The Other Side of Midnight

by Simone St. James

“No one mixes romance, mystery, and that faint, spine-tingling sense of the supernatural, that curtain lifting in a breeze that isn't there, the hair prickling on the back of your neck, like Simone St. James. Her novels are the perfect combination of classic ghost story, historical fiction, and romantic suspense.”—Lauren Willig

London, 1925. Glamorous medium Gloria Sutter made her fortune helping the bereaved contact loved ones killed during the Great War. Now she's been murdered at one of her own séances, after leaving a message requesting the help of her former friend and sole rival, Ellie Winter.   Ellie doesn't contact the dead—at least, not anymore. She specializes in miraculously finding lost items. Still, she can't refuse the final request of the only other true psychic she has known.

Now Ellie must delve into Gloria's secrets and plunge back into the world of hucksters, lowlifes, and fakes. Worse, she cannot shake the attentions of handsome James Hawley, a damaged war veteran who has dedicated himself to debunking psychics.   As Ellie and James uncover the sinister mysteries of Gloria's life and death, Ellie is tormented by nightmarish visions that herald the grisly murders of those in Gloria's circle. And as Ellie’s uneasy partnership with James turns dangerously intimate, an insidious evil force begins to undermine their quest for clues, a force determined to bury the truth, and whoever seeks to expose it...

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Romance, Historical, Fiction, Ghosts

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2015

About the author

Simone St. James is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases, The Sun Down Motel, The Broken Girls and The Haunting of Maddy Clare, which won two RITA awards from Romance Writers of America and an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada. She wrote her first ghost story, about a haunted library, when she was in high school, and spent twenty years behind the scenes in the television business before leaving to write full-time. She lives outside Toronto, Canada with her husband and a spoiled cat.

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Sutter comes to psychic Ellie Winters for her help. His sister Gloria Sutter, who was also a psychic, has just been murdered. Gloria was at a house in the Kent countryside where she was holding a séance. She was stabbed to death and then dumped in a pond. But before Gloria died she left a message which said---"Tell Ellie Winters to find me". Ellie and Gloria were friends some years ago but they became rivals and drifted apart.

It seems Ellie can see the dead---something she never liked or wants to do. Instead she helps people find things (items people have lost.) Ellie's mother was a popular/well-known psychic, named The Fantastique, who held séances, and contacted the dead. After she died, Ellie took her name and became The Fantastique, but she still just helps people "find things" since she dislikes doing séances. But Ellie can't turn down this last request from a former friend. So she begins talking to Gloria's friends, and people who knew her. With the help of handsome blond James Hawley, a psychical researcher who works for the "New Society", they try to find some answers and solve Gloria's murder.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the storyline, with the psychics, séances, murders, ghosts---plus a slight romance between James and Ellie. I loved the twenties time period, and the London locations. This book had some really spooky/creepy moments and a great atmosphere. Ellie was a strong, and sometimes outspoken, heroine. There were also many interesting secondary characters. This was a very good and captivating read! I look forward to reading more books by Simone St. James.

[Jody McGrath · Rating 5 out of 5]

A paranormal historical fiction mystery with a love story to boot. How can you not adore this book!

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually read about mediums and seances during the Victorian era, but apparently there was a spike in its popularity during the First World War as people lost their loved ones. This was a great read and I loved the romance too.

[Berengaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

short review for busy readers:
One of Simone St. James' earlier paranormal-romancey things.

Good research and fictional texture on spiritualists, seances and investigations into paranormal activity in England in the 1920s. St. James can do ghostly apparitions in the most spine-tingling fashions, but there are honestly too few of those wonderful moments here. Instead: "reclusive, sensitive girl meets hunky, damaged boy" takes up far too much story real estate.

Fine if you like romances, I happen not to. I much prefer her more recent novels that leave the men in the background and bring the ghosties way far forward. Your mileage may vary.

[Nat K · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Believe, or don’t believe. It is up to you.”

London, 1925. Women’s hair and hemlines are getting shorter. People are still reeling from the after effects of “The Great War”.

There is a resurgence in interest in mediumship and conducting séances as people seek to make a connection with loved ones that they lost during the war. As with any profession, some people are the real deal, while others are simply preying on those seeking answers, and making a quick buck out of people's misery.

Psychic shows put on by glitzy showgirls down dreary laneways with drunken audiences don’t make it easy for those who truly have the gift.

Ellie Winter and Gloria Sutter are two such people. They are the real deal. Both are born with the ability to converse with those most of us are unable to see. It is both a blessing and a curse.

Ellie meets the mysterious George Sutter at the behest of his sister Gloria, who has died under mysterious circumstances, while conducting a séance in the countryside. While searching for Gloria’s killers, Ellie also becomes mixed up with being the bait to bring “The Black Dog” out of hiding… a terrorist and subversive planting bombs around London.

”The devil is coming…He is coming for you. He is coming for me. He is coming for everyone.”

This is such a wonderfully atmospheric book. I can't stress this enough. I felt like I could practically breathe in the air! I loved the tone of it, and was totally immersed in the storyline. This is only the second book to make me miss my bus stop!

I’m definitely planning on reading Simone St. James’ other books, as this one absolutely impressed me.

