Why we write...

Why did I leave the cozy world behind? Was there some particular spur that made me write "The Ninth Life"?

I answer those questions and more as I guest blog over at Lois Winston's blog today for her Book Club Friday. I'll be answering questions all weekend!

"This remarkable duo, a cat and the girl he has claimed..."

"Simon, a writer who loves cats, creates an appealing, unusual narrator in Blackie," writes librarian/blogger Lesa Holstine of "The Ninth Life." You can read more here.

Going dark...

"Write what you know" is good advice. But I prefer "write what you want to understand." Which is how I got to my upcoming dark, new cat mystery, "The Ninth Life." As I explain today, in a guest post at Lesa's Book Critiques. {And she says I have a "terrific narrator"!)

"The series just keeps getting better and better."

In case you'd forgotten, I have a new Pru Marlowe pet noir out next week as well, with "When Bunnies Go Bad."

"This series just keeps getting better and better," says the Bristol Public Library! Thank you! Read the full review here.

The Queen loves "The Ninth Life"

"Plenty of twists and turns," says Queen of all Reads. "I loved it."

"You're not alone..."

Don’t we all feel alone sometimes? Like we’re the only ones in the world, abandoned by everyone? And at such times, isn’t a nice cuddly cat the best companion?

That’s the idea I started with when I began to write “The Ninth Life,” my new mystery and the first in my Blackie and Care series for Severn House. Only I realized early on that my story, about a girl named Care and the big, black cat who adopts her, wouldn’t be your usual cozy....

Read more in today's guest blog over at Cozy Up with Kathy – and comment to enter the giveaway for a copy of "The Ninth Life."

"I wanted a 'Team Blackie and Care' T-shirt..."

Another lovely blog review, this time from LuAnn Braley at Back Porchervations.

"Now, my adult 'logical' mind wants to say that 'a book from a cat's point of view' ... eh ... how good can it be? Pretty dang good resounds as the answer! ..." Read more here.

"A delight for anyone who relishes cat mysteries." – Library Journal

Just ... over the moon:

REVIEW

Author: CLEA SIMON

Title: THE NINTH LIFE

Publication: LIBRARY JOURNAL

Issue: 1ST MARCH 2016


Simon, Clea. The Ninth Life Severn House. (Blackie & Care Cat, Bk. 1). Mar. 2016. 229p. ISBN 9780727885715. $28.95;

Care rescues Blackie after he is almost drowned. Our feline protagonist and narrator, who has used up nearly all of his nine lives, does not remember much beyond three shadowy figures who held him underwater. Now he must save the pink-haired Care from herself and the men who seek to use her to deliver their drugs, including heroin-addicted boyfriend Tick, or frame her for murder.
VERDICT With this new cat series, the author of the “Dulcie Schwartz” books (Code Grey) takes on a darker tone. Blackie is an enigmatic hero, trying to keep Care safe and lamenting his inability to communicate with her. Care is a troubled child attempting to do right. Where they go from here remains to be seen. A delight for anyone who relishes cat mysteries.

I'm on tour!

Book tour, that is! Some of my stops are IRL – in real life – like next week, when I'll be at the great Left Coast Crime conference, or the week after (March 4, to be exact), when I have my hometown book launch party at Harvard Book Store (come on by!). But for the next two weeks, I'm also on virtual tour, thanks to Great Escapes Book Tours. So even if you're not in Phoenix or Massachusetts (or Bethesda, MD, for Malice Domestic or Bristol England...), I hope you'll stop by and say hi!

The Ninth Life "keeps you guessing all the way through"

Book Babble calls "The Ninth Life" well-written" and says it "keeps you guessing all the way." Read more (and sign up for the book giveaway) here.

Chatting about cats and books and going dark...

I talked with author Sharon Bell Buchbinder about writing and more today, here.

The Ninth Life "captivated me from the start..."

"The Ninth Life captivated me from the start. Whenever I was forced to put the book down to do chores or run errands, it stayed on my mind, the story haunting me until I picked it up again...

The Ninth Life is one of Clea Simon's best novels yet, showcasing her talent for creating vibrant characters both human and animal and for developing an unforgettable story. Her books have pioneered a new genre of animal mystery - pet noir. If you love animals and mysteries, you should never pass up the opportunity to read Clea Simon's novels."

Thank you, Mutt Cafe! Read the full review here.

"The Ninth Life" "grabs you by the throat"

"This story isn’t cute and cuddly, but oh, is it good!" says this cats and books blog, The Cuddlywump Chronicles. Why thank you! Read the whole review here.

"The Ninth Life is not a cozy mystery. It is instead the kind of darker story that grips you by the throat on page one and does not release you until you’ve turned the final page. I say it’s the book we’ve been waiting for..."

Read more here.

Misdirection and fear...

Or how to write a novel. I talk about process today on the Henery Press blog here.

"If Sherlock Holmes were a cat..."

After a very satisfying analysis of my new "The Ninth Life," the librarian blogger says:

I would recommend the book on the basis of the narrator alone, but Simon has also constructed some interesting mysteries along the way. The conclusion is very satisfying, and leaves readers poised for more to come. Best of all, the book avoids what I refer to as “First In Series Syndrome” in which an author tries to pack in a lot of background before ever getting around to a plot or characterization. A cool, clever read with heart, just like Blackie himself.


Thank you, Bookblog of the Bristol Public Library for this lovely write-up!