Clea Simon's Blog, page 26

Five Questions with Judy Copek

You can’t be part of the New England crime fiction community and not know Judy Copek and her husband Hans. One of the co-founders of our annual CrimeBake conference, Judy is an organizer, reader, and supporter of us all, and her own novels showcase both her world travels and her deep background in both the Boston area and our mystery community. Her new novel, Chased by Death, takes us on the road – with a thrilling and dangerous ride.

How does a book start for you?

Normally, my novels start with a special place. The Shadow Warriors was born during a trip to Singapore and then jumped to my husband’s home town in Germany. World of Mirrors came to me after a visit to the Baltic. Festival Madness arrived after a couple of trips to Burning Man. However, my new book, Chased By Death, began with a character (Maxine) who began talking to me and telling me her story. Disconcerting, to say the least. Maxine told me how her ex-husband was murdered and who the bad guys were. She guided me from the Boston area to South Florida, and I kept writing like crazy until. . . she stopped. It was like she said, “Okay, that’s enough. You take it from here.” Mentally, I was sputtering. I fumed about her leaving me on my own a quarter of the way through the story. Then, I did what any writer would. I sat at my computer, gritting my teeth, and figuring out the rest of the plot out bit by bit. Hard work. 

Who in your latest book has surprised you most – and why?

The story has three points of view: Maxine, the protagonist; Lotto, the cartel boss (a boutique operation, not the cliched kind); and Honora, Maxine’s long-missing sister. All three of these characters have tragic back stories. Lotto and the sister are not the finest people, and it was intriguing to get into their heads and think like a bad person. And Lotto is funny, although he doesn’t mean to be. Being a bad guy can be fun. 

When and/or where is your latest book set and is there a story behind that setting?

Chased By Death is a road novel as well as a woman-in-jeopardy novel.

It begins in a Boston suburb, and then we take the long, harrowing drive on I-95 to South Florida. I have friends there, and for years I supported software from a company headquartered in Delray Beach, so I knew the area. I’d been to Key West, but I made a special research visit  to nail down some details. When the bad guys find Maxine, she and her new boyfriend, his daughter, and a kitten jump in his motor home and race up I-95 again to Boston to get into a safety deposit box. They head for the West where Maxine’s sister is reputed to be. This is a cross country trek to Reno and ultimately the Nevada desert north of Reno with Lotto’s thugs always after them. Our family took road trips with our children when they were small, so I knew the rigors of travel with a kid. My son  now lives one hundred miles north of Reno (“where the pavement ends and the west begins.”) Many visits to his tiny burg familiarized me with the Nevada desert where the showdown is set. 

What are you working on now?

Murder in the Northwoods is scheduled for publication either late this year or early next. 

In my work in process, again, place dictated the story, which is a murder mystery set in south-central Kansas  during the wheat harvest in the summers of 1953 and present time. The setting is a small Mennonite town where my grandparents were born and my mom grew up (and left). I thought it would be easy–just write it from the top of my head, as I had made frequent visits there as a child.  Wrong! Everything changes including the Mennonites. I connected with a group in Cambridge who were welcoming and gave me advice of where to visit and what to see.  When I made my research trip, visiting museums, colleges and archives, everyone was so accommodating and friendly that I almost felt I was “back home,” especially after a visit to my grandfather’s house. (How did it shrink so much?) I had to learn the details of how wheat was harvested and how a combine works.  Writing in two periods has turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected, but I’m plugging away. Learning about 50’s music and movies and old-timey expressions has been fun. One of the pleasures of being a writer is that I love learning new things. 

Which question didn’t I ask you that I should have? 

What was your first book?

Witness Be Wary, my learn-to-write book, is still on my computer. It was so bad in plotting and character motivation that it was never published, but I have cannibalized bits and pieces from it.  It was set in Cambridge’s Central and Kendall Squares where I worked at the time.  The area I wrote about in the ’80s is almost unrecognizable in  2019.  Just like small town Kansas between the ’50s and now.  Everything changes, except the joys and agonies of writing. 

Judith’s current novel, Chased By Death, is a woman-in-jeopardy story that ranges from Boston to Northern Nevada.  In 2017, Judith and her husband were honored with the first New England Crimebake Lifetime Achievement Award. Short stories and memoir as well as three earlier novels are part of her published writing. She blogs at www.lynx-sis.blogspot.com .

Looking ahead to Boskone!

