A day in the life of Wallis the tabby

What, you were expecting a person?

Yes, I supposed I should cede this space to Pru. My roommate – the one who opens the cans – is Pru Marlowe. She’s also the one who dragged us both out of the city and to this godforsaken town a little over a year ago, as you people reckon it. Couldn’t handle the pressures of city life. The men, the fun. Couldn’t handle that suddenly, after a bad bout of flu, she could hear me, Wallis, the cat. Not her cat, please. May as well call Pru my human. Considering who does most of the thinking around here, it really would be more accurate.

Not that I get out much anymore. At 12, I’m a mature tabby, and really, keeping up this fine tiger-striped coat takes a good deal of time. No, I leave the adventures, such as they are, to Pru. She’s half in love with that old muscle car of hers, anyway, driving around this little podunk – excuse me, scenic – Berkshires town. And now that she can hear us, she’s always getting in trouble. Saving the animals, she calls it. Saving humans from themselves is more like it, though, yes, I’ll admit it. Sometimes my fellow quadrupeds do need a human hand to help them out.

Take this Persian, for example. Now, as a proper cat, I have little use for those flat faces. But this girl? I don’t care about the gun powder in her white fur – she could bathe, you know. I don’t believe she shot her person. From what I hear about the other humans in that household – that scolding wife, the pretty but vapid “aide” – I think old Donal was the best of the bunch. At any rate, a gun – even a rare antique dueling pistol – is not a weapon for a cat. No, I think Pru may be right on this one. I think someone has framed that cat. You humans have an expression, something about a “cat’s paw,” don’t you?

Still, couldn’t Pru leave it to Jim Creighton, that handsome young cop? I like the way he pets me, smoothing my thick fur down right. He likes her, too, though she can be a bit odd around lawmen. Maybe it’s because of her history. She’s been a bit of a wild one. Maybe it’s because her ex is in town. Now he’s feisty, a regular old tomcat. I don’t know what his connection is with the Persian, or with that gun, but I’m sure Pru will figure it out. I’ll help, of course. After my nap.



This blog originally ran on Dru's Book Musings: http://notesfromme.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/wallis-the-tabby-by-clea-simon/

Pru gets another starred review from Booklist! Thank you!

"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

Gun? What gun?

"That ain't mine." Here it is, the real final (sans a review quote) cover for Cats Can't Shoot, the second Pru Marlowe pet noir, out April 3, 2012.

Wowza! Library Journal is on the pre-pub ALERT!!

I opened the LJ pre-pub alerts, because I saw it had a Mysteries Jan-April 2012 and I thought, hmm.. maybe one of my books will get a mention. Well, I got most of a whole subsection AND a cover!!!

excerpt below:

Purr
In Clea Simon’s Cats Can’t Shoot: A Pru Marlowe Pet Noir (Poisoned Pen. Apr. 2012. 250p. ISBN 9781590583258. $24.95; pap. ISBN 9781590588697. $14.95), animal psychic Pru Marlowe learns that a White Persian supposedly jostled a fancy dueling pistol, setting if off and killing her owner. But is this puss really responsible? Simon’s Grey Expectations(Severn House. Apr. 2012. 208p. ISBN 9780727881342. $27.95) is the next Dulcie Schwartz mystery, featuring the ghost cat Mr. Grey and the kitten Esmé, who are cozying up to Dulcie’s boyfriend even as she investigates a colleague’s murder. Marian Babson’s No Co-operation from the Cat (Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Mar. 2012. 288p. ISBN 9780312332402. $24.99) features harried Martha, who’s frantically testing recipes for a cookbook when she discovers that the author originally chosen for the book died eating one of the recipes. Japanese bobtail Cho-Cho-San helps out.

http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/2011/11/prepub/what-else-is-hot/mystery-previews-february-through-april-2012/

Cats Can't Shoot!

No cover yet, but the pre-order for Cats Can't Shoot (Pru Marlowe pet noir #2) is up at Amazon, which sort of makes it all feel real. The delivery date for this book is April 3, 2012. The fourth Dulcie Schwartz mystery, Grey Expectations (US edition), is due to be released on April 1 (unless that's some kind of a joke...). Which means, once again, this spring I'll have two books out. Whee!

My agent likes it!

She loves that I'm developing/revealing more of Pru's character, she found the plot nicely complex (and at one point suspected a red herring - ha!). In short, Cats Can't Shoot – the followup to Dogs Don't Lie in the Pru Marlowe pet psychic series – is a go. Once I read it through one more time for myself, of course. Whee!

Back to work

So after two FABULOUS events – thank you, Partners & Crime and Brookline Booksmith! – I am back to work! Still buzzing about all the people who came out – old friends, new ones, readers with great questions all – I'm now diving back into the second Pru book, tentatively titled, "Cats Can't Shoot." I finished the draft a few weeks ago, which means that it's almost new to me. I can see the flaws (hope I'm catching all of them!) and I'm at that point where I jump out of the shower to jot down notes to myself, like "Expensive handbag is awkward!" Then, later, I try to remember what I meant. It's all part of the process and by the time I do my next reading (May 17 at Harvard Book Store!) I will be through at least one more draft. So... back to work!

Happy DOGS DON'T LIE Day!

