"Into the Grey" in paperback!

My latest Dulcie Schwartz mystery, "Into the Grey," is out today in paperback!"Well plotted," says Publishers Weekly!

Helping Houston

There are so many people who need so much - the Red Cross is a great place to start. But for those of you who, like me, are animal lovers, here is a link to SPCA Texas: spca.org or here. SPCA Texas has also posted an Amazon wishlist for those who would rather donate specific items: here.

The best band you've never heard of...

They should have been huge...

if they existed at all!


World Enough, coming Nov. 1, 2017, from Severn House.

Can cats see things we can't?

Happy #FelineFriday! To celebrate what we've all long suspected, I'm sharing an article that suggests that cats (and dogs, too) can "see" things that are invisible to the human eye - certain wavelengths and lights. And maybe, just maybe, spirits... (click here)

That's a cougar, and I ain't lion...

Do we have mountain lions here in Massachusetts, or is the Eastern cougar truly extinct? The question was the basis of my 2014 Pru Marlowe pet noir mystery, Panthers Play for Keeps. It's a debate that has raged for years and this post on Facebook has brought it back to the public eye. Panther or no? What do you think? And happy #FelineFriday! (Read more here.)

"Simon ... gets it exactly right" (Thank you!)

WORLD ENOUGH weaves together some of my favorite things: A good mystery, a flawed heroine regaining her mojo, and rock 'n' roll. Specifically, World Enougj is set in the Boston rock scene and alternative press scene in the mid-80's. Having been there, I can say that Clea Simon has done a beautiful job of evoking this time and place before Boston underwent a tech-fuelled makeover and when the Rat was the gloriously grubby place to be. Simon gracefully handles the transitions from past to present, as her heroine Tara Winton, a bored PR associate, tries to recapture the idealism and sense of community she knew back in her youth as a rock critic and club regular. Her obsession with the mysterious death of a musician from the old scene sends her down a rabbit hole where she finds that her memories of that time dont hold up to the reality her investigation uncovers.

Many fiction writers have tried and failed to credibly capture the rock and roll life on the page. Clea Simon, a former music reviewer herself, gets it exactly right." – Joyce Millman (Village Voice, McSweeneys), writing on Goodreads.

"the gritty past..."

When hardest of the hard-boiled author Thomas Pluck moderated a panel I was on at last year's Bouchercon, I didn't expect to find much common ground. But, as is often true of crime writers, Pluck - whose motto is "unflinching fiction" - was warm, witty, welcoming, and a downright blast to work with. I've now read his new Bad Boy Boogie, which is sharp, sharp, sharp - full of blood and really imaginative killings but also emotionally astute and very funny as well. So, of course, I sent him an advance copy of "World Enough." And I was THRILLED when he included it - along with the great Don Winslow – as one of his Books of Summer.

Thomas Pluck (BAD BOY BOOGIE)

THE FORCE by Don Winslow is the summer crime blockbuster this year, and deservedly so. Winslow mastered the crime epic with THE CARTEL and now he aims his investigative skills northward to look into the abyss of the failed American Drug War.

I also enjoyed WORLD ENOUGH, by Clea Simon, which comes out in a month or two. It's a nostalgic trip back to the '80s Boston rock scene by someone who was there. Simon's best known for her cat mysteries like hardboiled (or should I say tough mouser?) THE NINTH LIFE but she is equally adept evoking the gritty past of the sleazy rock clubs of our youth.