"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
Showing posts with label Booklist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Booklist. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
"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
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
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Wow - thank you, Booklist!
A starred review for Dogs Don't Lie!
Pru Marlowe has recently returned to her hometown in the Berkshires, ostensibly to care for her dying mother. In reality, she fled New York when she was weeks away from completing her degree as an animal behaviorist, having endured a nervous breakdown caused by her sudden ability to hear animals. Only a few months later, after setting up shop as an animal trainer, Pru finds her best client dead, his throat ripped out, and his newly adopted pit bull, Lily, standing next to him, covered in blood. Spurred on by the desperate cries only she can hear, Pru commits herself to saving Lily and solving the murder. Simon writes a high-quality cozy mystery, well paced and plotted, with plenty of twists, and set in a New England small town full of intriguing characters. Pru’s struggles to deal with her abilities make this stand out among other animal mysteries, and the sad story of Floyd, the heart-broken Persian, will touch the heart of cat lovers everywhere. Recommend this series to fans of Blaize Clement and Rita May Brown (especially those who have grown weary of the Mrs. Murphy novels). Watch this series closely. It could well sprint to the top of the animal-cozy genre.
Pru Marlowe has recently returned to her hometown in the Berkshires, ostensibly to care for her dying mother. In reality, she fled New York when she was weeks away from completing her degree as an animal behaviorist, having endured a nervous breakdown caused by her sudden ability to hear animals. Only a few months later, after setting up shop as an animal trainer, Pru finds her best client dead, his throat ripped out, and his newly adopted pit bull, Lily, standing next to him, covered in blood. Spurred on by the desperate cries only she can hear, Pru commits herself to saving Lily and solving the murder. Simon writes a high-quality cozy mystery, well paced and plotted, with plenty of twists, and set in a New England small town full of intriguing characters. Pru’s struggles to deal with her abilities make this stand out among other animal mysteries, and the sad story of Floyd, the heart-broken Persian, will touch the heart of cat lovers everywhere. Recommend this series to fans of Blaize Clement and Rita May Brown (especially those who have grown weary of the Mrs. Murphy novels). Watch this series closely. It could well sprint to the top of the animal-cozy genre.
— Jessica Moyer
Pru gets a star from Booklist!
"Watch this series closely. It could well spring to the top of the animal-cozy genre." – Booklist (starred review)
Monday, January 25, 2010
Thank you, Booklist!
My Grey Matters officially pubs in March – here's my first pre-pub review:
Grey Matters, Simon, Clea (Author), Mar 2010. 240 p. Severn, hardcover, $28.95. (9780727868404).
Simon’s second Dulcie Schwartz mystery picks up a few months after the end of Shades of Grey (2009), with Harvard doctoral student Dulcie deep into her fall semester, overloaded with grading papers and concerned about getting her adviser’s approval on her thesis. Then she finds the body of a fellow graduate student on her adviser’s front step. The ghost of Mr. Grey, her deceased cat, returns to offer his usual cryptic advice, and her new kitten takes a noncommittal stance toward crime-solving, leaving Dulcie on her own to try and find the real murderer before the killer finds her. While the cats are an important part of the book, they are not an overwhelming presence, in fact, the academic setting is a much stronger part of the novel’s appeal, making this easily recommendable to readers who enjoy Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series or Jennifer Lee Carrel’s literary thriller Interred with Their Bones (2007), which also has significant scenes set in Harvard’s Widener Library. A solid follow-up to an entertaining debut.
Grey Matters is already available through Amazon and at such indies as Harvard Book Store and Brookline Booksmith. (Folks who want a signed copy can order one from those two bookstores - then email me to let me know.)
Grey Matters, Simon, Clea (Author), Mar 2010. 240 p. Severn, hardcover, $28.95. (9780727868404).
Simon’s second Dulcie Schwartz mystery picks up a few months after the end of Shades of Grey (2009), with Harvard doctoral student Dulcie deep into her fall semester, overloaded with grading papers and concerned about getting her adviser’s approval on her thesis. Then she finds the body of a fellow graduate student on her adviser’s front step. The ghost of Mr. Grey, her deceased cat, returns to offer his usual cryptic advice, and her new kitten takes a noncommittal stance toward crime-solving, leaving Dulcie on her own to try and find the real murderer before the killer finds her. While the cats are an important part of the book, they are not an overwhelming presence, in fact, the academic setting is a much stronger part of the novel’s appeal, making this easily recommendable to readers who enjoy Lauren Willig’s Pink Carnation series or Jennifer Lee Carrel’s literary thriller Interred with Their Bones (2007), which also has significant scenes set in Harvard’s Widener Library. A solid follow-up to an entertaining debut.
Grey Matters is already available through Amazon and at such indies as Harvard Book Store and Brookline Booksmith. (Folks who want a signed copy can order one from those two bookstores - then email me to let me know.)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thank you, Booklist!
"Well paced and tightly plotted, Shades of Grey debuts a promising series from the author of the Theda Krakow mysteries." Thank you, Booklist!
Author: CLEA SIMON
Title: SHADES OF GREY
Publication: BOOKLIST
Issue: 1ST AUGUST 2009
Shades of Grey, Clea Simon. Severn, $28.95 (240p), Sept 2009, ISBN 978-0-7278-6781-0
Twentysomething Dulcie Schwartz is a doctoral student at Harvard, struggling to find a thesis topic, mourning her recently deceased cat Mr. Grey, and working a summer temp job. Then, one afternoon, she thinks she sees Mr. Grey and believes he warns her not to go home. When she enters her apartment, she finds her despised subletter dead with her knife in his chest. Mr. Grey, Dulcie’s mother informs her, is her spirit guide; that’s fortunate because Dulcie could certainly use extraterrestrial help, seeing as she finds herself suspected of both murder and hacking into her computer system at work. Well paced and tightly plotted, Shades of Grey debuts a promising series from the author of the Theda Krakow mysteries (Probable Claws, 2009). With scholar Dulcie as the main character, and most of the action taking place on the Harvard campus and inside the Widener Library, it should appeal to a wide audience, including fans of both cat cozies and fiction that uses an academic frame story (Lauren Willig’s The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, 2005).
Author: CLEA SIMON
Title: SHADES OF GREY
Publication: BOOKLIST
Issue: 1ST AUGUST 2009
Shades of Grey, Clea Simon. Severn, $28.95 (240p), Sept 2009, ISBN 978-0-7278-6781-0
Twentysomething Dulcie Schwartz is a doctoral student at Harvard, struggling to find a thesis topic, mourning her recently deceased cat Mr. Grey, and working a summer temp job. Then, one afternoon, she thinks she sees Mr. Grey and believes he warns her not to go home. When she enters her apartment, she finds her despised subletter dead with her knife in his chest. Mr. Grey, Dulcie’s mother informs her, is her spirit guide; that’s fortunate because Dulcie could certainly use extraterrestrial help, seeing as she finds herself suspected of both murder and hacking into her computer system at work. Well paced and tightly plotted, Shades of Grey debuts a promising series from the author of the Theda Krakow mysteries (Probable Claws, 2009). With scholar Dulcie as the main character, and most of the action taking place on the Harvard campus and inside the Widener Library, it should appeal to a wide audience, including fans of both cat cozies and fiction that uses an academic frame story (Lauren Willig’s The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, 2005).
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