An Inquiry Into Love and Death
Penguin/Random House | March 2013
Nominee: Arthur Ellis Award, Best Novel
Top Pick: RT Book Reviews
Nominee: Evergreen Award, Ontario Library Association
In 1920′s England , a young woman searches for the truth behind her uncle’s mysterious death in a town haunted by a restless ghost…
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 besides 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.
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“St. James follows The Haunting of Maddy Clare with another chilling story best read in the dark... a quickly paced read that will satisfy both new and old fans.”
“This is a perfectly balanced combination of mystery, romance, ghost story and history... Conveys the lasting psychological and practical consequences of war movingly.”
“The atmosphere darkens and thickens with each page of tightening suspense, leading up to an ending that still has the power to surprise. Fans of the gothic should track down both of St. James’ novels.”
“This story is a keeper... Anyone who loves Daphne du Maurier and Victoria Holt will enjoy this book.”