The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

e-Audio, 10:44:46
Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Kirsten Potter, Robert Petkoff 
Release Date: March 15, 2022
Published by: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Read from: April 6-9, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Death, Gun Violence, Alcoholism, Death of parents
For Readers Interested In: Ghostly things, Realistic Fiction, True Crime, Thrillers/Mysteries, Adult

      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?
     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.

*MY THOUGHTS*

It didn’t take much for me to add this to my TBR. I saw Cold Cases in the title and that was all she wrote. But then after looking at the synopsis, I fell even harder for it. There’s blogging, true crime, and the killer isn’t your typical person…. It’s a female. And so once I started it, I added almost everything from St. James to my TBR.

In 1977 a small town is taken by surprise by a dangerous lady killer. Two men are killed and left behind is a note. The police thought they had the perfect suspect in Beth Greer… Until there isn’t a lick of evidence that it was her. She’s acquitted on all counts. Now it’s 2017 and Shea is a true crime blogger. She looks at cold cases and writes about them on her blog. And when Beth Greer comes to somewhere Shea least expects, she knows she only has one chance. She asks if she can interview her…. And Beth says yes. What can Shea do to get the answers to solve this case? And why did Beth finally want to talk?

Ok, so I’ll get right to the things I didn’t like. I didn’t like that ALL the things weren’t completely explained. Am I just supposed to know why she was able to see these things or the ghostly elements? It felt unfinished. I also didn’t care for the way the author with held information from us and that’s how they kept me from guessing who it was. I think it was stupid because I still figured out a piece of it. (I’ll tell you what I thought if you ask!) And then it seemed like so much was going on. The love story, her back story, the actual story, the ghost story…. It just seemed like so much.

But even though it was a lot going on, I thought it was still well written and well narrated. I found that I couldn’t stop listening to it. I listened while I was doing laundry, cooking, eating, even while doing things I would normally read my physical book for. I needed to know who did it and why. And the narration was a full cast, one of which who is my favorite narrator. I was going to read this as an e-ARC, but then I saw Brittany Pressley’s name on the audio and I couldn’t resist. I requested it from my library immediately. I will listen to whatever she has her name on.

I also liked the ghostly elements. I don’t really know how or why this came into the story. but I liked it. I love ghostly elements in all things, but this was the first time I saw it in a mystery. The house was scary and the way she solved things was even scarier, butttt after looking at some reviews, it seems like this is something that St. James normally does, so I didn’t let it bother me too much. It was strange, but in a good way.

This was my first book by Simone St. James, but it won’t be the last. I have already added the other books she wrote to my TBR. If you’ve read something by her, let me know which one I should start with next!

Overall, I give this