Boston Book Fest!

Wow, do you know about the Boston Book Fest? With authors, bookstores, readings, talks, and giveaways, this event has grown in its ten years into a wonderful citywide festival. While there are tons of things happening today – see the schedule here – I'm hoping you'll find time to drop by and say hi to me. I'll be at the Mystery Writers of America booth, 2–2:45 p.m. and the Sisters in Crime booth, 3–4 p.m, talking about these GREAT organizations (and books as well!)on Copley Plaza. Please come on by and say hi!

Before I was cozy...

Back in the day, there was little that was cozy about my life. Sure, I had creature comforts, thanks to a part-time secretarial job that paid most of the bills., and even a long-haired grey cat whom I loved dearly. But what I needed for soul sustenance was loud, hard, and fast.

For the first few years, after I graduated from college, the local music scene was the center of my life. The clubs where bands played original music – the Rat, the Channel, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Storyville, among others – became my “third place,” not home, not work, where I could go. Through it, I found my tribe of friends and lovers. My first profession – as a music critic. More fundamentally, in the loud garage punk scene of ‘80s Boston, I found an outlet for the emotional turmoil I had grown up with in a family plagued by mental illness and dysfunction. The friends I made there understood this – many of them had similar stories – and the late nights were as often as not joyous celebrations of relief and release as expressions of pain or rage.

Perhaps it is the nature of things to change. At any rate, things did. The writing I was doing for music magazines led to more mainstream, more stable, jobs. The clubs I knew closed, the bands broke up, and between the need for more sleep and the pleasures of more secure relationships, I felt less of a need to learn the rhythms of new ones. The books that had been my salvation growing up ¬ – from C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Beatrix Potter to Lillian Jackson Braun and Rita Mae Brown – once again claimed center stage, and I rediscovered the joy of whimsy and mystery. I started writing cozies.

Granted, there was some overlap. My first cozy, Mew is for Murder, featured a freelance writer trying to establish herself as a music critic. Throughout the six books of that series, my heroine Theda Krakow’s sidekick was a purple-haired punk musician who calls herself Violet Haze. But in the 12 years and 16 other mysteries since, the music scene has receded. Granted, not all my books have been cozies – my editors usually prefer the term “amateur sleuth” and I’ve dubbed one series “pet noir” – but they’ve been gentle. No cursing, no overt sex. As the old saw goes, “the blood is dry before it hits the page.” And the music, when it plays, is secondary, no longer the life blood – the pulse – that it was.

Until now. For World Enough, I’ve created Tara Winton, a heroine who shares many characteristics with the woman I once was. Isolated, somewhat disconnected from her family and her past, back in the day Tara too found solace and a community of sorts in the clubs. Twenty years later, she’s not doing as well, though. She’s marking time with a boring corporate job and drifting emotionally, unable to move on from her divorce. Until, that is, she runs into an old friend – now the editor of a glossy city magazine – at the funeral of a former scenester, a bartender/bouncer who had settled down with a wife and kid before dying in what appears to be a freak accident.

Tara and her buddy start talking at the wake, and he throws her a lifeline – an assignment to write about the old scene. In particular, about a band – the Aught Nines – that should have been famous. That would have been – if only the singer hadn’t OD’d, twenty years before. That rising star had a tenuous connection to the man whose funeral they’ve just attended. In many ways, all the attendees are connected. And so it makes sense for Tara to start interviewing her old cohort. Her ex Peter and her best friend Min scoff at the assignment, but Tara is grateful for the chance to write again about something she cares about. To reconnect with a world that once meant so much.

That world is rife with drugs and sex. With petty rivalries and struggles for fame and attention. It is the world I once knew and still, in some part of me, love. It is not, in any sense, cozy. But it is a world that I was ready to revisit. A story that maybe, after 22 lighter mysteries, I finally had the discipline to explore, the skills to chronicle, and the will work into the larger plotline of a double-edged (and morally ambiguous) mystery.

Will there be others? At this point, I think so – though I am very much enjoying the playful feline-centric cozy that I’m working on now. Maybe it took this long for me to be able to go back and write about the club scene, to balance its attractions with its excesses and flaws. Maybe I needed the distance to be able to see what really happened. Or maybe I’ve simply reached the point where I can put on an old record – vinyl, even – and think, “Damn, that was something, wasn’t it?”