[Lili Kyurkchiyska · Rating 3 out of 5]

Този път не мога да обвиня авторката във фактологични неточности, но трябва да подчертая, че използва същия похват и това май ще ме разубеди да посегна към друга нейна книга.

[Vicki Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars.

As a lover of gothic romance and horror fiction, I've enjoyed all of Simone St. James books, however, her latest might very well be my favorite. Set in the period just after WW I, when death and grief were still very fresh, the book explores the fascination with mediums, psychics and spiritualists. It seems everyone that lost someone in that horrible war wanted to try to reach out to their lost loved one and there were many fake psychic/cons who were happy to take their money. The Other Side of Midnight deals with two women with real psychic power and their odd love/hate friendship. When one of the women is murdered and it turns out that she has left instructions for the other to "find" her, the very spooky game is on.

There are many things to like about this book, the writing is elegant, the heroine is intelligent and brave, there is a potential love interest who combines just the right amount of chemistry and antagonism and there are some genuinely scary moments to be savored. The authors descriptions of what psychic interactions felt like, from the point of view of the main character, were extremely well done and made me even more sympathetic to the heroine, Ellie.

I'm holding back that half a star because I found the explanation behind the murders to be somewhat out of left field. The ending, while not completely out of the question, felt as if it was slightly disconnected from the rest of the narrative. That said, it made some sense and tied certain aspects of the story together, I just felt that it was the weakest aspect of the book.

As I said earlier in this review, I have enjoyed all of this writers previous work and I suspect the St, James will only improve and I can't wait to read her next book, there are all too few writers who can capture the wonderfully gothic, spooky tone that puts one in mind of du Maurier.

If you love a spooky, atmospheric romance, don't miss this one!

[Jaksen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't continue because of the writing. However, see bottom of this review...

Lot's of 'looking.' (A lot of filtering through the MC.) If you have nothing else for your MC to do, have him or her 'look' at something. Another thing, if you have a character sweeping his hand back through his hair once isn't enough, have him do it again. Then again.

Also lines like this: 'Level with me now, he looked down at me.' Or describe a scene, a busy street, then have the MC say, 'I saw none of it.' (Well, since it's written in first person, who was describing it?)

I just couldn't make sense of the writing because so often the writing made no sense. Where was the editor! I'm sure there's a story here, but I couldn't find it.

(Oh, the dialogue is repetitious, often boring and reads stilted and artificial. Try reading some aloud and you'll see what I mean.)

Sorry, just couldn't get past things like this.

I received a copy of this book through the goodreads giveaway program.

My 'however:' Added in 2025: I did try another book by this same writer and loved it! I now look for her new books to buy or borrow. What the heck you might say? Here's another example: I am a huge fan of Stephen King but he's got one or two books I did not like. I don't give up an author right away and I am so glad I kept reading this author's books. There, said it, meant it, I'm done.

[Blackjack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update: Reread 2021 - Just as good the second time. I love nearly all of Simone St. James's books, but I do think this one is her tightest and most deftly plotted book and probably still my favorite, though The Sun Down Motel is a close second. I still love this author's examinations of female relationships and her feminist analysis of women's attempts to feel empowered when so many obstacles are in their way. I think I may have enjoyed the complicated friendship between the main character and her deceased best friend more the second time around. Looking forward to a new St. James novel in 2022.

-------------------

What a wonderful book with a genuinely creepy and well-constructed mystery. I was surprisingly in the dark for nearly the entire novel about the killer's identity and motives and was surprisingly surprised by the novel's ending, which is so rare for me in mystery writing!

One thing that I greatly admire about St. James's writing here is that she uses historical context so well, perhaps better than just about most romance writers. She places her story in the 1920s just following the Great War, but it's not as if she plops a mystery/romance into this setting. Instead the setting allows the story to emerge organically. Immediately following WWI, societies were in tremendous turmoil over how to deal with the devastating loss of life from battlefields, the injuries sustained to millions, and a society that had lost its "innocence" as it transitioned from the Edwardian optimism to that best described as "the Lost Generation." Characterization and plot follow from this cultural despair and malaise. I found the phenomena of spiritualism fascinating to read, and it made so much sense here that people were grasping at anything to help them comprehend the tragedy that had overtaken everyone's life. The story though is ultimately an optimistic examination of how those battered find ways to move forward, even while seeing signs of what is to come, and there are allusions plenty to small events taking place that will lead the world back into war again all too soon.

I enjoyed thoroughly the lovely romance between psychic, Ellie, and psychic debunker, James. Their antagonism is fitting at the start of the novel but also creates a believable love story as they learn to trust each other and learn from each other as they band together to find a deadly assassin and to heal themselves from trauma. I wished a little at times for more of them together as a couple, and in this sense the mystery overshadows the romance slightly. However, I remained enchanted and totally engrossed in the story, and I have a new favorite author to read!

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer modern, non-war stories but love any emotional depiction of spirits. “The Other Side Of Midnight”, 2015, entirely entails psychics. Unfortunately, spirits were reinvented to be repulsive. I could enjoy a great mystery instead but it was taken up by Ellie bemoaning headaches that the proximity of ghosts caused, a newspaper article that had debunked her Mother, and a friend’s betrayal. These issues relating to her Mother and Gloria, three unique women, justifiably shaped Ellie’s background but were belaboured overmuch, given their irrelevance to the case. Ellie would solve Gloria’s murder regardless of their standing and a current friend would propel more poignant pressure.

