Clea Simon's Blog, page 17

Happy book birthday to “A CAT ON THE CASE”!

Today’s the day! A Cat on the Case, the third “Witch Cats of Cambridge” cozy, is out today*! It’s been such a weird and trying time, and I know I’m not the only writer who had trouble concentrating over the last ten months. But the days are getting longer, the sun is getting stronger – and vaccines are being distributed! Yes, we’ve got a few dark months ahead, but what better way to pass the time – and celebrate – than with a new #cat #cozy mystery?

I wish I could be doing bookstore events. I’d so love to sit around and talk to all of you! Soon, I hope, soon… until then, if you have any questions or just want to chat, won’t you reach out? I’d also love it if you would help get the word out by posting reviews or notices. Thisbe and I will be most grateful. Purrs and pets to all! – Clea

“Fans of feline cozies will be charmed.”– Publishers Weekly

“Cat-loving cozy fans with a taste for the paranormal will find a lot to like in this third in the series.” – Booklist

“Clea Simon’s “A Cat on the Case” has everything I could want from a cozy cat mystery: thrills, chills, a bit of romance, a bit of witchcraft, a bit of murder, and a whole lot of cats” – Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries

*As with so much else this winter, there are some snags. Due to pandemic-related printing problems, some paper copies of A Cat on the Case may be delayed. We expect them to ship soon though – and the e-books are available for instant download. If you’ve ordered a printed book and it has been delayed, please do let me know! Thisbe and I will send you a little something to make up for the delay!

“Another winner for cat cozy fans”

Wow, thank you! WIth all my attention focused on the inauguration, I almost missed this rave review for A Cat On the Case from Mollie Hunt, over at Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries. I’m thrilled to post it now!

Review: A CAT ON THE CASE, A Witch Cats of Cambridge Mystery #3

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Mollie Hunt

ANOTHER WINNER FOR CAT COZY FANS (and the rest of you, too)

Clea Simon’s “A Cat on the Case” has everything I could want from a cozy cat mystery: thrills, chills, a bit of romance, a bit of witchcraft, a bit of murder, and a whole lot of cats.

Told basically from the cats’ point of view, this 3rd in the Witch Cats of Cambridge series chronicles the life of Becca Colwin, a young witchy wanna-be. Becca imagines she has powers, but in reality, it all comes down to her cats. Like most dedicated cat cohabitors, Becca thinks her cats are special, but she has no idea just how special they really are. The three littermates descend from a long line of magical cats. Laurel, the Siamese, can put ideas into people’s heads. Harriet, the eldest, a floofy Persian, can form objects out of thin air. Clara, the little calico, is just beginning to learn the extent of her mystical skills, but she knows her purpose—to protect Becca at all costs.

After Becca’s new next-door neighbor is murdered, Clara shades herself, becoming essentially invisible to the human eye, in order to bodyguard Becca as she tries to help young music student Ruby. Ruby has got herself mixed up in a plot that goes way over her head. What does Ruby know about the murder? Is she an innocent bystander, or is she involved? With Becca’s life in danger and no clue who to trust, Becca is blessed to have the aid of the cats.

As a cat person who loves cozy mysteries, I enjoyed everything about “A Cat on the Case.” In spite of their paranormal abilities, Clea writes the cats in such a way that they come across as real, true felines. Even as they do their magic, their behavior remains completely cat. Romance, witchcraft, history, music, and cats, cats, cats make this book a fun and fulfilling read.

A day with Becca Colwin

Thanks to award-winning book blog Dru’s Book Musings, today I got to showcase the human heroine of A Cat on the Case. What fun!

Becca Colwin by Clea Simon

Jan 22, 2021 | A Day In My Life

A friend is supposed to have your back, right?

I wish I didn’t have to even think about this right now. This winter has been hard on everyone, and with my building going condo, I’ve got enough to worry about. Thank the Goddess, my position at Charm and Cherish seems safe – I’ve got three cats to feed! Though with foot traffic down, I’m not sure how long the sisters can keep the little magic shop going. But to have reliable old Maddy doubt me? Well, that’s a lot.

I understand that she doesn’t like my coven. She says that our spells are bunk and that as a researcher – a former researcher – I should know better, especially since only one of them has ever really worked. But I think she’s just a little jealous of our weekly circles, and she’s gone too far now to join us. I also get that she doesn’t like me setting myself up as a witch detective. She wants me to get a regular job, like she has.

But I can’t turn my back on my powers. Especially now that someone really needs my help. Ruby only came to this country to study music. It’s not her fault that her landlord was murdered, no matter what Maddy suspects. Besides, my cats seem to like Ruby. Laurel, the Siamese, is really fond of her violin, and Harriet has allowed Ruby to sit on “her” pillow. True, Clara – my little calico – is more curious about Ruby than her littermates. But Clara always acts as if she’s taking care of me, instead of vice versa.