After three nonfiction books and 22 cozy/amateur sleuth mysteries, Clea Simon returns to her rock & roll past this fall with World Enough (Severn House), an edgy urban noir. She is also the author of four mystery series with cats in them, the most recent being the black cat-narrated As Dark As My Fur (Severn House) and the “pet noir,” When Bunnies Go Bad (Poisoned Pen Press). A recovering journalist, Clea lives in Massachusetts. She can be reached at www.cleasimon.com


This essay originally ran on Mystery Fanfare, the blog of Mystery Readers International.

My rock star moment!

I'm opening for Kristin Hersh! And for Nick Flynn's Shaker/Flynn music project! Well, not really. Hersh (of Throwing Muses and solo fame), Flynn, poet Kelle Groom and myself will be reading, talking, and, yes, playing music (well, some of us) tonight at WORDS & MUSIC, a free event at Emerson College in Boston. Part of the Boston Book Fest LitHub, you can find out more (and nab some free tickets) here.

New England is for readers (and a giveaway!)

I sat down (well, virtually) with Jen Rose Smith, the author of the new Moon New England Road Trip travel guide to talk about my mysteries, New England authors, and more. Moon is also giving away two of my books: the Boston-based World Enough and the Berkshires-set When Bunnies Go Bad. You can enter below.

JEN: Is there anything essentially New England about your mysteries?

CLEA: Setting is most definitely a character in my mysteries. My brand new book, World Enough, could only take place in Boston. It starts in 2007 – just before the crash, when real estate in the city was booming and the waterfront area was being transformed by tech companies, like the one my heroine, Tara Winton, works for. But it quickly jumps back twenty years, when the waterfront was the home of a rough and tumble rock club, called the Casbah. That’s where Tara found her community and several lifelong friends, and where the multiple mysteries at the heart of the book begin. Although the clubs and the companies are fictional, the setting – and some of the darker aspects of the story, such as the drugs – are real enough. In fact, my publisher Severn House is calling World Enough a “Boston noir.”

My Pru Marlowe pet noir mysteries, which are lighter, are set in a fictional town in the Berkshires. In books like the recent When Bunnies Go Bad and the upcoming Fear on Four Paws (Poisoned Pen Press), Pru and her tabby cat Wallis have to deal with all the very real conflicts of an old Berkshires mill town that now relies on tourism to get by – all with some absolutely gorgeous scenery.

JEN: But you didn’t grow up in New England, did you?
CLEA: No, I was raised in suburban Long Island and only came up here to attend college. But I immediately fell in love with the sense of place and history in New England. Suburbia can feel pretty generic, but cities like Boston and Providence, and towns like Northampton and North Adams, in the western part of the state, have distinct personalities. I do miss the easy access to the beach – but the beauty of Cape Cod, especially Provincetown, makes up for the longer drive (or ferry ride).

JEN: New England's full of mysteries and creepy tales, from the Salem witch trials to haunted places—do you have any favorites?
CLEA: I’m not really a fan of horror, though I do love me some Nathaniel Hawthorne! And you do know Edgar Allen Poe was born in Boston, yes? There are some contemporary writers who are doing more playful fun takes on creepiness – Dana Cameron writes Fangborn mysteries, which have werewolves in them, and the hero of Leigh Perry’s skeleton mysteries is a skeleton named Sid!

JEN: Are there any places in Boston that you like to go for inspiration?
CLEA: Many! The clubs I write about in World Enough pretty much don’t exist anymore, but the city still has a vibrant live music scene and I always find myself revived after a night out at Once in Somerville or the Sinclair or Regattabar in Cambridge. And because I grew up near the shore, I always find myself inspired by the ocean. I adore Provincetown and try to get there as often as possible. And, of course, I find myself walking into Harvard Square pretty much every weekend. The Square has changed so much during my years here, but I can still always find a bookstore to browse and a café to sit in, with whatever new title caught my fancy.

JEN: New England has such a rich literary tradition, who are some of your favorite writers from the region?
CLEA: Which century do you want to know about? I studied literature at Harvard, so I still find myself muttering lines from the Puritan sermon“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” at inappropriate moments. Other than that, J. Anthony Lukas explained a lot about the city to me in his Common Ground. As a mystery writer, I owe a ton to Robert Parker, whose Spenser novels introduced so many of us to this city. And Michael Patrick MacDonald’s All Souls (as well as his Easter Rising, which has some parallels with World Enough) really get at the underside of the city.