I felt that Simone clogged up the pace and focus with threads that did not turn out to be explosive. A note asking Ellie to find Gloria psychically was the mystery’s axel but the reasoning was weak. It made no sense not to name the culprit and flee! Ellie’s refusal to channel Gloria was also counterproductive. Spirits, contradicting everything with a presence that Ellie could inexplicably endure, emerged when it was convenient. The investigating and psychometry proofs were enthralling but over-descriptiveness and unending angst overran the excitement. Headaches, the article, and the dissolved friendship, compounded with despairing that James believe her ability.

Readers were not trusted to quickly grasp adequately-depicted settings. It was overemphasized that James was irresistible, women wore “bobs” and cloche hats, that light everywhere they went was dim, and that Ellie’s gloves and nylons were torn. The patience meter exploded over “gently”, “softly”, and “tugged”. On page 72, Ellie “removed” the hat she had left with a maid. Eeriness was surely the goal but misdirected focus on physical details instead of describing emotions, created a dreariness instead. My feedback is three stars this time. Ellie’s clairvoyance and the killer’s identity were impressive.

[Linda (NOT RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"He's coming for you. He's coming for me. He's coming for all of us." And with that said, there was a murder.

It was 1925 London and psychics, seances and spirits were commonplace. The War To End All Wars was still lingering nearby. Honesty among people was at a premium and, in the middle of all of this, was Ellie Winters.

Ellie was the daughter of a psychic and a shopkeeper. Her father died during The Great War and, both saddened and sick, her mother followed shortly thereafter. As long as she could remember, she had a secret. Ellie saw the spirits of dead people; it was something she would not wish on her worst enemy.

"I don't know why I have the powers I have, or what they mean. I don't know if there is anyone else like me anywhere else in the world right now- or how many there have been in history."

She had befriended and was attracted to the psychic debunker James Hawley. He had some secrets of his own. Together, they worked at solving the murder of an acquaintance of theirs. With Scotland Yard, MI5, the deceased woman's brother and the killer trailing Ellie, she had her hands full.

The pace of the story was smooth but it had its share of 'Uh-Oh' moments. The author's descriptive narration gave off a great vibe of The Roaring Twenties. The spiritualist element only heightened it. When spirits came on a scene I felt like Ellie. It was like I was wallowing through Jello: I wanted to get away but I needed to know. THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT was a wonderful introduction to Simone St. James. I will have to look for other stories by this author.

4.5 Stars

[Caz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review from 2015

A for narration / A for content.

Simone St. James’ fourth novel, The Other Side of Midnight, is an absolutely superb listen all round. The story is fascinating, beautifully-written and well-plotted with a twist I didn’t see coming; and paired with a wonderfully engaging and superbly acted performance from Mary Jane Wells, I was in audio heaven for all of its ten hours.

The years following World War One saw an explosion in the interest in spiritualism as people who had lost loved ones in the conflict grasped at anything that might enable them to communicate with their deceased fathers, sons and lovers. As a result, there were numerous charlatans only too willing to take advantage of this desperation, but Ellie Winter and her one-time friend, Gloria Sutter, are not among them.

Both women are true psychics, and Gloria establishes herself a glamorous reputation as well as a large roster of clients for whom she regularly holds séances and summons the dead. But Ellie prefers to live quietly and although she also has the gift, since the death of her mother (also a medium) and her falling out with Gloria, she no longer performs the same services, preferring instead to make her living by finding lost things. She is suspicious of her newest client, thinking that perhaps he is a journalist looking for a story, and is stunned when he admits to being Gloria’s elder brother, George. He tells Ellie that Gloria is dead – likely murdered, and that before she died, she left him a note saying “Tell Ellie Winter to find me.”

As the book is a mystery, I don’t want to give away too much about the plot, save to say that it’s gripping and incredibly well thought-out. Ellie is a terrific heroine – intelligent, brave and very real, a young woman who has spent the three years since her mother’s death living a lonely life. What makes her so easy to relate to is the way her determination to find out the truth carries her through her fears; she is often scared, but knows she is the only person who can do what needs to be done in order to find out who murdered Gloria and why.

Her initial investigations bring her back into contact with James Hawley, a handsome former army officer whose work at the New Society for the Furtherance of Psychical Research had, three years earlier, branded her and her mother as frauds. James has never forgotten Ellie; even though his tests had shown her to have no true psychic ability, he was never quite sure of his findings, and has, over the years, become more and more convinced that somehow Ellie’s test results were wrong. Ellie has never forgiven him for writing the reports that destroyed her mother’s livelihood, yet she has also never forgotten the way he’d looked at her the night they first met and the strength of the feelings he’d awakened in her.

James is an attractive hero, clever, reliable and with an unexpectedly dry sense of humour, but he has his crosses to bear, too, having found it incredibly difficult to adjust to life after the war. He has been strongly drawn to Ellie from the first, and wants to help her in her quest to find Gloria’s killer. Although she is initially wary of him, she gradually comes to see that his desire to help is genuine and that he’s someone she can trust.

