I mean, I am not surprised I categorised this novel as one worth your time. I adore Simone St. James's works as her writing style is engaging and although The Book of Cold Cases falls flat when compared to The Sun Down Motel, it's still a great read.

If you want a well-written paranormal mystery, this is the novel to pick. The Book of Cold Cases follows Shea and her interactions with Beth, the alleged but found innocent Lady Killer. What she discovers through her interviews and what the information prompts her to do will have you continually guessing who-dun-it. With easy to follow transitions, solid characters, and surprise paranormal events - this is a novel worth an hour of your time.

The Book of Cold Cases follows a past versus present timeline where you explore the present day with Shea as the protagonist and the past with Beth as the protagonist. The switch between the two vastly different characters helps provide separation between their stories and sets up the present-day interactions which slowly mesh in to one massive plot of insanity.

The switch is timed perfectly throughout the novel allowing for you to remain engaged and intrigued, there are moments you will not anticipate in this novel. Overall, a great plot and a great novel for you to read.

Shea is a complex protagonist with many layers. Having escaped a fatal kidnapping as a young girl, her personality is heavily shaped by that event and her actions demonstrate her fear of the world. She fights that fear by running a blog discussing true crime cases, one of them being the Lady Killer case, a still-open case from decades ago that occurred in her home town. A case she surprisingly gets to explore when Beth Greer and her cross paths, and Beth agrees to an interview.

Beth Greer is polarising. Not much else to say about her, she just is Beth. This polarity and how it impacts Shea makes the novel engaging and combined with the supporting characters, all whom contributed to the flow and dimension of the plot, makes the characters a strong aspect of this novel.

This is an ending up for interpretation. I was personally bummed by the involvement and finality of the paranormal aspects, I wanted something different but the ending the novel went with is still a solid one. You may enjoy the ending much more than I did but you'll have to read The Book of Cold Cases to find out where you fall on this scale.

The Book of Cold Cases was not as good as The Sun Down Motel. The Sun Down Motel is a fantastic mystery which toed thriller vibes and paranormal inclusion perfectly whereas The Book of Cold Cases played hopscotch with it. I feel the novel needed more paranormal involvement and subsequent finality when Beth passed. I wanted Lily and Mariana to be expelled from the home in a vindictive séance by Beth to demonstrate a new lease on life. What I got instead was Beth dying from an aneurism and a new family involved with the still present ghosts. I don't hate this ending but I wanted something more impactful, I wanted more of a bang. Apart from the ending and the hopscotchiness of the read, I enjoyed this book.

My favourite part of the novel was Shea's evolution from wallflower to powerful woman who recognised her trauma and transformed it into something manageable. I am a sucker for character growth. How she continued to return time and time again to a haunted home - I would have bolted immediately, is impressive. It was that continuous determination to return that I feel lit the fire within and helped her evolve. Also, her relationship with Michael was cute and predictable. I liked how it developed and I also liked at the end they didn't marry or move in together, they just were and that is what they needed from each other. The Book of Cold Cases was a whole novel that revolved around discovering what Shea needed and the Lady Killer played one final role in discovering that new self.

Will I read more works by Simone St. James? Absolutely. She takes the smallest amount of paranormal and turns a mystery on its head. I already cannot wait for a new work by her and honestly, please give me ghosts in a garden - like The Secret Garden vibes but scary.