JEN: Do you have any plans for other New England mysteries?
CLEA: Yes! My very first mystery series was set in Cambridge, and I’ll be returning to Cambridge with a new series in 2019. Although I now live in Somerville, I adore the mix of old and new, counterculture and academic that still makes Cambridge, the home of both Harvard and aging hippies, fun and funky. My new series – the Witch Cats of Cambridge, with Polis Books – couldn’t take place anywhere else.

JEN: Any New England trivia you care to share?
CLEA: When I worked in Providence (for the now-defunct Providence Phoenix), I learned that coffee milk is the official drink of Rhode Island. The only way my parents could get me to drink my milk when I was little was by putting a dash of sweetened coffee in it – so I felt like I’d found my people! And, yes, I married a man from Woonsocket, RI!


Moon & Mysteries: New England Giveaway

Pru is back!

Well, she will be. Just sent off the completed manuscript of "Fear on Four Paws," a Pru Marlow pet noir, off to my editor. Projected pub date is August 2018. Phew...

Taking a deep breath....

This week, it begins. On Thursday, I'm doing a really fun musical event (with Kristin Hersh! Nick Flynn! Kelle Groom!) at Emerson College and next week my new mystery World Enough launches, with events at Harvard Bookstore and more. Oh yeah, and on Wednesday, I'll be announcing a contest – stay tuned! And I've got new books to write. So I might be quiet for a few days.... that doesn't mean that something fun isn't brewing!

"A dark and compelling mystery..." Thank you, Kingdom Books!

"She's quietly brought us four different semi-mystical cat and amateur sleuth mystery series over the past decade -- and some edgy nonfiction before that. Now Boston author Clea Simon lets her inner rock 'n roller out of the back room and rips into a dark and compelling murder mystery of Boston's music nightlife in WORLD ENOUGH, due to release on November 1." So begins the book blog of Kingdom Books.

The book roots in Simon's own passion for rock 'n roll ..." To read more, click here.

How reliable is your memory?

How reliable is memory?

According to neuroscientists, not very. While we may view any particular memory as a continuous film of a past scene, those who study how the brain processes describe it as something more like a collage. As a 2012 Psychology Today article summarized, every time we conjure a memory, we are not so much reviewing a complete set of stored data as re-configuring a complex scene from disparate parts. In other words, every memory is newly re-assembled, and even if the pieces are accurate they may be prone to reinterpretation...

(To read more, please jump over to Crimespree,the wonderful crime fiction/mystery blog that is hosting me today: here!)

Boucheron in pictures

What happens when something like 1,700 crime fiction fans (authors, publishers, librarians, and fans - all of us readers) gather in one place? Craziness – and a lot of love. I'm now catching up after spending Thursday through Sunday at that party, also known as Bouchercon, an annual celebration that, this year, was held in Toronto. (That's where the auction in my last post took place.) Of course, I have the "con cold" now (it was worth it), so I'm not going to go on at length. But here are just some of the pix ... see if you can name the authors. Hope to see you all at the next Bouchercon, next September in Saint Petersburg, FL! (OH YEAH, what's up with those Aught Nine t-shirts? Email if you want to know more .. or if you want your own [while I still have some]).

Going once, going twice ...

So one of the great things about Bouchercon is that it pairs with a charity, usually literacy related, to support reading (of course). But this being Bouchercon, it's done in a fun way. This year's beneficiary was Frontier College, is a longstanding cross-Canada literacy organization supporting people across Canada as they work to increase their literacy skills.

How do we raise money? Well, by auctioning off things like the right to name a pet in an upcoming pet noir, of course!


Donna Andrews and Chris Grabenstein served as our auctioneers:

And these are the wonderful winners, Sarah Byrne and Peter McDonald, whose kitty Bunbury Bandersnatch will have a cameo in "Fear on Four Paws."

and here's the newly minted star himself.

Indie bookstores rule...

When the Moon travel guides asked me to blog about my local independent bookstores, I jumped at the chance. New England has such a rich literary history, it makes sense that we have a rich bookstore history too – and this piece has links to great stores, reading series, and more!

"What do Ralph Waldo Emerson and Robert Parker have in common? They both lived and worked in New England, and whether they sought the serenity of Walden Pond or roamed the tough streets of Boston, this region informs their work. Add in greats such as Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sylvia Plath, and Atul Gawande, and you’ll get a glimpse of the range of authors who call this area home... to read more, click here.

Life lessons from a kitty

For this #FelineFriday, I look back on what Musetta (and Cyrus before her) have taught me. Here – and on the Pulpwood Queens' Beauty & the Book Blog – I share that wisdom with you!