When I reviewed Silence for the Dead at All About Romance, I said that Ms St. James seemed to be almost single-handedly revitalising the gothic romantic novel. The Other Side of Midnight is another example of her mastery of the genre, and is possibly my favourite of her books so far. All the different elements of the story – the mystery, the supernatural and the romance – are drawn together perfectly so that no one of them overshadows the others, the pacing is excellent and all the characters are strongly drawn. The story of Ellie’s friendship with Gloria is revealed gradually, in a series of flashbacks which evoke the hedonism of the “bright young things” of the post-war era, and the slow-burn romance between Ellie and James is imbued with a lovely, sweet sensuality.

The writing flows beautifully, and the descriptions are lush, evocative and almost poetic at times:

“It was a house that had stood for a hundred years, the picture of bucolic English gentility, and it was easy to picture an old gentleman smoking his pipe while his wife puttered in the garden.”

– and she is also able to create the most incredibly menacing, spine-tingling atmosphere without being overly graphic or obvious. My one small complaint is that for a book in which the author has clearly spent a lot of time researching the geography of 1920s London, the use of the word “sidewalk” and one or two other Americanisms is jarring and sticks out like a sore thumb.

Mary Jane Wells is a favourite narrator of mine, and having thoroughly enjoyed her performance in Silence for the Dead, I was delighted to see her name attached to this audiobook. The narrative is well-paced and expressive, and she inhabits the character of Ellie, bringing her vividly to life in the mind’s eye in a performance that is so brilliantly realised overall that I really can’t fault it. Her characterisations are all extremely good, and she makes excellent use of a variety of tones, timbres and regional accents throughout. Both Ellie and James are Londoners and not of the upper-classes, and her choice to give them both less polished, cockney-esqe accents reflects this perfectly. She doesn’t lower the pitch of her voice very much for the male characters, but she invests them with an inherent masculinity by adding a slight edge and somehow “broadening” her tone. George Sutter and Inspector Merriken (whom listeners may recall from An Inquiry into Love and Death), are determined men, authority figures who speak with more refined accents and whose delivery is usually quite clipped. I loved Ms Wells’ portrayal of Davies, Gloria’s assistant, a woman with a deadpan sense of humour and no time for fools, who speaks with a loud, slightly nasal and perfectly contemptuous drawl. I also liked the way she chose to portray the villain of the piece; his quiet, considered manner of speaking perfectly conveying that this is an incredibly dangerous man.

In short, if you have never listened to a story by Simone St. James before, then this would be a great place to start. The story is compelling and the narration is superb. What more can one ask for?

[The Lit Bitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, yet another Simone St James book. When I find an author I like, sometimes I binge read if my schedule allows it and in this case it did. I had surgery on my ankle four weeks ago and have had more than enough time to read and read and read.

I am winding down in my St James binge read-a-thon though. I had two books left, this one and Silence for the Dead. I wanted to end my binge with a really good one so I had to decide which one to read first since both sounded interesting.

The Other Side of Midnight had a similar ratings on Goodreads as Silence for the Dead so I just picked one and it happened to be this one!

This book had a much more fantastical plot than any of her others…..and that’s saying something considering she writes ghost stories. The psychic plot was unique and I enjoyed how St James used it to incorporate ghosts and the dead in a new and different way. To date this is her only novel that I have read to use this and while I wasn’t entirely sure that it worked all the time in the novel, I found I enjoyed the new perspective. I don’t usually go for psychic elements but in this case I thought that it added a lot to the story and as I mentioned, I loved interacting with the dead in a new way rather than just a ghost appearing to a random girl. In this book, Ellie was clearly the conduit and I liked how Ellie, the ghosts, and the psychic elements blended together creating something new for me to read.

Interestingly enough, I found that I liked Ellie in a way that I didn’t like some of the other heroines. The other heroines in St James’s books are flawed, innocent, and trusting more often than not. That doesn’t mean I don’t like them, I liked aspect of their personalities and I liked them within the stories but for me Ellie stood out as different and more memorable. I liked that she had to struggle in a supernatural world unlike some of the other women who had the ghosts thrust upon them for the first time in the books. Ellie had dealt with spirits her whole life which I thought made her interesting.

As I said this story was much more fantastical than her others and sometimes it bordered on unbelievable but I actually grew into the story even if I didn’t find it as believable as some of the other novels. I liked that this book was based in London and thought that location added a lot more uncertainty for the characters. Though I wish the Great War had played more of a role in this book as it did in the others. Since it was set in London I had hoped that it would involve more of the War Office or something to do with the post Great War city. Yes the readings were geared toward people who had lost loved ones in the war, but I hoped this would capitalize on that more. In her other novels the war is constantly talked about and takes on a role of it’s own in the story but in this book it lacked a little of that for me.

I did love the romance though. James was complex and flawed….damaged goods so to speak and I liked that. I also liked that he had a sort of history with Ellie. I felt the tension of a pervious meeting added more chemistry to their story. James seemed sweet and sassy and overly confident and I just loved watching their story come alive. My only argument was I was hoping for a little more sexual tension and built up to the consummation

Side note….I loved the Easter egg with Scotland Yard inspector Drew Merriken in this book. I sense that St James likes to have former fan favorite characters make cameos in her books and I think it’s great. I makes them almost feel like a series even though each book is independent from each other. I think it’s a nice way to link them all without making it a series.

