In the years following World War I, Jo Manders is not quite a war widow: her husband Alex’s plane crashed in Germany, but his body was never recovered, leaving her in a limbo state. Needing to maintain not only herself but her mother, who is in a hospital for the mentally ill, she takes a job as an assistant to her husband’s aunt Dottie, who has acquired art at post-war deal prices on the Continent to sell to collectors in England. Upon returning to her aunt’s family estate in Sussex, Jo discovers that the mansion is haunted by the ghost of Francis, who died mysteriously in 1917; Francis seems to be communicating to Jo, urging her to solve the mystery of her murder. Unless Jo is actually going mad herself …
I adore Simone St. James’ books, particularly her books set in England in the aftermath of World War I. She gets the details of the era right, particularly the difficulties of single women, the effects of the war on returning soldiers’ mental health, and the shifts in the economy and society as the old aristocracy begins to fade. They’re also good Gothic fun, with plenty of shadows in the night, secrets hidden in crumbling mansions, and mysteries that demand a plucky heroine to solve. Lost Among the Living might be my favorite (I’m torn between it and The Haunting of Maddie Clare, though I still have The Other Side of Midnight on my TBR, which I’m saving for a Halloween treat), with its ghostly murder mystery keeping the tension high.
I’ve heard St. James call these books her “Mary Stewart” period, and that’s an apt description; if you like the classic Gothics of the grande dame of romantic suspense, then you’ll devour these books.
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