Do you know about Boskone? I went for the first time last year and just loved this friendly, engaging fan- and reader-centered con. I love my crime fiction world, but as someone with at least a toe in fantasy/speculative fiction (witch cats, anyone?), I am thrilled to be going back to New England’s longest-running science fiction and fantasy convention Feb. 14–16!

One of the nice things the Boskone crew does in the run up to the con is publish these mini-interviews with participants, so we all have an idea of who is going to be there. Here’s mine (along with costumer/illustrator Sarah Morrison and fellow author Steven Popkes).

Oh, ok, here it is:

Clea Simon

The author of more than two dozen mysteries featuring cats, three nonfiction books, and one punk rock urban noir, World Enough (Severn House), Clea Simon likes to keep busy. The Boston Globe best-selling author’s most recent mysteries range from the dystopian black-cat narrated Cross My Path (Severn House) (the third Blackie & Care mystery) and the snarky pet noir Fear on Four Paws (Poisoned Pen) (Pru Marlowe #7) to the cozy A Spell of Murder, the first Witch Cats of Cambridge mystery, which Polis Books will publish in December. Clea lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband and one (1) cat. She can be reached at http://www.cleasimon.com

Visit Clea on their Twitter or website.

What is it about Boskone that makes this the convention you choose to attend each year?

Or if this is your first Boskone, what attracted you most to Boskone this year?

The level of engagement! Seriously, I go to a lot of cons and what struck memost last year (my first year) was not only how much people had read but how engaged they were in the topics. Serious discussionis rare these days. Serious discussion of the ethics of paranormal cats even more so – and at a con? Just love how committed everyone is, and really want to bring it myself.

Looking back, what was the first piece of work (whether it be from literature, cinema, art, music, video game, toy, or whatever it may be) that first made you love science-fiction and fantasy?

“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” I wish I could say something more esoteric, but I lived in Narnia for so many years (I was quite sure the woods between the worlds – from “The Magician’s Nephew” – was the beech forest behind my house). Possibly, Robert Graves’”The Big Green Book” might come close, with those wonderful Sendak illustrations and that big, floppy dog (who never chased rabbits again…)

What will you be working on in 2020? Any new releases or dates that fans should be looking forward to hearing about?

“An Incantation of Cats,” my second Witch Cats of Cambridge, came out in January). Once again, three littermates must help their human, and in this second outing has the magical feline sisters learning to work together. I love my quirky witch cats. I hope readers do too! (I’m going to be setting up events but don’t have anything yet).

If you could bring any object or device into the real world from fiction or film, and it would work perfectly, what would you choose? Why would you choose that item?

I have often thought the elven rope that Galadriel gives Sam would be useful. Especially as I am crap at knots.

“Simply a fun book…”

“There is no denying that this is simply a fun book,” writes Mary on Goodreads.

“There are many creative twists both in the human and feline sides of the story. Some of the things Becca does defy common sense, but the cats see to it that everything works out. As a reader, I found it hard to guess just how the story will end. However, I was pleased with how things worked out. This book has a touch of potential romance, moments that made me laugh as the cats fight as if they were human siblings, and just enough tension to keep me wondering about how things will ultimately work out.”

Thanks so much, Mary! For more advance reader reviews, please go to Goodreads.

The gift of a good read

Welcome to December! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did – and I’m particularly thankful that Chanukah is late this year, which means extra time for gift hunting (and wrapping). But since this is Cyber Monday, I’m using my usual author interview space to let you know about some holiday specific stories! Do you have a new story or book out for the holidays? A favorite read? Please share your seasonal suggestions below!

The wonderful Lois Winston‘s Drop Dead Ornaments, the seventth Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, is currently available for .99 cents through Dec. 24th. And for anyone who is a Kobo VIP subscriber, Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide, the eighth book in the series, is on sale for 40% off through Dec. 5th. (Click on Lois’s site for more details and additional links!)

Ilene Schneider’s Rabbi Aviva Cohen mysteries include Chanukah Guilt (also on kindle). Her website also features “Why nine candles for Chanukah? Questions you never thought to ask.”

Marty Wingate has a new holiday short story, “Christmas at Greenoak,” available at Amazon, Kobo, and all the usual links.

Edith Maxwell, writing at Maddie Day, has the novella “Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse” inn the collection Christmas Cocoa Murder.

Leigh Perry‘s Skeleton Sid gets all seasonal in his sixth outing, The Skeleton Stuffs a Stocking. (Check out the cool video on Leigh’s site, too.)