Was this book my favorite by her? No. But I loved that it was different than her other books so far and I love all the gothic and supernatural elements that she incorporates into her books! I can’t wait to read the next one, yet I am sad that after Silence for the Dead will be my last one by her….what will I read then?!

See my full review here

[Crystal FloridaGrams Of3 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been going through a major manic depression. I will reread this book, and I promise a better review. but this book was pretty good

[Dorine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Recommended Read! An exciting 1920s ghost story featuring a psychic and a war veteran who try to outsmart a killer who seems to have a real dislike for psychics, including the one hunting him!

Ellie Winter is known as The Fantastique, finder of lost things, a psychic like her mother. When she catches a client misrepresenting why he's come to her, Ellie swears he's a journalist there to debunk her talent. Instead, he's the brother of her former best friend and psychic, Gloria Sutter, who was murdered and left behind a note to have Ellie find her. Ellie no longer talks to the dead, but she can't tell Gloria's brother no when he asks for her help.

Ellie has operated off the radar in London, living a quiet life as a finder of lost things for an income since her mother's death. She lives in her mother's home, wears her mother's dress when she meets with clients, but Ellie doesn't do séances any longer. Running into James Hawley, a war veteran who ran the tests on Ellie and her mother all those years ago to discredit them, brings up so many feelings of betrayal. The attraction she felt then is still there, but Ellie's distrust and anger at James for what he'd done hasn't gone away either. However, James won't stop dogging her and he seems sincere in his regrets for his actions with the New Society for the Furtherance of Psychical Research.

As James and Ellie investigate further into Gloria's death, the suspect list grows and so does the danger. Can they solve this murder without becoming victims themselves?

Simone St. James is one of the few authors whose books I snag as fast as possible. There isn't another author I've experienced, yet, who can bring out the atmosphere of the 1920s quite like this author. Ms. St. James so easily captures the mood and sets a scene for a ghost story with her words that it's like poetry in motion. If you have any doubt, go to the bookstore and turn to page 259 to read the second paragraph. There are many more examples but that one paragraph struck me because I was wondering at that very moment, what is it about this author's talent that fascinates me? I was answered by that beautiful, descriptive paragraph. Simone St. James' apt turn of phrase is always so very original.

Ellie Winter is an engaging heroine. She's smart and yet, has an innocence and curiosity that makes her likeable. Her life hasn't been easy since she worked alongside her mother as a child talking to the dead. When her mother gave up the séance business, it left Ellie in a position to find her own way but not completely, since this is all she knows. She also can't control when the dead contact her, even though she tries to block it. She made me laugh every time she hissed at them to "go away" like they are a petulant child.

The attraction between Ellie and James is so well honed. James has some issues as a war veteran and Ellie is one of the few people who can truly understand what he's been through. I really enjoyed Ellie and James working together and then finding their way into a relationship. James seems like the type of guy any woman would be proud of for his service to his country and his sense of right and wrong. He also has a dry wit that comes out in a few unexpected places in the book that made me chuckle. If you've read a lot of 1920s fiction or enjoy movies from this time period, then you'll be able to picture James as the brave warrior he is with a bit of the bad boy gene in the way that he moves or sulks in a doorway. I could picture him the whole way through because he is so well portrayed.

The villain in this book is unexpected. I was so surprised when I found out who he is because it's such a clever plot that I never suspected. It's so rare to be taken by complete surprise that I think most suspense lovers will appreciate this author's talent immensely.

THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT is exactly what fans of gothic romance will love. Many of us compare everything that Ms. St. James writes to her first book, THE HAUNTING OF MADDY CLARE , as it's such an exquisite piece of gothic romantic fiction. Is this book as good? I think so, but for different reasons. I also feel that we'll never get another book like the first one because it was our first experience reading this talented author. There's no way to bring back that first experience, any more than we can outdo any other first in our lives.

The cadence of the sentence structure is perfect for building suspense in this novel. The sentences are rhythmic, creating suspense with their pace as much as the words and how the story is told. THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT exemplifies great storytelling. You will be enraptured, creeped out, fascinated and surprised—fully satisfied by the prose, the era, the nostalgia and the great characters who make you fret, laugh and cry. A Recommended Read!

More reviews of books by Simone St. James at my website: http://www.tbrmountainrange.com/tag/simone-st-james/

Reviewed by Dorine, courtesy of Romance Junkies and TBR Mountain Range. Print ARC provided by the publisher.

[Chelsea | thrillerbookbabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun mystery so thanks to Simone St. James and Penguin Audio for my copy. This book was about Ellie Winter, a medium in 1920s London whose rival, Gloria, is recently murdered at one of her own seances. Ellie is contacted by Gloria's brother and asked to help find out what happened to her. She attracts the attention of James, a war veteran who has devoted his life to debunking psychics. Together, Ellie and James try to find out who murdered Gloria, but evil forces start to surround them as others being being murdered as well.

Thoughts: This book was not really a gothic ghost story, as advertised, but more of a detective mystery. The idea of psychics in the 1920s is fascinating and I loved Ellie as a main character. There were lots of possibilities of who killed Gloria and it was fun joining Ellie on the case.

