Book of Cold Cases

by Simone St. James

No cover — Simone St. James: Book of Cold Cases (2022, Penguin Publishing Group)

English language

Published June 11, 2022 by Penguin Publishing Group.

ISBN:: 978-0-440-00022-8

(8 reviews)

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 small 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?

3 editions

Kadomi@buecher.pnpde.social reviewed The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

A bit formulaic now

3 stars

This was my third book by Simone St. James. I totally adored the first one I read, The Sundown Motel, really enjoyed The Broken Girls and am a bit so-so on this one now. All books are pretty much the same. American small town, an inquisitive young woman looking into something from the past, and two interwoven timelines solving the mystery, always involving some form of supernatural haunting. In this case, the inquisitive woman is true crime blogger Shea who operates a website called The Book of Cold Cases. One day she runs into Elizabeth Greer, a woman who was accused of murder in the late 70s. Shea asks to interview her, and then gets swept up into Beth's story and the haunting of the mansion that Beth still lives in.

Maybe it would have worked better for me if Beth had been a likeable character, or Shea. Outstanding character …

Maybe it would have worked better for me if Beth had been a likeable character, or Shea. Outstanding character of the book was clearly Winston Purrchill, Shea's cat.

In any case, overall this book felt super-predictable, and so I merely thought it was a decent read, instead of an excellent one.

Erin reviewed The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

Review of 'The Book of Cold Cases' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

Not a big fan of stories that get meta or true crime podcasts.

patchworkbunny reviewed The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

Review of 'The Book of Cold Cases' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This was my first Simone St. James and I didn't realise she writes ghosts into her stories, so that was a bit of a surprise... But I found this a bit boring. I picked this up because it was supposedly about a true crime blogger solving a cold case, but she is just a framing device to be handed the story by Beth, and her story was unsubtle. Not sure if I'll try this writer again, I've seen others say it's not her best.