Sometimes I think that Clara and Maddy are on the same page. Both of them behave as if they’re responsible for my safety – or like, maybe, they know a more about what’s going on than I do. But that’s crazy, right? Because Clara is only a cat. And Maddy, my best friend, should have a little faith in me – even if she doesn’t understand the obligations of a fledgling witch detective.

A Cat on the Case by Clea Simon, Witch Cats of Cambridge Mystery #3
Genre: Cozy
Release: January 2021
Purchase Link

When a panicked stranger shows up at Charm and Cherish seeking advice – and maybe something more, Becca Colwin knows it’s her duty to help. The aspiring witch detective understands how challenging the city can be for a young woman alone, especially as the New England winter tightens its frigid grip. Plus, with her apartment building going condo, Becca needs all the clients she can get in case she has to find a new home for herself and her three cats.

But when that stranger disappears, leaving behind her heirloom violin, the case grows complicated – and the discovery of a dead body right next door puts Becca in danger from the law… and maybe a murderer as well. Although Becca’s cats don’t want her to get any more involved, they know their person won’t abandon the young musician who seems likely to be framed for the crime. The three littermates – bossy Harriet, manipulative Laurel, and gentle Clara, the calico baby of the litter – may squabble like all sisters, but each of the magical cats must use her particular skill if they’re going to keep Becca safe. Together the three felines must untangle a web of deceit and intrigue complicated by the history they share with the person they are sworn to protect.

About the Author 
A former journalist, Clea Simon is the Boston Globe-bestselling author of three nonfiction books and nearly 30 mysteries. These alternate between cozies, like her new A Cat on the Case, the third witch cat of Cambridge mystery (out Jan. 26 from Polis Books), and the darker psychological suspense of World Enough(Severn House), a Massachusetts Book Awards “must read,” and her upcoming Hold Me Down (Polis Books). She can be reached at cleasimon.com.

Gabriel Valjan: The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You

Thrilled to host Gabriel Valjan here today. Gabriel’s a fellow Bostonian and a music fan, and his novels of suspense are chock full of the kind of sensual detail that make them perfect for a winter escape. His latest, Symphony Road revisits a Boston I remember, bringing back the down-on-his-luck private detective Shane Cleary from last year’s aptly named Dirty Old Town. Take it away, Gabriel!

,Thank you, Clea, for having me guest-post on your site. I am grateful. Like some of my author friends, I’m trying to promote my latest book, Symphony Road, in the middle of a pandemic and, like every American, find myself glued to the screen watching awful history in real time. However proud I can be about having another Shane Cleary Mystery out in the world, it seems irrelevant. I struggled with what I could write about here, after having written several essays for several blogs, but then I realized that we have something in common besides writing mysteries.

Music.

You wrote a delicious noir story called World Enough, with two different timelines. You exercised Memory, Then and Now, with Then being the 80s punk scene in Boston. I thought a few words about the role of music in the two Shane novels might interest you. We first meet Shane Cleary in Dirty Old Town. He’s a former cop, ostracized for testifying against a brother in blue who murdered a kid in a housing project. It’s a racial crime, at a time when Boston was one spark away from burning to the ground over the busing crisis in South Boston in 1974. Shane lives in Boston’s South End. He’s hard up for cash and takes a gig, looking into the potential blackmail of a Boston Brahmin. Problem one is he can’t stand his client. Problem two is wife of said client is Shane’s first love. Fires of one kind or another are a recurring theme in the series.

In the course of his investigation, Shane visits a gay nightclub, where in the background a crucial song is playing: Donna Summer’s Love to Love You plays in the background. It’s 1975, so the track is on a German bootleg. Everyone knows that Donna is both a gay icon and synonymous with 70s music, but what they might not know is that she fled to Germany because she had witnessed a murder, and she was scared for her life. She’d been threatened not to take the stand. Anyway, the song is sexual, to say the least, and her voice defined disco.

In Symphony Road, there is more music at another gay club, but I don’t name the tunes; only that each floor of the hotspot plays different music in line with the choice of recreational drug. Incidentally, both clubs were real places in Seventies Boston. In Symphony Road, however, an older song haunts Shane. Frank Valli and the Four Seasons’ December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) torments Shane because it reminds him of his father’s suicide and his mother’s subsequent death from a broken heart. He turns the dial whenever he hears it. I think we can all relate to how a few bars of a song can fling us back in time, to a pleasant or unpleasant experience. First love. Heartbreak. Family. In later installments of the series, certain songs will rekindle Shane’s brutal memories of his time in Vietnam.

No spoilers here, but I use music in an action scene in Symphony Road. It’s really a tip of the hat to a group that I thought should’ve received a whole lotta love but didn’t. Borrowed Time by Fanny is playing on the radio. Like the group Heart with sisters Ann and Nancy, Fanny was seen as a cover band, a knockoff of Cream or Zeppelin, but I think that does the Millington sisters, June and Jean, and their band mates a huge disservice. Oh, fun fact. Patti Quatro, sister to Susi Quatro, played guitar. And we now come full circle back to your Eighties scene because Fanny influenced The Bangles and all-girl punk bands such as The Runaways and the Go-Go’s. I don’t quote Nickey Barclay’s lyrics, for legal reasons, but just the song’s title Borrowed Time is ominous and suggestive enough.

