Last updated on September 17, 2020, Award-winning author Simone St James is the author of several stand-alone historical gothic mystery novels, including The Chase of Maddy Clare, The Broken Girls, and The Sunset. sun motel.
The author’s first novel, a ghost story, was published in 2012 under the title The Haunting of Maddy Clare, the book that established her within this genre.
You are reading: Simone st james books in order
here are simone st james books for the novels she has written so far. the list is, of course, updated as soon as new books are published.
new book by simone st james
simone st james books in order
- the curse of maddy clare, 2012
- an investigation into love and death, 2013
- silence for the dead, 2014
- on the other side of midnight, 2015
- lost among the living , 2016
- the broken girls, 2018
- the motel at sunset, 2020
simone street. synopsis of the books of james
the curse of maddy clare
The author’s debut novel is, of course, a ghost story, and features Sarah Piper, who is assigned by the temp agency to help a ghost hunter, who turns out to be Alistair Gellis. he is a rich, eccentric and quite handsome guy who has been in the first world war and is obsessed with ghosts. alistair’s assistant is matthew ryder, who also accompanies him.
Their first job together is dealing with the ghost of Maddy Clare, a spinster who hated men in real life. she is a real ghost, she still hates people even in death. She committed suicide at the age of 19 in a barn, but since Piper is the only woman in her trio, she is tasked with talking to the ghost. they need to find out why maddie is so angry, so they can get it out in the open.
an inquiry about love and death
second street simone. James’s book features Oxford student Jillian, whose uncle Toby, a ghost hunter, has passed away. now, she has to drive all the way to the seaside town of rothewell, in order to pack her things. however, shortly after she is in the house, an angry ghost wants to enter as well. Jillian suspects it’s John the Walker, a 200-year-old ghost who might have reason to stay. And now it’s Jillian’s job to find out why Walker John is still here and what secrets she must tell.
silence for the dead
It’s 1919. Kitty Weekes is on the run, so she falsifies papers and gets a job as a nurse at the Portis Home to care for WWI veterans who suffered from what we now know as PTSD.
Shortly thereafter, however, he realizes that there is something in the facility causing all kinds of chaos, something that profoundly affects the dreams of the patients. even the previous owners left the premises in a hurry. She meets Jack Yates, a recluse who could have been a war hero. together, they work to uncover the horrible truth surrounding the old mansion.
on the other side of midnight
The author’s fourth book is another slightly paranormal historical mystery novel. we are in 1925, in london. ellie winter used to be a medium and contact the dead, but she doesn’t do that anymore. she these days she specializes in finding lost items. However, when her former friend and rival, Gloria Sutter, herself a medium, contacts her from beyond the grave, it’s up to Ellie to find out why Gloria asked for her help. She is also surrounded by James Hawley, a handsome but damaged war veteran, who is the opposite of everything Gloria and Ellie are. he is debunking psychics.
As Ellie and James work together to find out what happened to Gloria, they become more than just friends. however, there is something out there that wants to keep what it hides a secret at all costs, even if it means someone else has to die.
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lost among the living
again, we are in london, this time in 1921. jo manders is still mourning the death of her husband, who was shot three years ago by the germans. She works as a paid escort for her husband’s aunt, Dottie Forsyth, with whom she travels to the Sussex countryside, to her family estate, called Wych Elm House.
The mansion appears to be haunted, as Jo hears footsteps behind her all the time as she walks through the floors of the property. furthermore, many items in the various bedrooms seem to rearrange themselves without any outside help. The locals believe the family is cursed, and it’s up to Jo to discover the truth about the curse.
the broken girls
The Broken Girls is set in the UK and takes place in 1950s Vermont, which is a more contemporary setting than the author’s previous post-World War I books. we are in the idlewild room, a home for broken girls that nobody wants. there is a rumor about the boarding school that it is haunted. however, four girls become friends, but when one of them goes missing, they fear the worst.
we are several decades later, in 2014, still in vermont. Journalist Fiona Sheridan is still deeply troubled by the murder of her older sister some two decades ago. Her body was found near the ruins of the idlewild hall. her boyfriend was found guilty of the crime, but she never really believed that he had killed her.
