An Inquiry into Love and Death, Simone St. James
An Inquiry into Love and Death, Simone St. James
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An Inquiry into Love and Death

Author: Simone St. James

Narrator: Billie Fulford-Brown

Unabridged: 10 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 12/12/2023


Synopsis

A young woman searches for the truth behind her uncle’s mysterious death in a town haunted by a restless ghost in this gripping novel by the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases.

Oxford student Jillian Leigh works day and night to keep up with her studies—so to leave at the beginning of the term is next to impossible. But after her uncle Toby, a renowned ghost hunter, is killed in a fall off a cliff, she must drive to the seaside village of Rothewell to pack up his belongings.

Almost immediately, unsettling incidents—a book left in a cold stove, a gate swinging open on its own—escalate into terrifying events that convince Jillian an angry spirit is trying to enter the house. Is it Walking John, the two-hundred-year-old ghost who haunts Blood Moon Bay? And who beside the ghost is roaming the local woods at night? If Toby uncovered something sinister, was his death no accident?

The arrival of handsome Scotland Yard inspector Drew Merriken, a former RAF pilot with mysteries of his own, leaves Jillian with more questions than answers—and with the added complication of a powerful, mutual attraction. Even as she suspects someone will do anything to hide the truth, she begins to discover spine-chilling secrets that lie deep within Rothewell…and at the very heart of who she is.

About The Author

Simone St. James is the award-winning author of  An Inquiry into Love and Death and The Haunting of Maddy Clare, which won two RITA awards from Romance Writers of America and an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada.  She wrote her first ghost story, about a haunted library, when she was in high school, and spent twenty years behind the scenes in the television business before leaving to write full-time. She lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband and a spoiled cat.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sandra on March 28, 2020

When Jillian Leigh’s Uncle Toby dies from a broken neck after falling from a cliff, she is asked by her parents to go and collect his belongings and sort things out. She goes to the seaside village of Rothewell, where he was living. Toby was always a bit eccentric. He was also a ghost hunter. While......more

Goodreads review by C. (Comment, never msg). on January 08, 2019

Too many paranormal, magical stories are for children. “The Haunting Of Maddy Clare” approached horror but brought a superb author, from our country, to my attention. I eagerly told Simone St. James she has become my new favourite. To my astonishment, she replied the next day and bestowed me her thi......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on August 20, 2024

I read Simone St. James' book, The Book of Cold Cases, and rated it five stars. That compelled me to add many of her books to my TBR list. I listened to An Inquiry Into Love and Death on audiobook. The book is set in 1924 when an Oxford student, Jillian, is asked to identify the body of her deceased......more

Goodreads review by Stacey on October 19, 2024

An Inquiry into Love and Death is Simone St. James' second novel, written in 2013. It's a perfect ghost 👻 story for October and reminds me of Daphne Du Maurier's novel, Frenchman's Creek. It's very atmospheric and draws you in from page one. Set in the 1920s, the story follows college student Jillia......more

Goodreads review by Angie on August 27, 2022

Okay, but seriously: This book was phenomenal. It rang true throughout, and felt very authentic with its setting, period, and characters. I could easily imagine Dorothy Sayers or Daphne du Maurier writing this; so the prose gets a definite thumbs up from me. I loved the narrator Jillian's voice. The......more


Quotes

Praise for An Inquiry into Love and Death

“I thoroughly enjoyed it!...Simone clearly relishes and is steeped in the traditions of gothic fiction - in the best way. She conjures that secretive, hushed atmospher perfectly, and the story kept me turning pages from beginning to end. At once an intriguing mystery and an eerie ghost story, it had more than enough spine-tingling moments to keep me gripped.”—Katherine Webb, author of The Unseen

Praise for The Haunting of Maddy Clare

“Chilling romantic suspense that evokes the lost era between the World Wars…Simply spellbinding.”—New York Times Bestselling Author Susanna Kearsley

“Compelling and beautifully written.”—New York Times Bestselling Author Madeline Hunter

“An atmosphere that is deliciously creepy and a heroine you won’t soon forget.” —National Bestselling Author Deanna Raybourn