Simone St. James: Ghost Stories with a Difference!

 The Recommender has listened to a LOT of audiobooks over the last couple of years, and there are a few authors I read and listen to whenever they have something new. A couple of months ago I came across a book that sounded intriguing!
It was called Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James. The narrator was incredible! Billie Fulford-Brown became all the soldiers suffering the after effects of WWI  and the nurses caring for them in the remote psychiatric hospital where Kitty Weeks has escaped to, posing as a much needed nurse. How hard could nursing be? And what about the mysterious patient 16? Why is Kitty not allowed in his room? And then there are those noises that no one admits to hearing. This is a story that grabs you from the start and ends perfectly!

I had to know more about Ms. James. And thanks to Penguin/Random House audio, I was able to listen to more of her books and I have to say, each one is excellent! Each one, a different sort of ghost story, the kind of Gothic style fiction that is hard to find, and the audios are all so good as are their narrators! 

Next, I listened to the Haunting of Maddy Clare, also narrated by the wonderful Billie Fulford-Brown. This is a ghost story that has some frightening scenes and scary elements that will keep you riveted!  Wealthy, handsome ghost hunter, Alistair Gellis , hires an assistant from a temp agency while his partner is away. Sarah Piper is a pretty, lonely young woman who jumps at the chance to take this position, though later on, she may have second thoughts. Joined by Matthew Ryder, Alistair's partner who returns early, they set off to investigate a haunting in an old barn. Who is doing the haunting and the repurcussions of the investigation make this another must read / listen to story!

I could not get enough of Ms. James work! Thankfully, Penguin/Random House audio had more available!

I next listened to the Book of Cold Cases, in which Shea Williams, a doctor's receptionist by day and a True Crime blogger by night, scores an interview with an older woman who, in her 20s, had been suspected of murdering two men. This is another addictive read/listen! What happens between these two women and what is revealed in the interviews as this compelling story unfolds will not disappoint! 
if you only have time to listen, as I often do, this is narrated by a great cast that includes Brittany Pressley, Kirsten Potter and Robert Petkoff !

Then, I listened to the Broken Girls, set in two timelines, the 50s  in a girls' school for troubled or problem girls. A group of girls become close friends sharing secrets and alliances and late night tales of a girl who may haunt the premises. The other timeline: 2014, a young woman journalist, daughter of a famous journalist Dad and younger sister of a girl murdered 20 years previously, and found on the grounds of the old, closed down school. I loved this book as well! What happens and what is revealed along the way make this one equally enticing! This one is narrated by Rebecca Lowman who does an excellent job, as have all the narrators of Ms. James books!

I am currently listening to the Sundown Motel which is as good as all the previous books I have listened to. In this one, set in the 1982 and then in 2017, Carly Kirk, a young woman who is a true crime buff, follows the trail of her beautiful Aunt, Viv Delaney, who left home in the midwest to try and make it as an actress in NY but got as far as the Sundown Motel, where she takes a job as a night clerk. Was Viv murdered? No body was ever found, though the town where the Sundown Motel is located has had more than its share of missing, murdered young women. Narrated, again, by Brittany Pressley and Kirsten Potter, they do a fantastic job of bringing these engaging characters to life!

So, if you are looking for an author to become your next favorite, must read /listen to, then I highly recommend Simone St. James!   I'll be looking forward to reading / listening to her other works!