Into the Grey

August 18, 2014
Simon’s diverting eighth Dulcie Schwartz mystery (after Grey Howl) finds Dulcie, now a fifth-year Harvard grad student, in need of a break from her academic toils. As a distraction, Dulcie attends a “disco interpretation” of Ovid’s Metamorphosis at a Cambridge theater, accompanied by her boyfriend, Chris Sorenson. During the performance, a blonde actress lures Chris to the stage by picking his pocket, and a cat walks a tightrope above the audience. After the show, Dulcie and company discover the blonde actress lying dead in an alley, her throat slashed. Was she the victim of a passing stranger, or possibly of domestic abuse? Or is the truth even more sordid? The feline complications of the plot should please those readers who crave shed fur in their whodunits. Dulcie herself is an endearingly fragile but determined protagonist. Agent: Colleen Mohyde, Doe Coover Agency.

September 15, 2016
Graduate student Dulcie Schwartz is preparing to finish her dissertation when an eccentric professor newly added to her committee cuts off her access to important research. She tries to visit his home and encounters an angry wife. She tries his office and finds him dead from a head wound; naturally, she quickly becomes the main suspect, which gets her suspended from the university, bringing progress on the dissertation to a grinding halt. Professor Fenderby was rumored to have harassed female students, and Dulcie is shocked to find that her cousin, Mina, was bringing a suit against him and that Alyson, Dulcie's student, was having a long-term relationship with him. As always, Dulcie receives wisps of insight from the cats in her life, though the spirit of the late Mr. Grey, usually her leading consultant, seems peculiarly quiet. Simon again mixes Dulcie's personal relationships (human and feline, traditional and paranormal) with realistic portrayals of academic life, including such current hot-button campus issues as sexual harassment. An unlikely blend, perhaps, but one that has found a core of satisfied readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2016
Much to the dismay of Harvard doctoral candidate Dulcie Schwartz, professor Roland Fenderby has joined her dissertation committee, in Simon’s well-plotted 10th academic paranormal cat cozy (after 2015’s Code Grey). Fenderby’s harsh critique of the final chapter of Dulcie’s dissertation, on the anonymous female author of the 18th-century gothic novel The Ravages of Umbria, threatens her commencement deadline. When Dulcie discovers Fenderby’s body on his office floor, she becomes the chief suspect in his murder. She’ll have to do a lot of searching in the stacks before she can clear her name. When the humans in Dulcie’s life let her down, she can turn to her late cat, Mr. Grey, who provides comfort and advice (“Only kittens rush about so heedlessly, Dulcie”) without playing any active role in the crime solving. Series fans will enjoy the latest developments in Dulcie’s saga, though those unfamiliar with her backstory may struggle to fully sympathize with her plight. Agent: Colleen Mohyde, Doe Coover Agency.