When an anonymous benefactor decides to restore the idlewild saloon, Fiona wants to write an article about it for the newspaper. But the walls of the old boarding school hold something sinister that someone very much wants to keep hidden forever.
motel at sunset
once again we are in the united states, in a more modern environment. It’s 1982, upstate New York, in a small town called Fall. viv delaney, 20, is a night clerk at the hotel, working to make enough money to move to new york. at some point, she realizes that the hotel is haunted, as she notices the usual strange things that people associate with ghosts. Unfortunately, when she starts to investigate the weird stuff, she disappears.
in 2017, vivian’s niece, carly, wants answers about her aunt’s disappearance, so she goes to fall and starts working at the same hotel, doing the same job her aunt did decades ago. she soon she, just like her aunt, she also begins to notice strange things. and soon her life is in danger the more she investigates her, as well as her aunts. but she, will she be able to solve the riddle before she becomes the next victim?
biography of simone st james
simone street. James was born in Canada. he started writing his first ghost stories in high school. Back then, she didn’t know that writing books was a profession, so before devoting her time to writing books as her main career, she worked in the television business for about 20 years.
After coming home late from work, he would spend his time writing manuscript after manuscript in his spare time, which also included weekends and vacations. Although her first few books were rejected, she eventually broke through with the ghost story The Haunting of Maddy Clare.
Award winning author Simone St James is currently living in Toronto, Canada, with her husband, while working on her next book.
all books by simone st. james are set in the 1920s, close to the period of the first world war. In a previous interview, the author mentioned that she is drawn to this period as it is a time of change for most women.
After the war, women were liberated for the first time. it was a very different time from the way her own parents lived. and invariably those times offered plenty of drama and suspense, which is what many good books are using for great plot options.
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simone st james was always drawn to ghost stories, often reading books by writers prolific in the genre like victoria holt and mary stewart (two of my favorite gothic mystery authors too), along with ghost books by nonfiction by colin dickey.
since the books are ghost stories that begin with the haunting maddy clare, there is a degree of supernatural within the pages, especially ghosts.
Before publishing his first book, his manuscripts were rejected several times. After the publication of The Curse of Maddie Clare, she received not one but two Rita Awards from Romance Writers of America, as well as an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada. Other books of hers were also nominated for several awards.
The setting for the first five books is England, however, with Broken Girls, the author changed it to the United States, specifically New England. this book is also different because it spans two timelines: vermont in 1950 and vermont in 2014. furthermore, in broken girls, the story is told from different points of view, which is also something new that simone st james is experimenting with, and it seems to work quite well.
Each book is evocative, in keeping with ghost stories, which are haunting and full of mystery. Although the author often mentions that she has never seen a ghost, she believes in them, and her books reflect that belief and raise the question of what if.
I love paranormal mysteries with ghosts and I love gothic romance and mystery novels, so simone st. james fit very well. Regardless of the order in which you read his novels, if you love this genre, be sure to read them. you won’t regret it.
praise for simone st. james
[the broken girls] mixes a hair-raising supernatural story with a gripping mystery. it also works well as a story about unbreakable friendship, parenting issues, obsession, and sexism in a satisfying plot that spans two eras. (associated press)the broken girls is both captivating and disturbing.—(hellogggles)
the broken girls is smart and wonderfully creepy. kept me hostage in a very modern ghost story until dawn (fiona barton)
part eerily gothic, part suspenseful crime drama (karen white)
Absolutely scary and atmospheric. I flew through the pages. (lisa gardner)
a disturbing story of love, passion, friendship and revenge. (posugar)
I don’t believe in ghosts, but I believe every word of this gripping, fast-paced story. (madeline hunter)
references
- simone street. james author website
- author publisher page
- simone st. james interview with kate braithwaite
books in reading order » crime mystery authors » simone st james books in order
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