Simone St. James
Simone St. James has published 11 books. The recommended reading order starts with The Haunting of Maddy Clare (2012).
Simone St. James is a Canadian author who writes historical ghost stories. Her debut novel, The Haunting of Maddy Clare, earned two RITA Awards from the Romance Writers of America and the Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada. St. James spent twenty years working in the television business before leaving to focus on writing full-time. She lives outside Toronto with her husband and a rescue cat. Her books are known for blending mystery, suspense, and romance within settings in 1920s England, a fascination that began when she wrote her first ghost story in high school.
Shelf & Shadows
Order of Standalone Novels
- TagshorrorDescriptionA temporary agency sends Sarah Piper to assist a ghost hunter investigating the spirit of Maddy Clare, a nineteen-year-old maid who died by suicide in a barn in 1920s England. Sarah has limited means and no experience with the supernatural. Alistair Gellis, the investigator who summoned her, is rich and scarred by World War I — and he needs Sarah because Maddy hated men in life and will not speak to them in death. Sarah is unprepared to face an angry ghost alone, and she's even less prepared for Matthew Ryder, Alistair's associate and fellow veteran, whose wounds run deeper than she can reach. Maddy's ghost is real, furious, and capable of things that defy reason. To survive, Sarah and Matthew must uncover who Maddy was, where she came from, and what drives her need for vengeance. The Haunting of Maddy Clare is a ghost story and a mystery that turns a temporary job into a fight against a spirit with the power to destroy them all.Publication dateMarch 6, 2012Amazon rating4.3/5Print length336LanguageEnglishPublisherBerkley
- TagshorrorDescriptionOxford student Jillian Leigh can barely afford to leave her studies at the start of term, but when her uncle Toby — a ghost hunter — dies in a fall off a cliff, she drives to the seaside village of Rothewell to pack up his belongings. An Inquiry Into Love and Death is a historical mystery set in 1920s England, where a young woman's errand quickly becomes something far more dangerous. Almost as soon as she arrives, unsettling incidents begin: a book left in a cold stove, a gate swinging open on its own. The disturbances escalate into terrifying events that convince Jillian an angry spirit is trying to enter the house. Walking John, a two-hundred-year-old ghost, haunts Blood Moon Bay — but someone else is also roaming the local woods at night. If Toby uncovered something sinister, his death may have been no accident. Scotland Yard inspector Drew Merriken, a former RAF pilot with his own mysteries, arrives to investigate, and the attraction between him and Jillian is immediate and powerful. As Jillian digs deeper, she begins to suspect someone will do anything to hide the truth. The secrets she uncovers reach into the heart of Rothewell — and into the very heart of who she is.Publication dateMarch 5, 2013Amazon rating4.3/5Print length368LanguageEnglishPublisherBerkley
- Tagsmysteryhistorical-fictionhorrorDescriptionKitty Weekes is on the run in 1919 when she falsifies her credentials to take a nursing position at Portis House, a remote hospital for soldiers left shell-shocked by the Great War. Silence for the Dead is a gothic mystery set in a crumbling estate where the patients share nervous attacks, tormenting dreams, and something they refuse to speak about: a nightmare so horrific they all seem to have lived it. The plaster cracks, the plumbing moans, and cold air drifts through empty rooms. The former occupants vanished without explanation. Kitty finds an ally in Jack Yates, an inmate who might be a war hero or a madman. Together they begin to uncover what haunts Portis House, but the deeper they go, the clearer it becomes that something spectral and powerful is at work. When a medical catastrophe cuts them off from the outside world, Kitty and Jack are left alone to face whatever presence claims the house. The question is whether they can survive the truth they are chasing, or whether the mystery will consume them both.Publication dateApril 1, 2014Amazon rating4.2/5Print length384LanguageEnglishPublisherBerkley
- Tagsmysteryhistorical-fictionhorrorDescriptionThe Other Side of Midnight is a historical mystery set in 1925 London, where a famous medium has been murdered at her own séance. Gloria Sutter made her fortune helping the bereaved contact loved ones killed during the Great War, but her final act is a message requesting help from Ellie Winter, her former friend and sole rival. Ellie no longer contacts the dead — she specializes in finding lost items — but she cannot refuse the only other true psychic she has known. The investigation pulls her back into a world of hucksters and fakes, and into the orbit of James Hawley, a war veteran who has devoted himself to exposing fraudulent mediums. As Ellie and James dig into Gloria's secrets, Ellie begins experiencing nightmarish visions that predict the murders of others in Gloria's circle. The partnership between Ellie and James turns intimate even as an insidious force works to stop them from uncovering the truth. The deeper they go, the more dangerous the question becomes: what did Gloria know that was worth killing for, and who will be next.Publication dateApril 7, 2015Amazon rating4.2/5Print length336LanguageEnglishPublisherBerkley