Of course being Simone St. James, there was romance thrown in which she always does well. Even though I usually hate romance in my thrillers, I think it works in this mystery. This story was atmospheric and entertaining, but did have its slower parts. I think the ending was a tiny bit rushed, and felt like all the clues were kind of thrown at you in the last few chapters. However, this book had wonderful writing and a good mystery. 4-stars

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story 4 stars Narration 5 stars
As usual, this author has crafted a ghost story like no other. In other words, all her stories are very unique and not cookie cutter in any way. I have been slowly working my way through these and thoroughly enjoying each one.
This one takes place in England shortly after WWI. The main female character has taken over her mother’s psychic/seance business after her death. She’s a real psychic medium who had been helping her mother. Now, she no longer does seances. That doesn’t stop the ghosts she sometimes sees. She’s the real deal like so many others aren’t. One day she finds out that a former good friend and fellow real psychic has been murdered. She’s hired by the woman’s estranged brother to find out what happened. It’s not long before there’s another body. A man she used to know comes back into her life and joins the hunt for answers.

There’s plenty of intense scenes and ghostly visitations. Lots of investigation done. There’s a romance and even some betrayals from people she thought were friends. I liked the story and will be reading or listening to the next one soon. Books like these makes this author an auto buy for me.

[Jaclyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A psychic, if she is to have a career, must deal with both skeptics and believers. They both bring their own set of problems – skeptics with their endless needling questions, believers with their suffocating faith. My mother taught me that, in the middle of the storm, the medium herself must have one philosophy: Believe, or don’t believe. It is up to you.

Ellie Winters is a psychic, she doesn’t contact the dead, but she finds things, things that people have lost. She’s been living a lonely life for the past three years since a bad falling out with her close friend, Gloria, and the death of her mother. Ellie’s dreary, but safe life is about to be changed when Gloria is murdered, only leaving a note behind that Ellie can find her.

Gloria’s older brother pulls Ellie into the investigation of her death and soon Ellie also finds herself the target of a murderer. Joining forces with the James Hawley, the man who announced to the world that Ellie and her mother were frauds, Ellie and James investigate the final séance that Gloria presided over.

The Other Side of Midnight is another stellar book by Simone St. James, although I did find this one significantly different from her previous books. St. James’ other books focused on more traditional hauntings – barns, houses and mental hospitals. With The Other Side of Midnight the focus is on those that claimed to communicate with ghosts: clairvoyants. This was an awesome change up and I loved it and it's more action-packed plot.

The setting of 1925, shortly after the end of the war, added a very interesting layer to the examination of psychics. During the post-war era psychics were common, families were looking for some solace after losing their loved ones during the war and many turned to those that claimed they could contact the dead. Many of these mediums were fake, a select few, Ellie, her mother and Gloria, were the real deal (at least in this novel). Unfortunately for Ellie and her mother their successful track record put them on the radar of paranormal investigators. The scrutiny proved to be too much for Ellie’s mother to bear:

Most mediums hoped to convince their marks of their veracity, of course. But the true medium – the one who possesses powers, whether they are recognized or not – must walk away. Otherwise, my mother taught me, we are nothing better than circus acts, trying to create greater and greater feats in front of a disbelieving audience. And where is the peace in that? (p. 55)

After being defrauded Ellie has to make her way as an independent psychic. When she is approached by James, who wants to help her investigate Gloria’s death, Ellie is understandably reluctant to trust the man that ultimately betrayed her. Of course, this tension between Ellie and James is where the romance element comes in to The Other Side of Midnight. Like St. James’ previous novels, mystery and romance are combined wonderfully. The mystery of Gloria’s murder was at the forefront of the novel, but the romance was still well developed and executed.

What I found really different about The Other Side of Midnight was the more action-driven plot rather than one that was driven by investigative work. Because Ellie wasn’t investigating a haunting, I found that there was a very different feel to The Other Side of Midnight as compared to St. James’ other works. This change in pacing was fantastic and I really appreciated the more overt suspense element.

While I liked the romance, mystery, and suspense elements in The Other Side of Midnight what I truly appreciate about this, and all of St. James’ other novels, is how well the post-war era is captured. The years after the First World War are an interesting period to focus on. The world is grieving and that sadness comes across well in The Other Side of Midnight. But this time frame is also interesting because readers are so aware of what happens only so many years later when war breaks out again. Because readers have this awareness of “what happens next” I think the open ending of The Other Side of Midnight works really well. I’m not sure having a traditional, all questions answered, happily ever after would work here since readers are well aware that this happy existence is not going to last. This is the case with all of St. James’ novels. They all give readers closure, but they never leave the characters’ lives set in stone but in a state of transformation. Ellie and James are both at a crossroads in life, they end The Other Side of Midnight moving forward, and readers only see that potential of the future for them. Ultimately, St. James’ strikes the right balance in capturing a historical era that signifies a period of change without disregarding the turmoil on the horizon that contemporary readers are aware of.

The Other Side of Midnight was a satisfying romance, mystery and suspense novel for an author that knows how to convey the disturbing nature of a potential ghostly encounter as well as the sense of the atmosphere in the 1920s. As usual, I highly recommend checking out St. James; all of her ghostly tales are fantastic.

Originally reviewed at The Book Adventures.

