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This was a lovely little read! The Haunting of Maddy Clare is a historical paranormal-romance set in England during the 1920’s. Maybe I’m overreaching but I’ll use Simone St. James’ novels as palate cleansers in the future as her other works sound just as cozy and easy to get through as The Haunting of Maddy Clare… I don’t usually pick up paranormal novels but I do love ghost stories, especially at this time of year.
Sarah Piper is a young woman looking for work in London. Through the agency she works for Sarah is hired as an assistant to Alistair, a self proclaimed ghost-hunter. He writes and investigates ghost hauntings around England. The village of Waringstoke beckons them with the strange case of Maddy Clare, a servant girl who ‘lives on’ as a poltergeist. They (along with Matthew, Alistair’s other assistant) investigate Maddy’s past, as something clearly tragic occurred. I won’t spoil one certain aspect that I loved in the plot, but I felt like Simone St. James was paying a nod to Daphne du Maurier.
I loved the atmosphere – small village, secrets, the forest – and of course, the relationship between Sarah and Matthew is swoon-worthy. I also enjoyed reading the descriptions of Alistair’s and Matthew’s experiences as soldiers during WW1. Now these are aspects of the book I didn’t vibe with: the “mystery” was quite an easy one to solve and during the ending, Sarah got very close to ‘damsel in distress’ territory. Despite these minor flaws, I enjoyed reading The Haunting of Maddy Clare immensely!
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