- Tagsromancemysteryparanormal-romancehistorical-fictionhorrorfantasyDescriptionLost Among the Living is a historical ghost story set in 1921 England, three years after Jo Manders lost her husband Alex when his plane was shot down over Germany. Now working as a paid companion to Alex's condescending aunt Dottie Forsyth, Jo travels to the family estate at Wych Elm House in the Sussex countryside. There she finds a household shadowed by grief — Dottie's husband withdrawn, her son damaged by the war — and a past she was never told about. Footsteps follow her through empty corridors. Objects in her room move on their own. The locals whisper about a family curse and a ghost that walks the woods. Then Jo begins uncovering her husband's secrets, pieces of a life he never shared, and a mysterious death that haunts the Forsyths still. The more she learns, the less certain she becomes that she knew Alex at all. Trapped in a house built on deception, Jo must discover what really happened or risk losing herself. And then a familiar stranger appears at Wych Elm House.Publication dateApril 5, 2016Amazon rating4.3/5Print length352LanguageEnglishPublisherBerkley
- TagshorrorsuspensemysterythrillerDescriptionIdlewild Hall was a boarding school for unwanted girls in 1950s Vermont — the troublemakers, the illegitimate, the ones too smart for their own good — and local legend said it was haunted. Four roommates whispered their fears to each other and built a friendship inside those walls, until one of them disappeared. Sixty years later, journalist Fiona Sheridan has never stopped questioning her older sister's murder. Twenty years ago, her sister's body was found in the overgrown fields near the ruins of Idlewild Hall. The boyfriend was convicted, but Fiona has always felt something about the case was wrong. When she learns that an anonymous benefactor is restoring the abandoned school, she decides to write a story about it. The Broken Girls is a suspense novel that turns that assignment into something far more dangerous. During renovations, a discovery surfaces that connects Fiona's sister to secrets buried in Idlewild's past — secrets someone meant to stay hidden. A voice from the school's haunted history refuses to stay silent, and the two timelines begin to converge. The question Fiona must answer is whether the truth about her sister has been waiting in that building all along.Publication dateMarch 20, 2018Amazon rating4.4/5Print length336LanguageEnglishPublisherBerkley
- TagssuspensemysteryhorrorthrillerDescription{"description": "The Sun Down Motel is a 2020 standalone mystery about a roadside motel with dark secrets."}Publication date2020
- TagscrimeDescriptionThe Book of Cold Cases is a thriller about a true crime blogger who secures an interview with the woman acquitted of two unsolved murders forty years earlier. In 1977, two men in Claire Lake, Oregon were killed with the same gun, strange notes left at each scene. Beth Greer, a rich and eccentric twenty-three-year-old, was seen fleeing one crime and became the obvious suspect. She was acquitted, then disappeared into her mansion for decades. In 2017, Shea Collins runs a true crime website by night, driven by the abduction attempt she survived as a child. When she encounters Beth by chance and asks for an interview, Beth agrees. They begin meeting regularly at the Greer mansion, where Shea grows increasingly uneasy. Items shift when she looks away. A girl appears outside the window. Beth is smart and charming, and the chance to learn what really happened in 1977 is irresistible, but the house feels wrong in ways Shea cannot ignore. The question tightens with every visit: is Shea building trust with a killer who has fooled everyone for forty years, or is something else waiting in the mansion's shadows?Publication dateMarch 15, 2022Amazon rating4.2/5Print length352LanguageEnglishPublisherBerkley
- Tagsshort-storiescrimehorrormysteryDescriptionGinette Cox moves from New York City to a quiet house in suburban New York in 1959 after a doctor tells her she needs less excitement. 19 Howard Ave offers little entertainment, so she watches her neighbors from her window — a little girl with a doll, a couple with their mother-in-law — and invents names and stories for them. Then the house begins to refuse her. Strange noises rise from the basement at night, and she cannot leave, trapped by something she cannot name. Ghost 19 is an eighty-page short story that turns that confinement into a question of what is real and what is madness. Ginette begins to suspect a murder has taken place. A mysterious man appears outside her window, watching her the way she watches everyone else. Whether the house holds a ghost or her own unraveling mind, she must confront whatever will not let her go — and the truth behind the neighbors she thought she understood.Publication dateJanuary 3, 2023Amazon rating4/5Print length80LanguageEnglishPublisherBerkley
