"Brilliant"! She said I wrote "brilliantly"! Thank you, Kings River Life!

"A strong heroine who sometimes acts much too impulsively, sarcastic humor and a respect and affection for animals enhance this tightly plotted mystery where the motives for killing prove to be all too human." Wow, thank you, Cindy Chow. To read more of this wonderful, detailed (and favorable!!) review by a librarian, in Kings River Life please click here.

"'Panther Play for Keeps' is a sure winner." Thank you!

"Each new adventure in this series gets deeper and more intense as the author carries her creations to new heights of angst and anxiety. I highly recommend that you read this book. Beg, borrow or steal a copy, just read it and enjoy."

Wow, thank you, Nora-Adrienne! To read the full review, click here.

GREY HOWL is a "favorite." Thank you!

"Multiple plot lines and well-developed characters will keep the reader engaged" What a nice way to start the day! The Conscious Cat may be predisposed to like cat mysteries, but this is still high praise -- both for "GREY HOWL" and for the entire Dulcie series. Thank you so much!

"Clea Simon’s Dulcie Schwartz mystery series, featuring the Harvard graduate student, along with her kitten Esme and the spirit of her departed cat, Mr. Grey, has become one of my favorite cat mysteries..."
To read more, click http://consciouscat.net/2014/04/18/review-grey-howl-clea-simon/.

"Up there with the greats." Thank you!

Clea Simon's "ability to juggle so many people and multiple crossing plots make her books a genuine pleasure to read, collect and share with friends." So says NoraAdrienne, avid mystery fan. If you want to read more, please click here.

"Grey Howl" – a Gothic homage

"Simon pays sincere homage to the gothic tradition while having a lot of fun with it." So says the Bookblog of the Bristol Public Library. Want to read more? Click here.

"Pru is back..." A review and a PANTHERS PLAY FOR KEEPS giveaway!

"Pru Marlowe is back and she's better than ever!" So says The Conscious Cat,who adds, " found this fast-paced and well-plotted book hard to put down, and I’m already looking forward to the next book in the series." Read the entire review - and sign up for the giveaway here.

Chatting with Hank Phillippi Ryan about how the sausage gets made

How do we write when Facebook is so tempting? What are the biggest obstacles to getting the daily word count done? Over at the Sisters in Crime New England blog, mystery superstar Hank Phillippi Ryan and I chat about the mechanics, and more...

Here's a sample:
Hank: When you need to do your writing for the day, how difficult is it to get yourself to begin? Why?

Me: It’s not difficult at all. Why do you ask? As soon as I’ve checked Twitter and Facebook, and then gone back because maybe I’ve missed a few Tweets. And then looked at my email and responded to my email, and then responded to new postings on Facebook and looked through the latest cat videos … sorry, what was the question again?

Read more here.

Talking books (and cats) with Nancy Adams

Nancy Adams, blogger over at Saints and Trees, and I chatted writing, mysteries, and more:

NA: Tell us a bit about your writing journey: when you started to write, your journey to publication, and so on.

CS: I have always loved making up stories and have been writing stories since I could read. But it took me a while as an adult to think my stories had any validity. I became a journalist and wrote three nonfiction books in part because of this: I felt like if I was conveying information, then I had a reason to write. But I largely read fiction. It wasn’t until Kate Mattes, who owned the now-closed Kate’s Mystery Books in Cambridge, Mass., told me, “You should write a mystery” that I started my first one, “Mew is for Murder.” I think in some way I needed permission.

To read more, please click through to Nancy's blog, Saints and Trees.

When life imitates art: a panther appears in Massachusetts...

The dodo is extinct. The passenger pigeon as well, although some intriguing backward-engineering of DNA may soon change that. The Eastern cougar? That’s another matter. Last month, amid growing community concern, repeated sightings of a large, tawny cat just outside of Boston have made what was once a closed issue open to debate. ...

Read my entire guest blog at The Conscious Cat.

"Killer" review from the Richmond Times-Dispatch: thank you!!

"Infused with a killer plot and an engaging heroine -- as well as striking originality and a measure of humor -- "Panthers Play for Keeps" continues an addictive series and displays Simon's profound talents at their best." AND "Grey Howl" a "complex and satisfying whodunit."

The Richmond Times-Dispatch mystery reviewer Jay Strafford did a double review of my two latest books, and all I can say is, "Wow. Thank you so much." Read the full review here.

"Pru Marlowe is back and better than ever..."

"Fast-paced and well-plotted" Well, thank you! This great review ran in The Conscious Cat today.

Pru Marlowe is back, and she’s better than ever! In Panthers Play for Keeps, the fourth book in Clea Simon’s Pet Noir series featuring pet behaviorist and psychic Pru Marlow, Pru has to solve her most challenging case yet: while taking a dog for a walk, she finds the body of a young woman, who seems to have been mauled by a wild cat. Pru knows there have been no cougars in the Berkshires for years, and not much about this death makes sense. As Pru starts looking into the murder, a cougar of another kind has her eyes set on Pru’s on again, off again boyfriend, detective Jim Creighton. When Pru’s rival disappears, Pru is forced to set aside her own problems to solve the mystery.

Read the entire review here.