-
Access Our
Best Book Club
Books of 2025!
A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel.
In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect—a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion.
Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases—a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea's surprise, Beth says yes.
They meet regularly at Beth's mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she's not looking, and she could swear she's seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn't right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?
"When it comes to sending shivers down readers' spines, St. James gives Shirley Jackson a run for her money, and her latest addictively readable novel will have one sleeping with the lights on." - Library Journal (starred review)
"[C]hilling...St. James keeps the suspense high, though some readers will wonder why she reveals a major plot twist in the middle of the book. Horror fans will want to check this out." - Publishers Weekly
"St. James expertly builds tension between the women's stories, indulging in some genre expectations and thwarting others along the way. A twisty and satisfying paranormal mystery you won't want to read alone at night." - Kirkus Reviews
"Lovers of true crime will get a kick out of this thriller that oozes atmosphere." - Silvia Moreno-Garcia, New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night
"Simone St. James knows how to haunt you. The Book of Cold Cases is St. James at the top of her game, expertly weaving the past and the present to reveal a chilling tapestry of real world mystery and supernatural suspense that will have you turning pages well past your bedtime and jumping at every little sound." - Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Drowning Kind
"No one writes a ghost story like Simone St. James, whose uniquely spooky thrillers are as chilling as they are captivating, and The Book of Cold Cases is St. James at her best. Steeped in atmosphere and spine-tingling chills, this gripping mystery will haunt you from the very beginning." - Laura McHugh, award-winning author of What's Done in Darkness
This information about The Book of Cold Cases was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Perrywinkle Photography
Simone St. James is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel and The Broken Girls. After years of writing and collecting rejections, Simone's debut novel, The Haunting of Maddy Clare, won two RITA Awards from Romance Writers of America and an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada. An Inquiry Into Love and Death was nominated for another Arthur Ellis Award. Simone spent twenty years behind the scenes in the television business before leaving to write full-time. She lives just outside Toronto, Canada, with her husband and a spoiled rescue cat. She is addicted to sushi, rainy days, coffee, and My Favorite Murder. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Pinterest (though not all at once).
.gif)
I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now only that place where the books are ...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
