Having been kidnapped as a child, Shea develops an obsession with crime stories. Though she works as a medical receptionist, her true passion is blogging about true crime. Thus, she recognizes Beth Greer, who almost has celebrity status, when she comes in for an appointment.
Like The Sun Down Motel, Simone St. James gives The Book of Cold Cases a dual timeline, deftly interweaving the recent past--the 1960s and the 1970s with the present.
St. James' characters, however, are more complex in The Book of Cold Cases. Beth Greer appears to be the quintessential femme fatale. But there is more at play. A lot more.
St James returns repeatedly to the moment when Beth is arrested. The young Beth is red-haired, extremely wealthy, and wearing a form-fitting trench coat. A witness claims the suspect was red-haired and wore a trench coat.
Flash forward to the present. The sixty-some woman who stands before Shea is the "Lady Killer" who was indicted but never charged for two murders. She is the recluse who lives frozen in time, the moment the murders were committed.
Though it's dangerous to consort with a serial killer, Shea knows she has to interview the woman for her cold case blog. Reclusive and secretive, Beth Greer has famously eschewed interviews, but Shea is determined.
As in all of St James' novels, readers can detect a supernatural subtext.
Films that explore similar concepts, paranormal events and podcasting, are Ia Tuason's Undertone (2025).
By adding a supernatural element to her mysteries, St. James gives readers an additional layer to an already riveting mystery.