted as a child and whose life has been put on hold from her fear of all the bad in the world and with Beth who was accused of killing two men many years ago and who is also very rich and still beautiful in her older years. Beth too has closed herself off from the world, spending most of her time in the mansion on show more the hill and not doing any interviews.

So when a fateful encounter puts Beth in Shea’s path and grants her an interview, the reader instantly wants to know what made Beth decide to finally talk after so many years.

After a bit, the story line starts to give us bits of the past along with the present. We learn more about Beth and see Shea growing and coming out of her shell. But with all the strangeness that takes place in the mansion, it’s hard for Shea to continue on her journey of growth when she’s continually wondering if she is having a nervous breakdown.

St. James really shines with her pacing. While some may find it too slow for a thriller, the reader has to keep in mind, while true crime normally reads more as a thriller, The Book of Cold Cases is more of a gothic ghost story, and those usually have a more sedate pass to help creep out the main character as well as the reader.

Another fantastic book by St. James and I am looking forward to what she brings us next. show less

Every small town with a history can boast two sides of the tracks with a narrow middle class no-man’s land buffering between the common folk and the old money. Clare Lakes, Oregon, is no exception. As we zero in on the town, we end our tour with the old mansion on the bluff, seemingly abandoned. But the discerning eye might spy a shadowy wisp of a girl in a second story window, or a small palm pressed against the windowpane. Nothing good has ever come out of this house and it has been the venue of at least two murders and one provoked drunken death.

Our story unfolds in this ritzy section of anywhere, small-town America. Shea Collins is a receptionist in a clinic by day and a writer by night in her popular blog, The Book of Cold Cases. show more As a victim of a drive by kidnapping as a child, she is the one who got away, and she later becomes obsessed with unsolved murders. Her blog is a place where people meet to discuss their experiences or advance their theories. I divert here by saying that this blog is not central to the plot and only appears in the book occasionally to explain that she knows how to write and to research.

Shea notes a patient in the waiting room who looks eerily familiar (I had to use the word eerie…this is a ghost story after-all). It turns out that the woman is the notorious Beth Greer, also known as the Lady Killer. Although she was never found guilty, the label stuck as she was the most convenient and only suspect in the murder of two men in two seemingly senseless road shootings, circa forty years ago. At the age of twenty-something, she was the poor little rich girl living in the mansion at the top of the hill…a wild girl of the seventies, known for late night drives, drinking, and drugs – but actually known to no one. As it turns out the gun used in the two shootings was used in the shooting of her father, years earlier. Her mother, died in a DUI accident several years later. Young Beth continued to live in the old mansion, haunted by the experiences of early adolescence and surrounded but the relics of her family including her father’s luxury cars which she uses to cruise around town.

Beth has decided to break her silence of forty years and share her experiences and “the truth” with Shea, so that the veil of the mystery can finally be lifted. As you might guess, this book is steeped in ghostly atmosphere, similar to St. James’ other books – with an unsuspecting witness to other worldly experiences, inexplicable running water, blood flowing through pipes, kitchen cabinets doors flying open and shut, whispering voices begging to be let in, strange recordings, disappearing messages, and, for good measure, objects that are disposed of but continuously return to their rightful place in the house.

There is a bit of light innocent romance between Shea and her go-to fella, who helps with her research and investigations. Other than the ghosts, Shea and Beth are the only characters fleshed out (OMG I'm truly sorry about that one). I found the plot more interesting than the characters. This was a fun 4.5 read! show less

Man, this book had my head spinning for the 2 days it took me to read it. I was constantly thinking about it and trying to guess who did what and how and why. The prose is straightforward, making it an easy read without being overly simple. The best part was that I was almost never right!

Beth and Shea are both interesting, complex characters, although I do feel like Shea gets shafted on
organic character growth in the end because almost all of her growth happens in the last 1/16th of the book, and most of it falls in the last 20 pages where it's almost completely glossed over; getting over being in a car, learning to drive, being comfortable in the public eye, etc., once the mystery is solved in typical mystery book fashion.

And to tread show more into more spoilery waters: The plot twist gave me 'Gone Girl' vibes in the suddenness of the narrative shift, but with a half-sister instead of it being the victim lol.

My biggest qualm was that the paranormal became too real with Lily's ghost feeding Shea information (and also attempting to kill her, which I THINK was supposed to fuel Shea's character development, but the trauma of it is swept under the rug in favor of her becoming a podcaster/author). There could've been a better route for her to learn how Lily died, instead it came off as contrived, even more so when the police just . . . believe her.

In the end it had me highly invested and even though the ending is a bit rushed, it hardly detracts from the rest of the novel. A great read. show less

My third novel by Simone St. James (after [b:The Broken Girls|35533431|The Broken Girls|Simone St. James|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498686713l/35533431._SY75_.jpg|50481438] and [b:The Sun Down Motel|45885644|The Sun Down Motel|Simone St. James|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1570443079l/45885644._SY75_.jpg|70715489]) was a disappointment, especially considering it's set on the Oregon coast. I never really got the OC vibe and the story failed to grip me like her previous books did.

Shea, the main character, grew up in the fictional town of Claire Lake. She narrowly missed being a victim of a (possibly) serial killer as a child, which has left her afraid to show more ride in cars and obsessed with serial killers. She runs a blog/website called "The Book of Cold Cases." When she gets a chance to interview the infamous "Lady Killer," a lonely, wealthy woman who was acquitted of two murders in the late 1970s, she of course takes it. Did Beth Greer actually murder two men, was she completely innocent, or did she know the real murderer?

I expected some supernatural elements, because that's what Ms. St. James does, but they didn't really work for me in this book. I felt like they were added to fill in plot holes, more than actually enhancing the story. Too many pages are filled with fluff: useless descriptions, dialogue that didn't really add anything, small side plots and relationships that weren't necessary, and a lot of telling (rather than showing).

It's just kind of meh.

My favorite character is the cat, Winston Purrchill. (He and Glen from [b:Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine|31434883|Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine|Gail Honeyman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1493724347l/31434883._SY75_.jpg|47327681] make my list of "awesome cats that almost save disappointing books.") show less