Coram House, Bailey Seybolt
Coram House, Bailey Seybolt
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

Coram House

Author: Bailey Seybolt

Narrator: Cassandra Campbell, Chris Henry Coffey, Jason Culp, Jackie Sanders

Unabridged: 12 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/15/2025

Categories: Fiction, Psychological, Women


Synopsis

Sharp Objects meets The Appeal in this “atmospheric and chilling” (Flynn Berry, New York Times bestselling author) novel—based on a shocking true story—about a crime writer who risks everything as she investigates a decades-old mystery at a crumbling orphanage.

On a blistering summer day in 1968, nine-year-old Tommy vanishes without a trace from Coram House, an orphanage on the shores of Lake Champlain. Fifty years later, the opportunity to investigate his disappearance and the orphanage’s eerie lore is just the break that struggling true crime writer Alex Kelley needs.

Arriving in Vermont for research, Alex grows obsessed with Tommy’s disappearance, until her investigation takes a chilling turn with the discovery of a woman’s body in the lake. Alex is convinced this new death is somehow connected to Coram House’s dark past, even if Officer Russell Parker thinks she’s just desperate for a story. As the body count rises, Alex must prove that the key to finding the killer lies in a decades-old murder—or else she risks becoming the next victim herself in this spine-tingling debut that “is not to be missed” (Tessa Wegert, author of The Coldest Case).

About Bailey Seybolt

Bailey Seybolt grew up in New York City. She studied literature at Brown University and creative writing at Concordia University. She’s worked as a travel writer in Hanoi, a tech writer in San Francisco, and many writerly jobs in between. She now lives with her family in Vermont, not far from Lake Champlain. Coram House is her debut novel. Find out more at BaileySeybolt.com. 


Reviews

Goodreads review by Linzie (suspenseisthrillingme) on May 06, 2025

An atmospheric mystery that had me visualizing every scene, Coram House took me into the dark, snowy depths of a spine-chilling Vermont tale. Based on a true story, you could feel the ghosts of the past echoing into the present as the protagonist searched for the truth in this complex, deftly woven......more

Goodreads review by Margo on November 16, 2024

This is a page-turning and gritty mystery novel. I liked the backstory of the main character: a true crime writer who has known both wild success and dismal failure with her past projects. Please be aware of trigger warnings, as the plot involves historical child abuse at religious institutions, loo......more

Goodreads review by JaymeO on April 19, 2025

A promising debut! Inspired by a true story, Coram House is a quick read that keeps readers guessing, questioning, and engaged. Alex Kelley is a true crime writer who is asked to ghostwrite a book about a Vermont orphanage and the abuses that occurred there. In 1968, a nine-year-old boy vanished with......more

Goodreads review by Christina on April 15, 2025

I am DNFing at 25%. The story is a verrrrrry slow burn (like no burn at all) and I have just seen a review about the amount of child abuse coming up in this book, which I was not aware of when I requested it. Child abuse is one thing I don’t want to read about.......more

Goodreads review by Debra on April 13, 2025

Coram House is a chilling and atmospheric slow burn mystery inspired by a true story. Alex Kelley is a true crime writer who has been hired to ghost write a book about Coram House and the abuse that is rumored for have occurred at the orphanage. She hears about a boy from the orphanage named Tommy w......more