I have read several of St. James' other novels including THE SUN DOWN MOTEL, THE BROKEN GIRLS, and THE HAUNTING OF MADDY CLARE. I have enjoyed all of these which were mostly a blend of the supernatural and a murder/suspense story. Her more recent books take place in the recent past while her earlier book, Haunting of Maddy Clare was set in the 1920s.
LOST AMONG THE LIVING was published in 2016 and is also set in the 1920s shortly after WWI. It is also a blend of the supernatural and an intriguing mystery about the death of a young 15-year old girl who was suffering from delusions and madness. The protagonist of the story is Jo who met her husband Alex while working as a secretary. Unfortunately, Alex was shot down during the war and never returned. His body was not recovered and he is considered missing in action. Jo ends up working as a paid companion to Alex's aunt Dottie who resides in the Wych Elm House in Sussex. Dottie is estranged from her husband and her son was severely wounded in the war. As Jo moves into the house she is plagued by strange happenings including seeing the ghost of Franny, Dottie's young daughter who supposedly committed suicide. But did she really do this or was she murdered? And if so, why? The local people think Wych Elm is cursed and the woods is haunted by the ghost of Franny and her vicious dog who supposedly killed a man on the day Franny committed suicide. So what's the real story? Did Jo really see Fran's ghost or is she going mad?
I enjoyed this novel quite a lot. It was a good ghost story and suspense yarn. The locale and time period of the novel were well developed as well as the characters in the story. It was also somewhat of a romance story which I normally don't really enjoy that much but the overall story made up for this. I would definitely recommend this one if you like supernatural suspense/romance stories.
LOST AMONG THE LIVING was published in 2016 and is also set in the 1920s shortly after WWI. It is also a blend of the supernatural and an intriguing mystery about the death of a young 15-year old girl who was suffering from delusions and madness. The protagonist of the story is Jo who met her husband Alex while working as a secretary. Unfortunately, Alex was shot down during the war and never returned. His body was not recovered and he is considered missing in action. Jo ends up working as a paid companion to Alex's aunt Dottie who resides in the Wych Elm House in Sussex. Dottie is estranged from her husband and her son was severely wounded in the war. As Jo moves into the house she is plagued by strange happenings including seeing the ghost of Franny, Dottie's young daughter who supposedly committed suicide. But did she really do this or was she murdered? And if so, why? The local people think Wych Elm is cursed and the woods is haunted by the ghost of Franny and her vicious dog who supposedly killed a man on the day Franny committed suicide. So what's the real story? Did Jo really see Fran's ghost or is she going mad?
I enjoyed this novel quite a lot. It was a good ghost story and suspense yarn. The locale and time period of the novel were well developed as well as the characters in the story. It was also somewhat of a romance story which I normally don't really enjoy that much but the overall story made up for this. I would definitely recommend this one if you like supernatural suspense/romance stories.
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