Yes, Dogs Don't Lie, the first Pru Marlowe pet noir, has been available for a bit now, but today is the official publication date! I've been so busy, I almost forgot to post that, but now I have. Pru and Wallis are officially launched! Much rejoicing here at Chez Musetta.

Thank you, Examiner!

Love the quotes she chose. Love the four stars, too!

Review of Dogs Don't Lie by Pamela Kramer, The Examiner:

Dogs Don't Lie by Clea Simon is a clever mystery sure to charm animal lovers who enjoy mysteries. Even lovers of mysteries who aren't animal lovers will enjoy the twists and turns that meander through this story, the first in the Pru Marlowe Pet Noir series.

Pru Marlowe, who is almost a certified animal behaviorist, finds her client dead and his rescued pit bull free in the house. Of course, public opinion (and that of the police) is that the dog did it.

What no one knows (except Pru's cat) is that Pru can communicate with animals. It's a skill that almost drove her crazy, but she has effectively come to terms with her special talent.

The story is told in first person narrative--a perfect choice for hearing Pru's voice clearly when she talks about her "talent" and communicating with the animals. A clever note is that the animals (including an opinionated ferret) have names for themselves which are not the same as the names that humans call them.

Pru's cat is another opinionated. character. She seems quite a bit more intelligent than the average cat, but then if one doesn't communicate with cats regularly, how would one know the relative intelligence of a cat? An example of Wallis's dialogue: "Dogs." Wallis hissed out the word, as close to a curse as she comes. "They lie."

Not heavy reading, this is a perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter night. Or a balmy summer evening. Visit Clea's website and read about her other titles. Cleverly titled, they are clearly all in a cat-egory of their own: Probable Claws, Mew is for Murder, Cattery Row, and Cries & Whiskers.

Lovers of Spencer Quinn's mysteries starring Chet the detective dog (Dog On It, Thereby Hangs a Tail, and To Fetch a Thief) will enjoy reading Clea Simon's stories.

Scent bottles and other gun terms...

I love writing, but sometimes research takes the cake. I'm getting ready to start the second Pru Marlowe pet noir and have been immersed in the world of antique guns. In some ways this is silly: the collectible that appears in the first scene of this next book will probably not be seen again after page 30. But I want to get it right. And besides, when you start researching something esoteric like this, you uncover a whole world of experts and trivia. Did you know about scent-bottle powder holders? No, neither did I.

Looking ahead....

OK, I admit I am psyched that Dogs Don't Lie, my first Pru Marlowe pet noir mystery, is already listed as available for preorder on Amazon (and I promise, indie bookstores, as soon as you list it, too, I'll post links!) That book won't be published until April, 2011, but it was edited and accepted in June. But I just saw that Grey Zone, my third Dulcie Schwartz mystery, is also now listed on Amazon. It's not yet available for pre-order, just there so you can be notified when it becomes available. But still... I just sent the manuscript in last Monday and my editor hasn't even read it yet! I guess it's nice that they have such faith in me and Dulcie, huh? Maybe that's Mr. Grey's influence?

One down, one to go

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've been busy! DOGS DON'T LIE, the first Pru Marlowe mystery, is finally through revisions and on track to be published by Poisoned Pen Press next April. This cover isn't final, but it looks pretty good, doesn't it? (If you don't think so, please tell me - and why - before publisher commits to it!) Cover will have "A Pru Marlowe pet noir" on it somewhere, I am told.

Now I'm finishing up the third Dulcie Schwartz mystery, GREY ZONE. I'm now doing one of my favorite tricks - reading it through in a different typeface. I find I catch so many more errors and awkward passages that way. For me, Times Roman is the norm so reading a printout in Helvetica pushes me just enough out of my comfort zone. And, yes, I do recycle.

GREY ZONE is due to its publisher, Severn House, at the end of the month, which has had me feeling like I had plenty of time. Except that yesterday I got an email from my editor, asking if all was on track and could I send her a blurb. They'd like to publish GREY ZONE in December! (That's UK publication, US is usually three months later.) December 2010!! Yikes.

So it's back to work for me. One down, one to go....

Introducing Pru Marlowe and the genre of "pet noir"

From Publishers Marketplace:

"Mystery/Crime: Clea Simon's DOGS DON'T LIE, first in a new "pet noir" series featuring a bad-girl animal psychic and her sidekick, a crotchety tabby, to Annette Rogers at Poisoned Pen Press, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in April, 2011, by Colleen Mohyde at Doe Coover Agency."

More info when I have time - am now waiting to hear from editor on Dogs Don't Lie revisions and also finishing up Dulcie #3, tentatively titled "Grey Zone." So a little harried, but VERY HAPPY!!

Pet Noir on the radio!

"Dumb Beasts," the first Pru Marlowe story, will air on "Lit 103.3, Radio for the Ears," on WXOJ, 103.3, a low-power FM in Northampton, Mass. The show broadcasts original short stories every Tuesdays, at 1 p.m., and my offering will be in rotation with two others, airing on June 1, June 22, and July 13. On those days, it will also stream from the station's website at http://www.valleyfreeradio.org/ and sometime after it should be available as a podcast at the Lit 103.3 site, http://www.lit1033.com/.

I'm very excited to be part of this great show – especially because Pru and her sidekick, the crotchety tabby cat Wallis, will be making their debut in a full-length mystery next year, and that mystery is set in Western Mass.! More details as they firm up, but look for more pet noir soon....