Lost Among the Living

"According to the official record, my husband had not died in the war. When there is a body, a grave, then a person has died. But no one ever tells you: When you have nothing but thin air, what happens then? Are you a widow, when there is nothing but a gaping hole in what used to be your life? Who are you exactly? For three years I had been trapped in amber--first in my fear and uncertainty, and then in a slow, chilling exhale of eventual inexorable grief."

England, 1921. Jo Mander's husband, Alex, was shot down over Germany in 1918. She now works for and lives with Alex's Aunt Dottie as a paid companion at Wych Elm House where Alex once lived as a boy. Jo hopes she'll feel closer to him there, but instead she finds herself haunted by Dottie's dead daughter, Frances. Jo hears footsteps in an empty hall; things in her room are mysteriously rearranged; and in the woods she hears the ghostly barking of a dog. It makes Jo wonder if she's losing her mind. Then there's the fact that Wych Elm House seems to be a house full of secrets and lies, and possibly a murderer. And Jo is right in the middle of it all.

What I love about Simone St. James' novels:

• Her female characters, while often imperfect and flawed, are never spineless or stupid.
• Her books are that perfect combination of mystery, romance, and ghostly suspense.
• Rich prose.
• Well-crafted plots that often have a surprising twist, or two at the end.
• That eerie Gothic atmosphere.

Her latest novel, Lost Among the Living, does not disappoint. I loved the characters, and the mystery, and the quiet build-up of suspense; in fact, I loved every well-written page.

Happy Reading!

Other Simone St. James' novels that are must-reads:

An Inquiry Into Love and Death

Silence For the Dead

The Other Side of Midnight

The Other Side of Midnight

The dead don't walk among us, peering invisibly over our shoulders or watching us as we sleep. There are such things as hauntings certainly, but they are confined to certain spaces, tied to a place and often with a purpose, though they are in fact rare. The true dead, if you wish to speak with them, must be called. 

 "Tell Ellie Winter to find me." That was the last message psychic medium Gloria Sutter sent before she was murdered at one of her own seances. Ellie Winter is psychic, too. And though she saw her first ghost when she was seven, she finds lost objects, not people. And she certainly doesn't do seances. But she and Gloria were once friends, and Ellie can't let her murder go unsolved.

Set in London in 1925, this novel is more murder mystery than ghost story, although there are ghosts in it. Ellie, with her bobbed blond hair and psychic ability, is a fun character, as is James Rawley, the man who helps her track down Gloria's killer. Simone St. James always includes a little romance with her suspense which is why I love her novels so much. And this one is no exception. The romance between Ellie and James made me smile and sigh all at the same time.

An arm came around my shoulders and I was pulled against a hard familiar body. I smelled wet pavement and damp wool and James. My skin sang, even through the layers of clothing, and there was water on my cheeks. He swung me into the notch of a church doorway, out of the rain, my back against the brick.

"Come here," he said, and kissed me.

I'm glad I bought my own copy of The Other Side of Midnight instead of waiting to get one from the library, because this is one book I'll want to read again. (And again.) Oh, and for fans of St. James' earlier novel, An Inquiry Into Love and Death, Drew Merriken (the Scotland Yard Inspector from that novel) makes an appearance in this one, too, which was a lot of fun.

Happy Reading!

Silence for the Dead

"There was silence from the bottom of the stairs, a waiting silence, of something patiently watching me come closer, something with all the time in the world."

 Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James is a perfect mix of historical fiction, mystery and ghost story; an added dash of romance makes this novel a delicious read.

It takes place in 1919 at an isolated estate in England called Portis Hall where sixteen shell-shocked soldiers have come to convalesce. But there is something evil haunting Portis Hall that makes it anything but restful.

The two main characters are Kitty Weekes, who isn't really a nurse but who comes to work at Portis Hall anyway hoping to escape her own past, and Jack Yates, a war hero tormented by nightmares of his own. Together they try to solve the mystery of what, or who, is haunting Portis Hall.

"This house was a vampire, feeding on the pain, the insecurity, the despair of these men. It was feeding on Creeton, it was feeding on Archie, it was feeding on Mabry and Jack. It knew my weaknesses, my fears, and it was only a matter of time before it fed on me. I let go of the bucket, put my head in my hands, and surrendered to my own madness, the madness of this place."

I love the eerie atmosphere St. James creates in her novels; cold and crumbling Portis Hall is remote and unwelcoming and the perfect setting for a gripping ghost story. And St. James' characters, while imperfect, are engaging and likeable. Then there's the romance between Kitty and Jack...sweet and sexy. I really enjoyed this book. It's a well-written and fast-paced mystery (and an awesome airplane/trip book, too)!

Happy Reading!

Be sure to check out Simone S. James' other books:

     The Haunting of Maddy Clare

     An Inquiry Into Love and Death 

An Inquiry Into Love and Death by Simone St. James

3 Reasons to Read This Book:
The Time Period: The 1920s
The Setting:  The secretive coastal village of Rothewell in Devonshire, England
The Characters:

• Jillian Leigh -- a smart and unconventional heroine who "did not believe in ghosts.  Of course I didn't - no sane person believed in ghosts.  I believed in Oxford, and cobblestoned squares, and old bricks thick with ivy, and rainy days curled up reading books."
• Drew Merriken -- the tall, dark and handsome Scotland Yard Inspector and former RAF pilot who is in Rothewell to investigate the death of Jillian's murdered ghost-hunter uncle.
• Walking John -- the ghost of John Barrow who has haunted the woods and residents of Rothewell for years.

This book is full of secrets, mystery and supernatural suspense, with just the right amount of romance; one of my definite must-reads for 2013!

(Simone St. James' first novel, The Haunting of Maddy Clare, is also a great read.)