Donna Andrews‘s spunky protagonist Meg Langslow is back in Owl Be Home for Christmas her 26th cozy mystery outing.

Leslie Budewitz writes “I’m throwing a “Cozy Up to Christmas” party on my Facebook Author page from November 29 through December 15. Join me for guest authors, giveaways, fun chat about the holiday season, and videos of my hometown, the inspiration for Jewel Bay, “Montana’s Christmas Village.” 

Alice Duncan is offering a Christmas romance, called “Christmas Pie” (originally published under her pen name of Emma Craig).

Barb Goffman has had four holiday-themed short stories published. Three of them – “Christmas Surprise,” as well as “The Worst Noel” (originally published in The Gift of Murder) and “Truth and Consequences” (originally published in Mystery Times Ten) can be found in Don’t Get Mad, Get Even. (For more links to Barb’s stories, please see her website.)

Of course, my own A Spell of Murder is now available in trade paperback – and you could pre-order An Incantation of Cats, but that won’t be out until January. Too late for giving, but you could treat yourself!

Do you have a seasonal or holiday favorite? A new book or one you always re-read as the nights grow longer?

“Spell” in paperback

Yes! Just in time for holiday reading (and giving), A Spell of Murder is out in trade paperback. Same adorable cover, but lighter weight – and a bit less expensive too. Want a signed copy? Email me and we’ll figure it out!

Five Questions with Ang Pompano

I’ve been getting emails from Ang Pompano since I started writing crime fiction, and I always answer them. Ang is a stalwart of the New England Sisters in Crime (ok, he’s a Mister in Crime), and he’s tireless – always working on Crimebake or another organizational function. When he reaches out, its to help other writers. That’s why I’m so thrilled that, after numerous wonderful short stories and academic articles about our craft, he finally has debuted a full-length crime novel, When It’s Time For Leaving, and, for a change, we all get to crow about him. Congratulations, Ang! Everyone else…you’re in for a treat!

How does a book start for you?

I start with a subject that is of interest to me and that I hope resonates with the readers as well. It may be something from my personal life or a social issue that I think is important. Then I weave those issues into the mystery, always dropping a body very close to the beginning of the story. After all, the whodunit is what the reader is there for. I think that comes from years of writing short mystery fiction. In my debut novel, When It’s Time for Leaving, detective Al DeSantis has to deal with his father, Big Al, who has the early stages of dementia. That disease is a huge problem that Baby Boomers such as myself, have to deal with either as it concerns their parents or in some cases their spouses or even themselves. Big Al can’t remember his son, yet he expects to help his “new partner” Al solve the murder. Then I layer in other social issues. The story touches on everything from challenging traditional male values, scofflaw fathers, the pink tax, gay marriage, and out of control technology, all while trying to solve a mystery within a mystery.  Affects 

Who in your latest book has surprised you most – and why?

Big Al surprised me the most. I needed conflict, so I wanted to make him a narcissist in contrast to his son who is tough but has a great deal of empathy, even for people who have hurt him. Big Al left his family when Al was eight years old. Then twenty-eight years later he resurfaces deeding Al the Blue Palmetto Detective Agency. Al didn’t even know his father was alive. Big Al couldn’t or wouldn’t explain his past actions. But, as his son digs into his father’s past while investigating the murder he learns some things that explain the personalities of both the father and son. 

Where is your latest book set and is there a story behind that setting?

Most of the story takes place in Savannah, a town that I really love. But it was originally set on an island off the west coast of Florida. I wanted to write a cross between a traditional mystery and an action story. I had action scenes on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, and others involving alligators in the Everglades. Publishers didn’t want it because they had too many stories set in Florida. Savannah was an obvious choice because it has a big bridge and it’s near the Okefenokee Swamp which is loaded with alligators. I really lucked out on that. Still, it took a year to rewrite because, as you well know, setting is a character and it dictates the story in may ways.

What are you working on now?

I intended When It’s Time for Leaving to be a standalone. But I’m getting great feedback from reviewers and readers who say they want to see more of the DeSantis father-son team. So, I tabled my other projects to work on a sequel that’s a little more-high concept. I don’t really know what high concept means, but it’s what my agent told me to aim for. We’ll see if I can pull I off. 

Which question didn’t I ask you that I should have?

