 The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. JamesRating: ★★★★Publication Date: March 15, 2022Genre: gothic, supernaturalPages: 344 ReRead?: NoProject: great American road tripIn 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?
A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings in t
|
Stop #2/50
Oregon is my home state, which makes it interesting that I struggled a bit to decide on a book to read. The books that my home state is known for – Sometimes A Great Notion by Ken Kesey, The River Why by David James Duncan – didn’t appeal to my current mood. When I was searching around for a book, this one came up & I remembered that I had already bought a copy a couple of years ago.
I’ve read a couple of other books by Simone St. James, and find her reliably entertaining. This might have been the scariest of all of her books so far. It is very ghost-y, and uses the scenery and climate of the setting well, with lots of cliffs, a plunge into the cold Pacific Ocean, and drizzle. Lake Claire is a fictional town on the coast, and I kept trying to figure out the real analog for it. I never did place it firmly in the coastal geography, but that’s just fine.
To be completely truthful, this is not a book I would usually read in May. I am always very attracted to books like this in the darker months, especially October. This would be a GREAT October read. But, I still enjoyed it, and from here, I am planning to continue my fictional drive north, to the State of Washington.
Related