*Review copy provided by the publisher via Edelweiss.

[Lynn Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tend not to be too keen on reading about mediums and seances. Nothing wrong with it, but it's just not a part of history that grabs me. However, I love Simone St. James' writing, so I picked this book up.

Am I ever glad I did! This creepy, dark mystery captured my attention in a way that very few books I've read this year have managed. The twists and turns of the story as Ellie Winter tries to uncover the secrets that led to her rival's murder captured my imagination and I stayed up way too late reading. Highly recommend this book!

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ellie Winter, known professionally as Fantastique, is a psychic who helps people find lost items. When a former friend, also a psychic, is murdered, she is drawn into the investigation. As she tries to find out what happened, she navigates the community of mediums and psychics, and is required to face paranormal phenomena that she didn't want to encounter ever again. As she investigates, her own life is placed in jeopardy and she has to track down the killer before he comes for her.

This was a delightful book. I enjoy historical mysteries, and I really liked the 1920's time period as the backdrop of the story, as well as the London setting. The paranormal elements added to the atmosphere. I thought the book was interesting, and I liked the main character, Ellie Winter, as well as some of the secondary ones. This was my first book by Simone St. James, but I'll definitely be reading more of hers.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

“He was very still, and turned toward me. I knew he was looking at me but I could not look back. "What is it like?" he said at last. "Seeing the dead."

Ellie Winters is a medium but she doesn't hold seances anymore. Her preference now is to find lost things for people. That is her specialty. Her latest client wants her to find something more than a lost item, he wants Ellie to find his sister's killer! The victim happens to be Ellie's former friend, key word being former, as the competition between the two of them became too much.

This book is set in England and takes place in the 1920s. Once again St. James has created a fantastically eerie atmosphere that I could not get enough of. Suspenseful and beautifully written, as I have come to expect from this author.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another in my binge reading of Simone St. James. I did not see that coming!

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A psychic, if she is to have a career, must deal with both skeptics and believers. They both bring their own sets of problems- skeptics with their endless needling questions, believers with their suffocating faith. My mother taught me that, in the middle of the storm, the medium herself must have only one philosophy:

Believe, or don't believe. It is up to you."

Synopsis: A beautiful psychic (?) is murdered in 1920s London, with her former BFF having to solve the mystery for her, with the help of Ryan Gosling.

Biblio-Babble
Ghosts Are Real, This Much I Know: Although marketed as a Gothic murder mystery, the heart of this story is the art of believing things that are not there. Ellie Winter is a psychic who takes up her mother’s work after she dies. Gloria Swanson is a fellow psychic, Ellie’s former friend, and her mother’s rival. All three of them are tested by a journal aimed at exposing fraudulent fortune tellers and psychics preying on the grief of those desperate for answers. They don’t believe there’s such a thing as those who make contact with the dead. And at the heart of it all, the question St. James asks the readers continually is this: do you believe. There is no right or wrong answer, but it does give some food for thought in an otherwise seemingly straightforward mystery.

Let’s Work Together, Yah, Yah, Yah!: And with all mysteries, there’s a crime to be solved and a crime-fighting duo to solve it. Gloria Swanson is brutally murdered after a reading, and she mysteriously asks Ellie to solve it, even though they’d had a falling out. She reluctantly agrees, and finds herself being offered help in the way of James Hawley, who just so happened to be the man that tested her, her mother, and Gloria for the journal. It ruined her mother’s career and needless to say made Ellie hate James, but surprisingly, they worked together rather well despite their differences. Usually when it comes to hate-to-love relationships, they bicker and annoy each other so much I want to throw the book out the window. However, Ellie and James actually act like mature adults (for once!) and manage to work past their differences and former ill-intentioned wills to make progress on the case. And there are several appearances by a certain Detective from a previous book that made me very happy 😉

The Sexual Tension Is Killing Me, and I Hope It Lasts…: Let’s just put that out there that the James Hawley is based on Ryan Gosling in appearance and mannerisms, per the author’s own admission. So let that sink in for a bit while you’re reading this. And of course, we can’t have a book with a character based on Ryan Gosling without a kiss in the rain. Y’all heard me right. There’s a kiss in the damn rain just like The Notebook. In all seriousness, St. James nails it once again when it comes to the sexual tension between her characters. Ellie and James radiate so much romantic heat that I was beginning to wonder if I should keep a fire extinguisher by me whilst reading because I was worried the book would burst into flames. The ‘will they, won’t they, of course they will’ tension is so much that when they finally come together for that long-awaited kiss… it’s so worth it.

I’m Sensing a Pattern Here: Most writers have a certain formula they follow when it comes to their books, and with St. James, there’s a clear pattern in her works. She seems to fault in the final act when it comes to revealing the culprit. This was a complaint I had with An Inquiry Into Love and Death, and it’s present in this novel too. My meaning being, is that the narrative is a tad rushed and the motive behind the crime is questionable. Not in a disbelieving way, but in the sense that it didn’t quite sound right when it was being read on the page. It might have sounded good in her head, but it didn’t quite translate onto the paper.