In the end, the rhythm is gonna get someone.

Gabriel lives in Boston’s South End. He is the author of the Roma series and The Company Files (Winter Goose Publishing) and the Shane Cleary mysteries (Level Best Books). Whether it’s contemporary Italy, a mystery set during the Cold War, or Seventies Boston with his Shane Cleary, he is known for a turn of phrase and crisp spare prose. His second Company Files novel, The Naming Game, was a finalist for the Agatha Award for Best Historical Mystery and the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original in 2020. Gabriel is a member of the Historical Novel Society, International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. Shane’s cat is named Delilah, but Gabriel’s feline is called Munchkin.

Thanks, Obama!

Oh, how I wish #44 was still our president. Not the least because then he probably wouldn’t have had time to write A Promised Land, his current bestseller (and tops on my TBR list). I have nothing against Obama’s huge post-presidential success – remember how lovely it was to have a literate leader? – but I do have a slight grudge against his bestsellerdom. The runaway success of his latest is supposedly adding to the pandemic supply chain issues that have complicated publishing recently – creating paper shortages and backups at printing plants. Now I hear that my own A Cat on the Case may be delayed because of these industry-wide issues.

The paper copies, due to ship on January 26, may now be delayed by weeks – shipping as late as Feb. 23. (This is the IndieBound link for those who want to shop local.) We – me and my publisher Polis Books – are hoping that’s an outside estimate, and they may ship weeks earlier. Plus, as of today, it looks like the kindle and other ebook formats will come out on time – and there’s an audiobook in the works! But for those of us who like to hold a hardcover, well… this endless winter just got a few weeks longer.

(A quick tip: If you’re looking RIGHT NOW for some light-hearted fun for these dark times, I recommend Andrew Shaffer’s Obama/Biden mysteries, Hope Never Dies and Hope Rides Again. Especially now.)

“Incantation” a Top Five cat book!

The Conscious Cat blog covers all things cat – from health and behavior to feline fiction. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to have two books in blogger Ingrid King’s 2020 top five (one – Fear on Four Paws – is from a previous year, but no complaints!). Her list leads off with my An Incantation of Cats, saying: “The second book in Clea Simon’s Witch Cats of Cambridge series, which mixes mystery with a touch of the paranormal and a little romance, was just as irresistible as the first one. If you enjoy feline-centric mysteries, fantasy, and a touch of magic and romance, you will love this series.”

As Ingrid explains, “I don’t keep track of the number of books I read each year, but my best guess is somewhere between 150 and 200, and at least half of them have something to do with cats. I review books here on The Conscious Cat on a regular basis .

I made a commitment to myself long ago that I would never post a bad book review. I feel that every author pours his or her heart and soul into a book, and just because I don’t like a book doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not a good book. As a result, if you see a book reviewed here on the site, it means that I really liked it.

Read her full list (or sign up for the blog) here.

Here’s to a cozy Jólabókaflóðið!

It’s here! The Icelandic “book flood,” my new favorite holiday. Since today’s forecast here in Massachusetts is for blowy, cold rain, I can’t imagine a better way to spend the day! Some of you (you know who you are) have advance copies of my January cozy, A Cat on the Case* (typos and all!). And I know that many of my writer friends are hard at work re-reading or revising their own manuscripts. But I’m looking forward to finishing Emma Donoghue’s Life Mask (an older book I’ve somehow missed), and then moving on to Kawai Strong Washburn’s Sharks in the Time of Saviors, one of the Boston Globe’s best of the year. Maybe you’ve already downloaded the e-book of Masthead: Best New England Crime Stories – the new anthology from Level Best Books (if so, please let me know what you think of my story, “The Inside Job”). The collection is also available as a paperback, if you want a copy you can hold.

Are you cuddled up with a book today? Please share what you’re reading – or what you’re hoping to unwrap and dive into during the long nights ahead?

*Just found out that A Cat on the Case will be an audiobook too! (Like A Spell of Murder and An Incantation of Cats are, too. Same reader).

You guys, it’s almost here!!

The Great Conjunction, that is! Jupiter and Saturn will be as close as they’ve been in almost 800 years tonight – Dec. 21:

All the candles..

To celebrate the last night of Chanukah, I can’t resist sharing this Daveed Diggs ditty: “A Puppy for Chanukah.” May all your dreams come true!

E-book sale THIS WEEK ONLY!

Now’s your chance to cozy up with some of my cat cozies – Dogs Don’t Lie, Cats Can’t Shoot, and Cries and Whiskers are on sale for $1.99 this week only on all platforms (that means, Kindle, Google Play, Nook…) These links are only good Dec. 15 through Dec. 22, so act fast! (Click on any of the covers to go to that book’s page.)