There is no longer a Musetta here at Chez Musetta. The round tuxedo longhair who used to supervise my daily writing is gone But even though my beloved pet left us two weeks ago – after a long life and a blessedly brief illness at the age of 16 ½ – the lessons she taught me about how to live my own best life remain. In her memory – and in anticipation of the next feline who will come to share our home – I share these feline secrets with you.

Find the sunny spot: Cats are masters at finding the sunny spot on the rug, to the point where we called Musetta our solar-powered kitty. Now, maybe we can’t all lie around, warming our fur, as the morning turns to lazy afternoon, but the message is the same: Find the warmth and the light in your life – in the people around you, in your work, in your home – and take it all in. You’ll find you too are recharged, and then you can share that warmth with others.

Share the purr: Once you have found your sun, share that light with others. What is cheerier than a purring cat? When you have a vibrating kitty beside you on the sofa or on your lap, you can’t help but be cheered. So when you feel good – about anything – don’t hold back. Express yourself. Purr – and spread the joy.

Set your boundaries: On the other hand, don’t fake it when you don’t feel it. Too often we women, in particular, bend ourselves into all kinds of shapes trying to please others or squirming to fit ourselves into roles that simply aren’t us. That’s something cats never do. They are who they are, and they aren’t afraid to show it. Kitty doesn’t want to be pet? She walks away. Pull her tail? She hisses. Some people put cats down for this, saying they should be more dog-like and obedient. But the real message here is that we should all be more like that kitty. She demands respect, and as a result, she gets it.

You are beautiful, just as you are: Sure, we may make fun of fats cats, but they don’t care. A plump puss is a lovely puss, and those of us who really love cats know that it’s fine to have more of that feline to snuggle. And cats don’t fuss about their weight either – do you ever see a feline trying to fit into a too-tight fur? No! So whether you’re fluffy or svelte, take a cue from your cat and understand that you are perfect.

Take the time for self-care: Cats can groom for hours, working from nose-tip to tail tip, with breaks to individually manicure each claw. They don’t worry about being late for a play date or missing dinner. They know self-care is vital for our inner well-being. We may not follow exactly their beauty regimen – I prefer a comb to using my tongue – but the basic rule remains the same. Give yourself the time you need. Take care of yourself. Then you can take care of – and take on – the world.

Stay wild: Not all cats are hunters, and that’s fine. My kitties have all been indoor-only cats, whose “prey” are toy mice (and the occasional confused moth). That’s safer for them, and the birds in my yard are grateful, too! But even the most pampered pussycat becomes a tiger when she plays. Just watch a kitten stalk and pounce, and you’ll have a window onto the rich interior life that keeps cats from getting bored with their lot. These games reveal the importance of imagination and instinct – and of the inspiration and creativity we can draw from the wild side of our nature.

Relax! Life goes on whether you’re at the window supervising the squirrels or napping on the couch. Take time out, when you need it, whether that means dozing or just spending some time staring at the sunbeams. You’ll be better for it.

Clea Simon is pleased as punch that her new rock ‘n’ roll noir World Enough is a Pulpwood Queens October alternate read. But before this new darker book, she wrote 22 cat mysteries – from Mew is for Murder to As Dark As My Fur – as well as the nonfiction The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats. The winner of multiple Muse Medallions from the international Cat Writers Association for her writing about felines and about the human-animal bond, she will be bringing her best feline spirit to Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend in January.

Yes, more cat mysteries are in the works

Feline left out? Please don't let your fur get all ruffled. Although my upcoming World Enough (Severn House) is a rock 'n' roll noir, I've got several cat mysteries in the works, ranging from cozy to claws out.

First up, the feline sleuth Blackie will return in Cross My Path (Severn House). This third Blackie & Care adventure tackles the mystery of Blackie's past as the duo take on a murder and a missing person in their dark and dangerous city. (June 2018)

Then, bad girl Pru Marlowe and her wisecracking tabby Wallis return in Fear on Four Paws (Poisoned Pen Press). This seventh pet noir mystery revisits the Berkshires, where Frank the ferret has a secret... (tentatively August 2018)

On the horizon, I'm working on a new cozy series, the Witch Cats of Cambridge, which will debut with A Spell of Murder (Polis Books). This fun, light-hearted series will feature a young woman who desperately wants to be a witch, all the while unaware that it is her three cats who have the real power ... and who must use it to solve crime and keep their person out of trouble. (Tentatively January 2019)

Will there be more rock 'n' roll noir after that? I hope so! Stay tuned, dear readers. Purrs out!