Cinderwich

A little folk horror and a hefty dose of emotional drama drive Priest’s slim latest. Though she never uses her given name, Kate Thrush was named after her Aunt Ellen, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances years earlier. Like her namesake aunt, Kate also left her family behind and came into the orbit of college professor Dr. Judith Kane. Judith and Ellen were lovers at the time of Ellen’s disappearance. Kate agrees to accompany Judith to the town of Cinderwich, as Judith believes that a decades-old unidentified corpse may be their missing Ellen. Kate is less invested in the search, and narrator Traci Odom voices her “take it or leave it” interest to perfection. She gives Kate a wry, academic curiosity that drives her through ghostly encounters and uneasy forest walks. Odom’s Judith sounds more than a little obsessed, yet near to the breaking point between weariness and longing. Listeners who love this book will be drawn to Kate and Judith’s complicated relationship, which Odom raises to new levels.