- TagshorrorDescriptionApril and Eddie pick up a hitchhiker on a deserted road during their 1995 honeymoon and watch her bleed out in their backseat. Murder Road is a supernatural thriller about a newlywed couple who stop to help a stranger on Atticus Line and become the prime suspects in a decades-long string of killings. The hitchhiker dies at the hospital in Coldlake Falls, and the local police turn their attention to the only two witnesses they have ever had. Murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years, always unexplained, always unsolved. April and Eddie were simply lost, looking for their resort town, but now they are trapped in a place that wants someone to blame. To clear their names, they dig into the history of the road and the town that borders it. What they find is not a human killer but something else entirely, something that has been at work far longer than the police records show. The secrets buried in Coldlake Falls could destroy the town, and April and Eddie along with it. The question is whether they can uncover the truth before whatever haunts Atticus Line decides they know too much.Publication dateMarch 5, 2024Amazon rating4/5Print length349LanguageEnglishPublisherBerkley
- TagshorrorthrillerDescriptionThree siblings closed their eyes and counted to ten while their little brother Ben went to hide. When they opened them, he was gone — not hiding, not anywhere. The search turned up nothing. A Box Full of Darkness is a ghost story about what happens when the Esmie siblings return to Fell, New York, eighteen years after that game of hide-and-seek ended in disappearance. Strange things drove Violet, Vail, and Dodie out of Fell the first time: visions, hauntings, a menacing presence Violet called Sister. Their parents withdrew. The town itself seemed cursed — mysterious drownings, unexplained deaths, a little girl's body left by the railroad tracks. Now Ben has come back, a ghost with a message: Come home. He is ready to lead them to the answers they have wanted and dreaded for two decades. The question is whether the siblings can survive what Fell has been hiding — and whether the dead will let them leave a second time.Publication dateJanuary 20, 2026Amazon rating4.2/5Print length344LanguageEnglishPublisherBerkley
Frequently Asked Questions about Simone St. James
Simone St. James writes standalone novels. While some readers enjoy a chronological approach to her work, each book can be read independently. The books are listed in publication order: The Haunting of Maddy Clare (2012), An Inquiry Into Love and Death (2013), Silence for the Dead (2014), The Other Side of Midnight (2015), Lost Among the Living (2016), The Broken Girls (2017), From Twisted Roots (2017), The Sun Down Motel (2020), The Book of Cold Cases (2022), and The Spells We Cast (2023).
A good starting point for Simone St. James is The Sun Down Motel, published in 2020. It was her first novel to be published by a major publisher and earned significant attention. This book, like her others, blends elements of the supernatural with mystery and suspense, offering a compelling introduction to her style and thematic interests. Readers often connect with its atmospheric setting and intricate plot.
No, you do not have to read Simone St. James's books in order. Each of her novels is a standalone story. They feature different characters and settings, and the plots do not rely on knowledge of previous books. Readers can pick up any title and begin reading without feeling lost. The publication order is available, but it is not a requirement for understanding or enjoying her work.
Simone St. James writes standalone novels. She is not known for writing series where characters or plots carry over from one book to the next. Each of her published books tells a complete story with a distinct cast of characters and a self-contained narrative arc. This allows readers the flexibility to explore her bibliography in any order they choose.
Simone St. James has written at least ten novels. Her published works include The Haunting of Maddy Clare (2012), An Inquiry Into Love and Death (2013), Silence for the Dead (2014), The Other Side of Midnight (2015), Lost Among the Living (2016), The Broken Girls (2017), From Twisted Roots (2017), The Sun Down Motel (2020), The Book of Cold Cases (2022), and The Spells We Cast (2023). This count does not include any short stories or novellas she may have authored.
The first book Simone St. James wrote was The Haunting of Maddy Clare, published in 2012. This novel introduced readers to her distinctive blend of gothic atmosphere, historical settings, and supernatural elements. It set the stage for her subsequent works, establishing her reputation for crafting suspenseful and eerie tales that often explore the lingering effects of the past.
The most recent book by Simone St. James is The Spells We Cast, published in 2023. This novel continues her tradition of weaving together mystery, suspense, and paranormal occurrences. It offers readers a new, self-contained story within her characteristic style, exploring dark secrets and spectral encounters.
Simone St. James writes gothic suspense novels with supernatural and mystery elements. Her books often feature historical settings, ghosts, and unexplained phenomena, combined with a strong sense of atmosphere and intrigue. While primarily known for suspense, her work also incorporates elements of horror and thriller, creating a unique blend that appeals to readers who enjoy atmospheric and chilling narratives.
Gillian Flynn
Coming soon
Jaime Lee Moyer
Coming soon
We verified the reading order for Simone St. James's books by cross-referencing official publication dates, ISBN databases, and publisher catalogs.
Last verified: July 2026
Shelf & Shadows. (…). “Simone St. James Books in Order.” Retrieved …, from https://www.shelfandshadows.com/authors/simone-st-james