The Haunting of Maddy Clare [Paperback]

Sarah Piper's lonely, threadbare existence changes when her temporary agency sends her to assist a ghost hunter. Alistair Gellis-rich, handsome, scarred by World War I, and obsessed with ghosts- has been summoned to investigate the spirit of nineteen-year-old maid Maddy Clare, who is haunting the barn where she committed suicide. Since Maddy hated men in life, it is Sarah's task to confront her in death. Soon Sarah is caught up in a deperate struggle. For Maddy's ghost is real, she's angry, and she has powers that defy all reason. Can Sarah and Alistair's assistant, the rough, unsettling Matthew Ryder, discover who Maddy was, whereshe came from, and what is driving her desire for vengeance-before she destroys them all?

Winner of two RITA Awards from the Romance Writers of America and the Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada

"Debut author St. James has written an atmospheric and resoundingly old-fashioned ghost story that pulls you in from the first pages...This book is just right for those who prefer suspense to be scary but nottooscary. It's haunting but (despite disturbing elements) not nightmarish. St. James's writing evokes the time period without pretension, the pacing is just right, the ghost story plausible, and the love story important but not all-consuming. Recommended."
Historical Novels Review

"A chilling start...fans of the modern Gothic novel will enjoy filling up a few creepy hours."
Kirkus Reviews

"A novel of chilling romantic suspense that evokes the lost era between the world wars that so wounded the lives of the young men and women of England, and adds to the mix an inevitably dark, gothic ghost story. Read it with the lights on. Simply spellbinding."
Susanna Kearsley,New York TimesandUSA Todaybestselling author ofThe Winter Sea

"A compelling read. With a strong setting, vivid supporting characters and sympathetic plóˇ