Cinderwich

Cinderwich is an engaging southern gothic light horror novella by Cherie Priest. Due out 11th June 2024 from Apex Books, it's 184 pages and will be available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats.  It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. 

Creepily atmospheric, this is a modern ghost story with a nearly abandoned small town in Tennessee at the epicenter of a cold case murder. a young women found in a tree by a group of young girls. Drawn into investigating the mystery by a long ago family disappearance, two academics, a mentor and mentee, one related to her namesake who vanished before her birth, the other, the vanished woman's lover, try to find out if the Ellen found in the tree is their vanished loved one. 

The writing is restrained and the horror/supernatural elements are mostly understated, with one exception. There are red herrings aplenty, and some plot threads which fizzle out and are unresolved by the end of the book, but overall, the denouement is clear and satisfyingly resolved. 

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 5 hours 55 minutes and is beautifully narrated by Traci Odom.  She has a light voice which has a slightly breathy quality. She does a good job differentiating characters of a range of ages. She has a generic southwestern US accent which goes well with the read.

Four stars. Well written. Creepy, but not gory.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.