Pru gets another starred review from Booklist! Thank you!

"Simon excels in creating unique and believable animal characters as well as diverse and memorable humans"

Wow! I am overjoyed! This review won't be officially out until April 15, but I have to share it now:


Author: CLEA SIMON
Title: CATS CAN’T SHOOT
Publication: BOOKLIST
Issue: 15 TH APRIL 2012
Cats Can’t Shoot, Simon, Clea (Author), Apr 2012. 250 p. Poisoned Pen, paper, $14.95 (9781590588697).
*Starred Review*
The second Pru Marlowe mystery has the soon-to-be-licensed animal behaviorist defending a Persian cat that may have shot its owner with an antique pistol. Pru is convinced that cats can’t shoot, but the cops sure think this one did. Normally, Pru would use her psychic abilities and ask the Persian what happened, but the cat ain’t talking, leaving Pru on her own. Her first instinct is always for the animals, something the rest of humanity doesn’t always understand. In fact, Pru’s animals-first philosophy, combined with her nosy investigating, is giving her quite a reputation as an eccentric, but she doesn’t care as long as she keeps her charges safe. Pru’s strongest and clearest communication has always been with her own grumpy feline, Wallis, but she’s expanding her range to actual conversations, which turn out to be a great boon for an investigation, as animals often have evidence no one else could gather. Between the vengeful widow and a strangely similar-looking mistress, Pru is dealing with some tough women. And when a Russian mobster arrives in town looking for one of Pru’s sometime boyfriends, the tension escalates still further. Simon excels in creating unique and believable animal characters as well as diverse and memorable humans, and this sequel is just as good as Dogs Don’t Lie (2011). A perfect read-alike for fans of Rita Mae Brown and Shirley Rousseau Murphy.
—Jessica Moyer

"ENCHANTING!" PW loves GREY EXPECTATIONS

And I am over the moon:
Grey Expectations:
A Dulcie Schwartz Feline Mystery
Clea Simon. Severn, $27.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-7278-8134-2
Simon’s enchanting fourth Dulcie Schwartz mystery (after 2011’s Grey Zone) finds Harvard grad student Dulcie still at work on her doctoral thesis on late 18th-century gothic fiction and still trying to identify the anonymous author of “her long-time favorite adventure,” The Ravages of Umbria. Esmé, Dulcie’s telepathic tuxedo kitten, provides distraction. When an 11th-century manuscript, the Dunster Codex, goes missing from the rare book collection in the Widener Annex, suspicion falls on Dulcie’s brash Victorian studies friend, Trista, whom the police already suspect of having something to do with the disappearance of visiting scholar Roland Galveston. Dulcie, aided by her ghostly cat, Mr. Grey, and her live-in boyfriend, Chris Sorenson, seeks to solve the puzzle, which soon takes a murderous turn. Fans of academic paranormal cat cozies will be in heaven. Agent: Colleen Mohyde, Doe Coover Agency. (May)

"Definitely more than just another cat mystery."

Thank you, Booklist!

Grey Expectations, Simon, Clea (Author), Apr 2012. 208 p. Severn, hardcover, $27.95. (9780727881342).

The fourth in Simon’s Mr. Grey and Dulcie series, following Grey Zone (2011), continues successfully to marry the apparently very different subgenres of the cat mystery and the academic mystery. Finally writing her thesis, Dulcie isn’t in the mood for dramatics, even from her grad-school pals. All she wants is peaceful time in the library to continue her research. But when a rare book goes missing from a locked archive to which only she and the other English students have access, she must emerge from her writing fog and start investigating. Usually, she has the ghostly feline, Mr. Grey, to help out, but he seems to have transfered his affections and communications to Dulcie’s boyfriend, Chris. Meanwhile, the new kitten, Esmé, continues to bite and play more than talk. After best friend Tris disappears, Dulcie is on her own, which is too bad because it seems that Dulcie may be being framed for the theft. Using Dulcie’s ongoing struggles with her dissertation to frame each entry in the series provides good continuity and keeps readers engaged. This is definitely more than just another cat mystery. – Booklist, 3/15/12