A Book A Week

Does the time of year influence the books that you read? I've always been a mood reader, motivated to read whichever title strikes my fancy at any given moment. That said, my reading preferences also shift with the seasons. Summertime is filled with fast-paced thrillers, while I gravitate toward literary fiction and non-fiction in the fall. I try to fill October with spooky-themed reads, and I can't resist a holiday-themed book in December. I guess it is safe to say that I'm a mix between both mood and seasonal. This week I was in the mood for something with a twinge of horror in it. Simone St. James's The Book of Cold Cases seemed like the perfect candidate. Her previous two books The Broken Girls and The Sun Down Motel both managed to thrill and frighten me, so I had high hopes for her latest effort. 

In 1977 the quiet town of Claire Lake, Oregon was rocked by a horrific killing spree. The Lady Killer Murders, as the two homicides became known, were unique in that the witnesses of the crimes stated that they were committed by a mysterious woman. In both cases, a long-haired individual dressed in a trenchcoat stepped forward and shot the victims at point-blank range. The list of potential suspects in the small town was short. Beth Greer, the twenty-three-year-old heiress to a family fortune, fit the bill as the most likely perpetrator of the crimes. She went to a lengthy trial that saw her acquitted of all charges. The court of public opinion, however, never forgave her for her alleged misdeeds. 

Flash forward to 2017. Shea Collins toils away at her day job as a receptionist at a clinic. She never thought this would be the life she lived, but it pays the bills. It is after hours when Shea truly has the time to follow her passion. She runs the true crime website, The Book of Cold Cases. Her zealous obsession with true crime stems from her own childhood trauma, a past that saw her escape from the hands of an abductor. These days, she works tirelessly to shed a light on those cases that time has long forgotten. Chance puts her in the presence of Beth Greer, the only suspect in one of the most notorious cold cases in the area. Beth has notoriously stayed quiet about that time but surprisingly agrees to Shea's request for an interview. As Shea begins to dive into Beth's past, she can't help but feel a sense of unease. Could Beth truly be the murderer that got away, or is something more sinister at play?

As with her previous books, Simone St. James imbues every page of The Book of Cold Cases with a sense of dread and unease. The book alternates between past and present, slowly revealing the truth behind the murders being investigated. St. James's ability to place the reader into the world she conjures remains unparalleled. The gothic atmosphere in this book is palpable. I was instantly drawn to the idea of a true-crime investigator digging into a cold case and found that the book worked best when focusing on the investigation. Supernatural and haunted elements have become a kind of signature for St. James, though I found them to be more unnecessary to this story than I have when reading her other books. The characters and their story were tense enough to hold my attention, and the overtly supernatural occurrences were more of a distraction than anything else. That being said, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy reading this one. I'm a sucker for a mystery, and The Book of Cold Cases more than satisfied my hunger for a head-scratcher. I only wish the ghost story was as intriguing. 

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads. 

(2023, 17)