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Murder Road by Simone St. James

I warmed up to this paranormal mystery quickly. It's July 1995 and newlyweds April and Eddie realize they are lost as they are driving to their honeymoon location. It's a dark night, April had fallen asleep and when she awakens she and Eddie are lost. Eddie doesn't know how it happened, somewhere back there he must have taken a wrong turn, he doesn't remember what he did or why.

And then they see a girl sort of standing by the side of the road. Not wanting to leave her out there by herself, they offer her a ride. She's acting strange and it's once they are back on the road that April realizes the girl is bleeding from the chest. By the time they get her to the nearby Coldlake Falls hospital, there is nothing that can be done to save the girl and April and Eddie are in a heap of trouble. Things don't look good for them since that road where they picked up the girl has a long history of hitchhikers being killed in a variety ways and the Coldlake Falls top detective has made it his life goal to find the killer/killers. With April and Eddie, he's the closest he's ever come to catching a hitchhiker murderer or two.

April and Eddie, in their twenties, already have more than a lifetime of bad baggage. Now they are stuck in Coldlake Falls, having to live at the bed and breakfast of eccentric, grumpy Rose, one of Princess Diana's biggest fans. Along with a houseful of dusty knickknacks and Princess Diana portraits and memorabilia, it turns out that Rose is no fan of the Coldlake Falls Police Department. Her late husband was a minority cop and he was treated very badly by some of the people still working there. Slowly, handsome Eddie, who is great with people, wins Rose over to his side, even if Rose still gives April the stink eye. Rose is all kinds of awesome behind her hobbies and quirks and became a favorite character of mine.

Two other characters that I really like are the Snell sisters. They deserve an entire book about them (and Rose, be sure to include Rose). I won't say more about what happens in the story but I like how it brings to mind old fashioned ghost stories, the kind that get told around campfires in the middle of nowhere. My grandad loved to tell those kinds of ghost stories and I could see him telling this one, in bits and pieces, causing little old eight year old me not be able to sleep at night.

Publication March 5, 2024

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC.