A day in the life of Dulcie Schwartz, grad student

Good morning. Thank you for meeting me here, in the library. I know it sounds funny to say, after five years of research, that I am under the gun. But the truth is, I am. You see, I’m working on my doctoral thesis and every day counts. I don’t want to be Dulcie Schwartz “ABD” – all but dissertation – and so I really have to get to work.

That said, I’m happy to talk with you. Sometimes, I know, I can get a little caught up in my own head. Even though my boyfriend, Chris, is an applied science student, a computer geek, I know I tend to stick with the bookish types in the English and American Literature and Languages department, my friend Trista, especially. And we do tend to keep to ourselves. Which, come to think of it, may be why none of them have stumbled across a dead body in a while.

Ghosts? Do I believe in ghosts? Of course not! Yes, you’ve probably heard that Lucy, my mother, is a former hippie and that I was raised on a commune. And, yes, she’s always calling me to tell me that Jupiter is aligned with Venus or that she’s had some dream or other. But that’s part of the reason I’m a graduate student. I believe in the life of the mind. In rational thought. In reason – and in books. Well, yes, I am visited on occasion by the shade of Mr. Grey. But Mr. Grey was a special cat, a very special pet, and he only comes by to keep me company sometimes, when I get down. Well, yes, sometimes he has helped me out, but not too much. I mean, you wouldn’t expect a cat to tell you what to do – or who to suspect, would you? Why should a ghost cat be any different?

Right now, though, I could use some help. You see, the acting head of my department has been looking at me funny. He seems to think I’m involved in the theft of a real treasure, the Dunster Codex. Yes, I know it’s only a book – but a very ancient and rare one. But I swear I’ve only seen it once or twice, and I know Trista isn’t involved, whatever the cops are saying. Though, no, come to think of it, I don’t have any idea where she has disappeared to, either. Mr. Grey, could you help?


This blog originally ran in Dru's Book Musings: http://notesfromme.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/dulcie-schwartz-by-clea-simon/

"ENCHANTING!" PW loves GREY EXPECTATIONS

And I am over the moon:
Grey Expectations:
A Dulcie Schwartz Feline Mystery
Clea Simon. Severn, $27.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-7278-8134-2
Simon’s enchanting fourth Dulcie Schwartz mystery (after 2011’s Grey Zone) finds Harvard grad student Dulcie still at work on her doctoral thesis on late 18th-century gothic fiction and still trying to identify the anonymous author of “her long-time favorite adventure,” The Ravages of Umbria. Esmé, Dulcie’s telepathic tuxedo kitten, provides distraction. When an 11th-century manuscript, the Dunster Codex, goes missing from the rare book collection in the Widener Annex, suspicion falls on Dulcie’s brash Victorian studies friend, Trista, whom the police already suspect of having something to do with the disappearance of visiting scholar Roland Galveston. Dulcie, aided by her ghostly cat, Mr. Grey, and her live-in boyfriend, Chris Sorenson, seeks to solve the puzzle, which soon takes a murderous turn. Fans of academic paranormal cat cozies will be in heaven. Agent: Colleen Mohyde, Doe Coover Agency. (May)

"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

"A good solid mystery..." Thank you, Bristol Public Library!

Review from the Bookblog of the Bristol Library

Things finally seem to be looking up for graduate student Dulcie Schwartz. She’s settled in with her boyfriend Chris after her own apartment was destroyed and things are good between them. Her new kitten Esme is becoming dearer to her every day, even if she does like to nip. Dulcie still gets a word or two of comfort and wisdom from her dearly departed cat, Mr. Grey, although he insists on being cryptic. Best of all, she is finally making some progress on her thesis about The Ravages of Umbria, an incomplete gothic novel written in the eighteenth century by an unknown author. Dulcie is determined to try to identify her and try to discover what happened to this courageous, free-thinking woman. Dulcie’s so obsessed that she’s begun to dream about her.

A frantic phone call turns everything upside down. Dulcie’s friend and fellow student Trish calls to say the police have been by to question her and that she’s suspected of homicide. In her efforts to help, Dulcie finds people sometimes aren’t who they claim to be, that books may be haunted, and a valuable clue to her mystery author may be hiding in plain sight.

This is the fifth in the Dulcie Schwartz series and for me, it’s the most successful. Simon has found the perfect tone—voice, if you will—for Mr. Grey and Esme, and given Dulcie some much needed stability in her life. She feels more comfortable with herself. Having a ghostly guide is a problematical thing in most books; either our heroine (it’s usually a she) keeps fighting the idea or else serves as a deus ex machina to clear up plot lines. Having a ghostly guide who’s a cat may sound just too precious for words, but it’s handled very well. Mr. Grey, while offering a word or two, believes kittens, be they human or feline, need to find their own way in the world; he tends to limit his comments to general instructions, such as “Things are not always as they seem.” Mostly he is there for a bit of psychic moral support which Dulcie needs after a life of near-rootlessness and abandonment by her father. I especially like the dynamic in this book between Mr. Grey and Esme, who have brief conversations; he treats Esme much the same way he treats Dulcie.

Equally pleasurable is the parallel that runs between Dulcie’s life and that of her unknown author. Dulcie is so close to the work that she doesn’t see, leaving the reader to feel a bit like Mr. Grey, knowing that we see something Dulcie can’t. The cast of characters, especially Dulcie’s New Age mother, are likeable. English majors will identify with Dulcie’s frustrations in researching and proving her thesis, but non-academics won’t have any trouble following that aspect of the book. In fact, I’m beginning to become as curious as Dulcie as to who this author might have been!

In short, this is a good solid mystery which is fun without being silly, and which melts my cat lover’s heart whenever Esme and/ or Mr. Grey are on the scene!

Dulcie-E!

It has taken a little longer than expected, but the Dulcie Schwartz mysteries are going to be e-books! Look for Shades of Grey, Grey Matters, and Grey Zone to be available in your favorite e-format on March 1, 2012 (that's only three months, folks) - check your favorite venue or go right to the source, my publisher Severn House. Grey Expectations will debut as an ebook when that book comes out in April. And yes, True Grey, is already in the works! Grey Expectations will also be an audiobook in April, thanks to Dreamscape Audio Books... if that does well, the others might be as well. We already knew that Mr Grey could transcend his earthly form. Now it seems he's taking his friends along into the ether!

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!

Unveiling my GREY EXPECTATIONS cover!

Coming in 2012 from Severn House! Preorder here.

Mass market Mr Grey!

Coming next month from Worldwide – a mass-market paperback edition of "Shades of Grey." (This first Dulcie Schwartz feline mystery is now available as a trade paperback from Severn House.) I'll post a link when it becomes available, but in the meantime, here's the new cover!

Kindling Dulcie!

Yes! Dulcie and Mr Grey are going to be ebooks. My upcoming - Grey Expectations - will be released as an ebook about eight months after publication (next fall, probably). But my lovely publisher is working to get the first three mysteries - Shades of Grey, Grey Matters, and Grey Zone - into ebook by the holidays! Yay! And yes, Dogs Don't Lie is already available in a kindle edition. Ereaders rejoice! (And now I no longer have to feel conflicted about having one).

Grey Zone sighting!

From my lovely agent: "GREY ZONE" on the front desk at the Winchester Public Library. And... great news, folks, GREY EXPECTATIONS is a go! My editor loves it, I'm working on some tiny revisions, and we're talking cover ideas. WHEE!

I am...

I am thrilled. I am exhausted. I am a little melancholy. I am ... done.

The hesitation is because I have finished the first draft of the fourth Dulcie Schwartz and Mr Grey mystery, tentatively titled GREY EXPECTATIONS, for my lovely publishers Severn House. But as you and I know, that really means I have a ton more work to do. First, the revisions: Do I have clues that make no sense? Does any character change his name (or eye color) in the middle? Is there enough of both my feline characters to be true to this kitty-centric series? That's what I will find out (I hope) when I start to re-read and revise. Then, of course, the ms. goes off to my agent, and I get her input. Then the whole editing process starts.

But right now, I want to relax and enjoy what I've achieved: an entire story, from the first disappearance to the final resolution. Another visit with old friends. I'm a little sad, actually. Now I know what happens, and so to some extent the adventure is over for me. I get to spend more time with these characters, toning up their voices and observations. But... but... but...

Well, that's what long holiday weekends are for, right? I'll rest up and attack GREY EXPECTATIONS again on Monday.

Booklist calls "Grey Zone" a "MUST READ"!

"The fast-paced story is propelled by Dulcie’s frenetic investigations and harried personal life, but unlike in many cozies—in which the mystery plot is lost amid the personal detail—here the many scenes from Dulcie’s life actually support the main story. ... a must read."

Full review:

Publication: BOOKLIST

Issue: 1ST MAY 2011


Simon, Clea. Grey Zone: A Dulcie Schwartz Mystery. Severn House. May 2011. c.216p. ISBN 9780727869920. $28.95.

Graduate student Dulcie Schwartz and her ghostly feline, Mr. Grey, return in a third academia-set cozy. Dulcie, stressed with midterms and a new thesis adviser, is also having dreams about the author of Ravages of Umbria (her thesis subject) that have her convinced that the author was in someway silenced in 1794. And then she not only witnesses a suicide but thinks one of her undergraduate students may be involved. The fast-paced story is propelled by Dulcie’s frenetic investigations and harried personal life, but unlike in many cozies—in which the mystery plot is lost amid the personal detail—here the many scenes from Dulcie’s life actually support the main story, whether they are Dulcie’s phone calls with her commune-dwelling mother, Dulcie’s kitten troubles, or her worries about long-time boyfriend and fellow grad-student, Chris. A must read for series fans, the novel should also be suggested to Lauren Willig and Jennifer Lee Carrell readers.

And thank you (again), Library Journal!

A new mystery columnist takes over – but she relates to Dulcie and Grey Zone!

Simon, Clea. Grey Zone: A Dulcie Schwartz Mystery. Severn House. May 2011. c.216p. ISBN 9780727869920. $28.95. M
Dulcinea Schwartz’s life as a Harvard grad student is more complicated than most. She’s a bit psychic; has a ghost cat, Mr. Grey, for a muse; and is already known to the local police for earlier cases (Grey Matters). And then she just happens to be on the scene when a professor falls to his death from his department’s building. At the same time, her research into a 1794 feminist author’s writings has stalled, and this gives Dulcie horrible nightmares that further complicate her thinking. VERDICT For those seeking mysteries with a gothic twist, Simon offers a supernatural cozy that also weaves in real-life issues (e.g., sexual harassment of students). Readers will relate to the academic politics and might also like Emily Arsenault’s The Broken Teaglass as a similar suspense puzzle. Or for the paranormal element, consider Sue Ann Jaffarian’s “Ghost of Granny Apples” series.

Bittersweet

Today, as I re-read two new lovely reviews of Grey Zone, I have a confession: I did not think I'd made this book, the third Dulcie Schwartz, a very good mystery. My reasons were good: Last spring, my mother was declining through a series of illnesses and health crises that were rapidly building on each other. By the middle of March last year, it was pretty clear she was dying, and she passed away before Grey Zone was finished. Those last days – and for the weeks after – the last thing I wanted to write about was more death. I loved spending time with Dulcie and her friends (and her cats). But murder? I had lost my taste for it. This made finishing this book difficult, and before I did, I went back and forth several times – changing the murder to something else, and back again. When I turned it in, I thought, "well, it's a decent book about Dulcie. I'll do better on the murder mystery aspect next time.

And today I get these two lovely reviews. PW calls Grey Zone, "the best in the series so far." I'm overwhelmed. It is the first anniversary of my mother's death. There's a candle burning on our mantelpiece to recall her. I've been feeling her loss freshly for a while now – that St. Patrick's day trip to the ER. The calls from the doctors. The rushed trips over... the decisions. And yet... good reviews. I guess the book came out better than I had thought. My mom would have been proud, I know that. Bittersweet.

It's official!

Dulcie and Mr. Grey will continue! Just got the contract for a fourth Dulcie Schwartz mystery! Yay! In the meantime, some of the just-out British editions of Grey Zone, the third Dulcie feline mystery, seem to be making their way to these shores. US release date is April, but if you can't wait...

GREY ZONE in the house!

The third Dulcie Schwartz mystery doesn't hit stores in the US until April. But it's now out in the UK, so I just got a lovely box from my publisher, Severn House. Here's my new desk set up, too.

My GREY ZONE cover

The kitten leaves her mark... Grey Zone, the third Dulcie Schwartz mystery, out in the UK in Dec., in the US in April:

Revisions and the restorative power of rock & roll

I'm re-reading Grey Zone this week - my editor loved it (yay!) but considering all the crap that went down this spring, she gave me a week to re-read/revise one more time. And I'm slogging along when, yesterday, I hit one of those passages where I wonder, "What the hell was I thinking?" Couldn't for the life of me figure it out.

Skip ahead a few hours: the Neighborhoods and Iggy Pop at House of Blues. Loving the Neighborhoods, who I used to go see in the '80s. The fact that they've stuck to it is proof that they're the real thing, artists, and the time has been put to good use. They know how to play. Then... Iggy. 63 and a little saggy, but still tough as nails. "Raw Power," wow. "I Wanna Be Your Dog" is transcendent. Mike Watt playing with his leg in a brace, the band just shredding. Wonderful.

And on my way out, I realize how to rework that passage. Sweet!

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....