Silence for the Dead – Simone St. James
Mystery? Creepy atmosphere? Cornwall? Count me in!
Simone St. James is an expert at creating creepy atmospheres, which I for some reason cannot get enough of. I think she more than delivers in this novel. It is one of a few that I would describe as suspenseful cozies. They are thoroughly drenched in atmosphere and are worth checking out. This is the first one I tried.
Cornish Historical Mystery
“Portis House emerged from the fog as we approached, showing itself slowly as a long, low shadow….”
In 1919, Kitty Weekes, pretty, resourceful, and on the run, falsifies her background to obtain a nursing position at Portis House, a remote hospital for soldiers left shell-shocked by the horrors of the Great War. Hiding the shame of their mental instability in what was once a magnificent private estate, the patients suffer from nervous attacks and tormenting dreams. But something more is going on at Portis House—its plaster is crumbling, its plumbing makes eerie noises, and strange breaths of cold waft through the empty rooms. It’s known that the former occupants left abruptly, but where did they go? And why do the patients all seem to share the same nightmare, one so horrific that they dare not speak of it?
Kitty finds a dangerous ally in Jack Yates, an inmate who may be a war hero, a madman… or maybe both. But even as Kitty and Jack create a secret, intimate alliance to uncover the truth, disturbing revelations suggest the presence of powerful spectral forces. And when a medical catastrophe leaves them even more isolated, they must battle the menace on their own, caught in the heart of a mystery that could destroy them both.