I guess you could have asked me how it feels to finally get a novel published after working toward that goal for so long. I’ve had short stories published and I’ve been associated with the mystery writing community for a long time. But in my eyes, I wasn’t a “real” writer because I didn’t have a book published. Then last year, the day after Thanksgiving I got an email from Encircle Publications saying they wanted to publish When It’s Time for Leaving. I said to my wife, Annette, “Well, this is interesting.” She thought I’d be more excited. I would have thought so too. Maybe I was worried about all of the work that comes between writing the book and publishing it; the contract (I’m lucky to have the great, Paula Munier, as an agent.), the edits, and worst of all – promoting it. I’m not into sales and I’d rather learn about others than talk about myself. As it turned out, I’m having a ball going on blogs such as this. Clea, that’s why I want to thank you so much for inviting me here. 

WHEN IT’S TIME FOR LEAVING is Ang Pompano’s debut novel. He has stories in the 2019 Malice Domestic Anthology, and BEST NEW ENGLAND CRIME STORIES 2019. His academic pieces include one on teaching detective fiction. A recipient of the Helen McCloy/MWA Scholarship for a novel in progress, he is on the Crime Bake Planning Committee and is a board member of Sisters in Crime New England. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Annette, and their two rescue dogs. 

Listen here! (A giveaway)

Do you listen to audiobooks while you drive or work out? Keep up with your stories while you cook or knit or disassemble heavy machine parts? (Hey, cozy readers come in all shapes and sizes!) Have I got a contest for you! Dreamworks has done a bang-up job on the audiobook of A Spell of Murder – and they’ll be doing one of my upcoming An Incantation of Cats soon.

You can find A Spell of Murder on Audible.com, Amazon, or your local indie outlet, of course (and your local library should have it too). But I’m giving away two copies of the audiobook CD. Just sign up for my mailing list – if you haven’t already – and email me through the “email me” link – please write “Audiobook Giveaway” in the subject line. I’ll do a random drawing on Sunday, Dec. 1, to kick off the holiday season with a present for YOU.

Five Questions with Scott Von Doviak

“Clea!” I turned and there was Scott Von Doviak. The scene was a hotel lobby, somewhere in Dallas, a city known for barbecue and assassination. The occasion, Bouchercon, the latest iteration of the annual gathering where the crime fiction community – writers, readers, all – meet and talk and drink and plot. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that Scott was there, among the Halloween-costumed revelers, exhausted agents, and mystery fans, all imbibing – or brewing up – their poisons of the day. I knew Scott as a writer for The Strand magazine, where he’d included my World Enough in a piece about the new face of Boston noir. I soon learned that he knew what he was talking about: his own Charlesgate Confidential borrows from the best of the noir/hard-boiled conventions and takes them further. Of course, as is often the case with authors of the toughest books, Scott is a real sweetheart. I’m thrilled to be able to introduce him to you here!

How does a book start for you?

I start with the setting. The setting gives me the characters and the characters give me the story. In the case of Charlesgate Confidential, I had long wanted to write about the former Charlesgate Hotel in Boston, in which I had lived during the ‘80s when Emerson College turned the building into a dormitory. I have current works in progress set in Austin, where I live now, and Los Angeles, where I spent five years. I need to feel a connection to the setting in order to be comfortable and inspired enough to write about it. While I was at the crime writers’ convention Bouchercon recently, I met someone who was writing a series set in a place they had never been, which is something I can’t imagine doing.

Who in your latest book has surprised you most – and why?

One of the characters surprised me by getting killed much sooner than I expected—and since I want it to be a surprise for readers too, I won’t say any more about that!

When and/or where is your latest book set and is there a story behind that setting?

As mentioned above, Charlesgate Confidential is set in Boston. The story was inspired by a real unsolved crime, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist—the largest unsolved art heist in history. Although it took place in 1990, I moved it back to 1946 for my purposes. The story unfolds in three interwoven time periods, all revolving around the Charlesgate building that was built in 1891 as a hotel. In the 1940s, the hotel has been taken over by the mob, several members of which are drawn into the heist. It goes awry and the art is still missing in the 1980s, when a journalism student living in the Charlesgate dorm digs into the building’s history and meets someone who may have been involved with the heist. In the present day storyline, the Charlesgate has been converted to luxury condos, where a murder takes place, drawing a homicide detective into the search for the missing paintings and the multi-million dollar reward.

What are you working on now?