No Sleep For The Scared: Where St. James truly triumphs is her grand finales, the final ghostly hauntings. All of her hauntings are equally scary, but her final encounters she writes are some of the most terrifying I’ve ever read. And she delivers in this book, with her using everything but the kitchen sink. And it scared the ever-loving daylights out of me. She not only managed to scare the crap out of her own characters, but she successfully managed to scare the crap out of me as well. It’s probably because she makes it so that it honestly feels like you’re actually there, with the chill of ghosts past and present breathing down your neck. The power and magnitude in which she carefully constructs the final act is something to be commended, even though the proceeding pages before the very final act are faulty. Even though I never asked to be scared shitless, there’s no better person I’d ask to help me succeed in that mission but Simone St. James
**************************
Simone St. James makes her triumphant return after a faulty third book to reclaim her throne as my favorite Gothic romance novelist. A modern Victoria Holt, her fabulous capabilities at writing likable heroines, swoon-worthy heroes, and truly terrifying ghost stories make her an under-rated gem in the romance world. I wish she would get more notice then she actually does, because she’s so brilliant.

So make this California girl happy and check out her works! But please don't blame me if because of her books, you jump at the things that go bump in the night.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep saying that Simone St. James can do me no wrong, and as I go through her backlist, I am just more and more impressed. The Other Side of Midnight is not as creepy as some of her other novels, but it had a great storyline, and I loved the addition of psychics as well as ghosts. Fakers abound in this book, but Ellie's abilities are very real, and it was so interesting reading from the view of a psychic. I don't know that I've read another story quite like this, and I loved that we thoroughly get to know the characters while also getting a meaty and atmospheric plot as well. There is some romance like her other books, but it was a nice touch and doesn't distract from the rest of what is going on.

I only realized while writing my review that they are actually re-releasing the audiobook with a new narrator, but I listened to the original which is narrated by Mary Jane Wells and published by Blackstone Publishing. The new narrator is Billie Fulford-Brown, and while I can't speak to what kind of job she will do, I can tell you that I loved Wells, and you definitely can't go wrong with listening to the OG. There are parts of The Other Side of Midnight that are just plain tough to read, and I love that St. James does such a great job blending substance with ghost stories and murders. The pacing was just fast enough to keep me on my toes but still has a bit of a slow-burn feel as well. If you are a fan of the author and/or historical fiction that contains a mystery and ghosts, I highly recommend this book!

[Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ellie Winter and Gloria Sutter were the best of friends and had worked together as psychics back in 1925, until Gloria deliberately ruined Ellie's mothers reputation. Ellie never expected and was shocked to hear that Gloria was murdered.
A handsome investigator James Hawley, whose job is to flush out and expose fakes decides to help her out.
But evil is on the loose and coming after Ellie...This is the fourth book in a group of stand alone novels all set in England between the world wars. Once again the author brings to her story a heroine who is smart, vulnerable and very determined to find out the truth. What I enjoy the most with this authors books is her lyrical writing, chilling ghost stories, complicated characters and gripping mystery all wrapped up with historical details so skillfully done, the reader will just totally sink right into the book. Another well done book!

[Merry]

I am going to read this at a later time. Too many books on my list right now

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

After loving The Sun Down Motel early this month, I’m on a mission to read each and every book, short story, or any scribble by Simone St. James because she is that good. This book had all my favourite elements- psychics, ghosts and a murder mystery and even though I enjoyed all of them in their individuality, something didn’t quite work out for me and I couldn’t appreciate the whole picture. I think it’s the climax that put me off! If you’re a gothic and historical fiction lover (like me), this will be a good quick read.

Overall, the book is good, but not amazing!

3.25/5🌟.
TW: War, Death, Paranormal, Drugs.

[Sherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy Simone St. James books even with the touch of ghosts and super natural that they have, but this one had a bit more ghost story than usual, imo. I love the time period after WWI and stories from that decade and specially how people dealt with aftermath of Great War! That part of the story , and the mystery involved with the plot was good and intriguing. My only issue was how it was resolved! All together, entertaining.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Other Side of Midnight by Simone St. James.

It's 1925 in war torn London and the mediums with their seances are racking in the big bucks. Their living is dependent on the grieving parents and wives of those soldiers killed in the Great War. The ghostly atmosphere combines with a strong sense of the supernatural is brought into focus by the likes of the Fantastique and others of her ilk. As her talents wain her daughter, Ellie Winter, finds she has true psychic abilities that far outshine even her mother's.
A former close friend of Ellie's, Gloria Sutter, was found murdered. Gloria and Ellie had a friendship that centered in their bond as mediums. That friendship ended shortly before her death. Now Ellie has been called upon by Gloria's brother to assist in finding the murderer. A note was left to Ellie from Gloria stating: find me.
Now it's up to Ellie to take the challenge and everything that goes with it. Simone St. James stands alone for her superbly crafted novels. I am hopeful this one may have a follow-up.
File this under My Favorites.

This was an historical fiction novel with an under currant of romance and mystery. It captivated my attention from the start.

[Jeannine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simone St. James can do no wrong in my book. Her books are atmospheric and haunting, even when they ghosts aren’t as prevalent as they are in this one.

Ellie, the physic who restricts her practice to finding lost things, is dragged into a series of murders when an old friend who was also a powerful physic, killed. There are several bad guys if different shades that Ellie encounters as so investigates. As always with St. James’ novels, there a romantic subplot that makes things extra interesting.