Shades of Grey (Dulcie Schwartz Series #1)

by Clea Simon

Overview

The first in the brand-new Dulcie Schwartz feline-filled mystery series - Dulcie's having an awful summer. Her beloved cat Mr Grey's been put to sleep, and her new room-mate, Tim, is a jerk. Walking home, she sees a cat the spitting image of Mr Grey, and hears a voice say, I wouldnt go in just now. She enters to find Tim dead stabbed with her own knife. Dulcie's in the frame for murder and she hasn't seen the last of Mr Grey, either . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780727879462
Publisher:	Severn House Publishers
Publication date:	08/01/2011
Series:	Dulcie Schwartz Series , #1
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Clea Simon is a Massachusetts-based writer, journalist and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Ms., Rolling Stone and Salon.com. Sheas the author of three nonfiction books, She lives in Cambridge, MA, with her husband, the writer Jon S. Garelick, and their cat, Musetta.
http://www.cleasimon.com

Editorial Reviews

Simon's tepid brew of cat paranormal and academic chick lit, the first of a new series, may disappoint fans of her Theda Krakow mysteries (Probable Claws, etc.). Dulcie Schwartz, a 26-year-old Harvard doctoral candidate living in Cambridge, Mass., mourns the death of her beloved cat, Mr. Grey. She's also worried about keeping her temp job until September's grant money kicks in. Nothing, however, prepares her for the stabbing death of her roommate, Tim Worthington, not even hearing the eerie warning of Mr. Grey's ghost before finding Tim: “I wouldn't go in, if I were you.” Tim, a playboy who enjoyed partying more than studying, had a bit of a drug problem that could be related to his murder. While Dulcie is a likable enough heroine, some may feel she should focus more on crime-solving than her thesis and dating. Others will hope to see more of Mr. Grey, whose ghostly manifestations are relatively few, in subsequent outings. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Graduate student Dulcie Schwartz is working as a temp and renting a room to another student for the summer to make ends meet. When her roommate is murdered, Dulcie hears her dead cat's voice warning her about dangers. VERDICT This series launch by the author of the Theo Krakow series (Cries and Whiskers) is for readers who like their feline cozies mixed with a touch of the paranormal. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 5/1/09.]

Library Journal

A graduate student turns sleuth when her roommate is murdered. Dulcie Schwartz is down in the dumps. Her beloved cat Mr. Grey has died. Her regular housemate Suze has left town and stuck her with a sublet, a preppy jerk named Tim. Her dissertation in Gothic literature is going nowhere. And only a boring temp job allows her to make ends meet. Arriving home to find Tim stabbed to death with her carving knife is the last straw, especially as she'd ignored the ghostly voice of Mr. Grey warning her not to go back to her apartment. The cops think Dulcie may have stabbed Tim even though there are other suspects in the form of several girlfriends and Tim's brother Luke, a student at Stanford Law, believes that Tim may have been dealing drugs. Glimpses of Mr. Grey and messages from him lead Dulcie to doubt her sanity. She's suspected of computer hacking at work, and her love life is in a shambles. If she wants to prove herself innocent of murder and hacking and settle on a dissertation topic before she loses her grant, she'll have to get her act together, take a few tips from Mr. Grey and solve the crimes. A slow kickoff for a new series by cat-happy Simon (Probable Claws, 2009, etc.). Fellow animal lovers will feel the paucity of feline lore, and mystery mavens are likely to find the plot a bit convoluted.

Kirkus Reviews