I’ve recently finished a novel that would be the first in a projected series involving an amateur private eye in Austin, Texas investigating a fire at the bar he formerly tended—an investigation that draws him into a much larger conspiracy. My three-word pitch is “Slacker meets Chinatown.” My current work in progress is a massive, pulpy LA noir that I’ll be wrestling with for the rest of the year if not longer.

Which question didn’t I ask you that I should have?

Let’s see… “Did Stephen King read your book and give you a cover blurb calling it terrific?” Why, yes, as a matter of fact, he did! Not only a career highlight, but a life highlight for someone who grew up in Maine devouring his books.

Scott Von Doviak‘s debut novel Charlesgate Confidential was published in September 2018 by Hard Case Crime. It was named one of the top ten crime novels of the year by the Wall Street Journal. Von Doviak is also the author of three books on film and pop culture, including Hick Flicks: The Rise and Fall of Redneck Cinema. He reviews television for The Onion’s AV Club, and is a former film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Five Questions with Susan Fleet

Susan Fleet is fearless – a woman trumpet player in the very male world of jazz – and we first got to know each other over some of these ongoing battles. I’m thrilled that she’s now given some of her courage to her fictional detective Frank Renzi, who’s a cop in Susan’s adopted home of New Orleans, who returns for this eighth outing in the new Payback. So happy to talk music, mystery, and the Crescent City here today.

How does a book start for you?

All my ideas for a book begin with “what if?” In the course of eight books my series protagonist, Homicde Detective Frank Renzi, has aquired a lot of fans. For my latest book, Payback, I thought, what if someone has a vendetta against him? What if someone sets out to destroy Frank and his beloved father, a federal judge, and his daughter, a young doctor? So I invented an Irish gangster, Brian Devlin, and his two sisters, who play important roles in the family drama.

Who in your latest book has surprised you most – and why?

Bridget Devlin, Brian’s older sister. She starts out by helping him, but over the course of the book she begins to have second thoughts and ultimately betrays him. I love creating the bad guys and grrrls! They have to be strong and powerful, but not quite powerful enough to defeat Frank Renzi. The more I wrote about Bridget, the more fascinated I became. Why does a Yale-educated college professor help her gangster brother? Consequently, Bridget evolved into a very complex character.

When and/or where is your latest book set and is there a story behind that setting? 

Payback takes place in 2012. My protagonist, NOPD homicide detective Frank Renzi, works out of the District 8 office in the French Quarter, so all my novels (except Jackpot, a prequel to the series) feature scenes in and around the French Quarter.

However, several scenes in Payback take place on Deer Island, on the coast of Massachusetts. I’ve been there several times and on a stormy day it’s quite ominious. The story behind the setting. Back in the 19th century, 2400 Irish immigrants landed on Deer Island and 800 of them died there, including one of the Devlin family ancestors, the origin of my “invented” Devlin family curse.  

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What are you working on now?

I like to include contemporary issues in my books. Sniper, book 8, features an international assassination plot, with references to Turkish president Erdogan, currently in the news. My next book will involve the sports betting craze and a massacre in a VIP betting lounge. Stay tuned!

Which question didn’t I ask you that I should have?

My previous career as a professional trumpeter has influenced my writing in many ways. Musicians must have the self-discipline to practice every day, whether they feel like it or not. So writers block doesn’t exist for me. Just do it! Also, musicians are perfectionists, so I’m not happy until what I’ve written is the absolute best it can be. Structurally, I think of each novel as a symphony in four movements. Nothing boring about Beethoven’s 7th Symphony! Or my books. The first page has to grab my readers by the throat. Conflict and tension on every page and a plot with plenty of surprises is what keeps my Frank Renzi fans coming back for more.

In her travels, Susan Fleet has worn many hats: trumpeter, college professor and music historian. While teaching at Brown University and Berklee College of Music, she discovered her dark side and began killing people. Fictionally, of course! In 2001 she moved to New Orleans, the setting for her award-winning crime thrillers featuring NOPD Homicide Detective Frank Renzi.

The Premier Book Awards named her first novel, Absolution, Best Mystery-Suspense-Thriller of 2009. Feathered Quill Book Awards named Natalie’s Revenge Best Mystery-Thriller of 2014.

Although Susan still plays her trumpet every day, she spends most of her time dreaming up new ideas to terrify and enthrall her readers. She now divides her time between Boston and New Orleans.  Read more about Susan on her website:   http://www.susanfleet.com

Her other passion is promoting talented women musicians, jazz and classical. Read about them here

http://susanfleet.com/morewomenmusici...

“Simon expertly casts suspicion…”

Fellow authors have long talked about the “Kirkus kick” – this review publication’s reputation for zinging all but the most flawless books. That’s why I was a bit breathless when I got the email from my editor, alerting me to a Kirkus review for my upcoming An Incantation of Cats. I should explain – I’m reading the page proofs now. I can easily imagine a thousand things they would pick at (including many that I’m changing that will be corrected in the finished book)!

Me being me, I skimmed through the summary-type review – one reason for these advance reviews is to let libraries and bookstores know what a book is about – to the conclusion. You can imagine my surprise when I read:

“Simon expertly casts suspicion on one member of her tiny human cast after another,

And the Kirkus kick? It’s this line:

but this series is really for readers who want all cats, all the time.

The three paranormally empowered feline detectives carve out a niche within a niche.

Ha! Some critic might think that’s a negative. I know it’s simple truth – and that my readers for this series are serious cat people! . And so I’m quite happy with it.

The full review is online here.

The Witch Detective of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has two clients knocking at her door, each one evidently suspicious of the other.

Since losing her job with the Cambridge Historical Society, Becca Colwin has been hoping that the paranormal powers she’s advertised in venues like Charm and Cherish, the New Age boutique that offers one-stop shopping for the local Wiccan community, will help turn her fledgling detective agency into a moneymaker. Among all the other difficulties of launching such a questionable venture, two are especially troubling. One is that minutes after Gaia Linquist, an aspiring herbalist who works at Charm and Cherish, leaves after asking her help in determining who left poisonous wolf’s bane in her coffee mug, Becca gets a visit from Margaret Cross, the co-owner of Charm and Cherish, who wants her to get the goods on the person who’s been stealing money from the till for the past three weeks—a thief she strongly suspects is Gaia Linquist. This question of how to decide between the two cases or how to juggle them both is daunting enough, but the second problem would be even more vexing if Becca had the slightest awareness of it. She doesn’t have any special powers at all; whatever success she’s enjoyed as a crime solver (A Spell of Murder, 2018) is due entirely to her three cats, littermates who actually do have them. Harriet can conjure physical objects; Laurel can manipulate human minds; and Clara can leap through solid objects. Although the mystery soon deepens to include the death of Margaret’s philandering husband, car dealer Frank Cross, it’s not at all clear whether he was felled by his heart condition or poisoned by wolf’s bane. Simon expertly casts suspicion on one member of her tiny human cast after another, but this series is really for readers who want all cats, all the time.

The three paranormally empowered feline detectives carve out a niche within a niche.

Pub Date: Jan. 14th, 2020ISBN: 978-1-947993-80-8Page count: 288ppPublisher: Polis BooksReview Posted Online: Oct. 27th, 2019Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15th, 2019

AN INCANTATION OF CATS

by Clea SimonBUY NOW FROMAMAZON
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KIRKUS REVIEW

The Witch Detective of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has two clients knocking at her door, each one evidently suspicious of the other.

Since losing her job with the Cambridge Historical Society, Becca Colwin has been hoping that the paranormal powers she’s advertised in venues like Charm and Cherish, the New Age boutique that offers one-stop shopping for the local Wiccan community, will help turn her fledgling detective agency into a moneymaker. Among all the other difficulties of launching such a questionable venture, two are especially troubling. One is that minutes after Gaia Linquist, an aspiring herbalist who works at Charm and Cherish, leaves after asking her help in determining who left poisonous wolf’s bane in her coffee mug, Becca gets a visit from Margaret Cross, the co-owner of Charm and Cherish, who wants her to get the goods on the person who’s been stealing money from the till for the past three weeks—a thief she strongly suspects is Gaia Linquist. This question of how to decide between the two cases or how to juggle them both is daunting enough, but the second problem would be even more vexing if Becca had the slightest awareness of it. She doesn’t have any special powers at all; whatever success she’s enjoyed as a crime solver (A Spell of Murder, 2018) is due entirely to her three cats, littermates who actually do have them. Harriet can conjure physical objects; Laurel can manipulate human minds; and Clara can leap through solid objects. Although the mystery soon deepens to include the death of Margaret’s philandering husband, car dealer Frank Cross, it’s not at all clear whether he was felled by his heart condition or poisoned by wolf’s bane. Simon expertly casts suspicion on one member of her tiny human cast after another, but this series is really for readers who want all cats, all the time.

The three paranormally empowered feline detectives carve out a niche within a niche.