Mew is for Murder (Theda Krakow Mysteries, No. 1) [Hardcover]

Clea Simon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2005

Theda Krakow is in a funk. Her sometime boyfriend's gone for good. The death of her beloved cat opened a bigger void. And the career leap she's made from copy editor to freelance writer has left her financesand her spiritflat. She desperately needs a headline to get her life back on track.
One day, out for a stroll in her Cambridge neighborhood, Theda spies an adorable stray kitten. This charmer leads Theda to an old woman holed up in a decrepit house full of cats. Is this one of those "crazy cat ladies," a classic hoarder, or is the old woman a neighborhood do-gooder
More important, is this the story to catapult Theda out of the dumps
But when she returns to interview Lillian Helmhold, Theda finds her fascinating subject dead of an apparent accident. The neighbors are celebrating, the police aren't interested, and the cats are removed to a shelter. End of story
Not for Theda--one or two things don't compute. So Theda marshals her investigative journalism skills to turn gumshoe.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Journalist Simon (The Feline Mystique) makes an auspicious fiction debut with a well-plotted cat mystery that's not your usual four-footed cozy caper. Theda Krakow, an appealing freelance feature writer, really gets down to "kickin' " blues and the Boston rock scene. When Theda goes to interview "cat lady" Lillian Helmhold at home in Cambridge, she finds Lillian dead and her cats circling the woman's big Victorian house in distress. Lillian's death appears to be an accident, but someone keeps breaking into her house, which is rumored to contain treasure in the late owner's stacks of boxes and papers. Suspects include a coffee-bar waitress who helped Lillian with the cats, Lillian's schizophrenic son and an avaricious realtor who lives next door and hates cats. Simon writes well about the visceral tug of today's rock music. We feel the feral heart of true hard rock, and the way the sound, the dancing and the booze all blend into something close to good sex. If the ending borders on the saccharine, and a cat named "Aslan" who saves the day is a little much, this is still a strong start to what one hopes will be a long series.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Boston journalist Simon wisely sets her debut novel in the city she knows best. In fact, sharing a native's insight into Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, and other Boston-area haunts does much to make up for a somewhat predictable plot. Simon's protagonist, Theda Krakow, is a copy editor who has recently made the move to freelance writer. Desperately seeking stories, Theda sells her editor on an idea to interview Lillian Helmhold, a "crazy cat lady" harboring numerous felines. When she shows up for the interview, Theda finds the old lady dead. Is it murder? A punk rocker named Violet, who helped with the cats, definitely thinks so. Theda feels that she owes it to Lillian--and her now homeless cats--to find the truth. With Violet's help, Theda tracks down Lillian's mentally challenged son, looks for a motive, and indulges in her after-hours passion--the rock scene in Boston's small clubs. Although the mystery is easy to solve, Simon brilliantly evokes the Boston music scene and imparts interesting tidbits about freelance writing. Perhaps most thankfully, she avoids the hypercutesiness of some cat cozies. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; First Edition edition (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590581652
• ISBN-13: 978-1590581650
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,956,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hi! Welcome to my Amazon Connect page. I don't know if you found me because you like fun feline mysteries you might be wondering about my upcoming "Dogs Don't Lie." Yup, it's got a dog in it - but my new heroine, the animal psychic Pru Marlowe, couldn't function without her sidekick, an irascible tabby named Wallis. Meanwhile, I hope you are enjoying my Theda Krakow series - "Mew is for Murder," "Cattery Row," "Cries and Whiskers," or "Probable Claws" - and my Dulcie Schwartz series (think cats AND ghosts!) with "Shades of Grey," "Grey Matters," or the upcoming "Grey Zone." Or perhaps we share some family issues, and you're looking at "Mad House" or "Fatherless Women." Or maybe you just love cats and are interested in my "The Feline Mystique." At any rate, good to meet you! I'm a writer and journalist, an avid reader, and am looking forward to making this page lively and fun.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong investigative mystery, July 5, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mew is for Murder (Theda Krakow Mysteries, No. 1) (Paperback)

It hasn't been a very good year for Theda Krakow, copy editor for the Morning Mail in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She and her boyfriend broke up when he took a job out of state and even more devastating her beloved cat James died. She quits as a copy editor to become a freelance writer for the Morning Mail. When she sees a kitten near a house in her neighborhood, she finds herself charmed by her. The kitten Mussetta belongs to Lillian Helmhold who has a house full of cats that people dump on her.

Theda decides to do a story on Ms. Helmhold but on the day she approaches her she finds her dead in the house. The police think Lillian tripped and a resulting head injury caused her death but the victim's friend Violet Hayes thinks she was murdered. Theda believes it is a possibility and starts investigating even while she thinks someone is in the house illegally, looking for something.

Clea Simon has a definite talent for writing investigative mysteries and her love for felines shine through on almost every page. Theda is gutsy, independent and totally likeable. The who-done-it is well crafted and readers will have a good time trying to figure out who the killer is and why it was necessary to kill an elderly lady who hurt no one. MEW IS FOR MURDER is a delightful start to a new series.

Harriet Klausner

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth checking out, September 7, 2005

By 

Emily (LOS ANGELES, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mew is for Murder (Theda Krakow Mysteries, No. 1) (Hardcover)

This book introduces us to Theda Krakow, an engaging freelance reporter who has recently been through some crises in her life (namely, she broke up with her boyfriend and her beloved cat recently passed away). She discovers a kitten (Musetta) one day and meets the cat's owner, Lillian Helmhold, a woman who literally has a household full of cats.

Theda decides to do a story on Lillian (who Theda believes might be a cat "hoarder"), but Lillian is soon discovered dead. Although the police think it was an accident, Lillian's devoted friend Violet (who also happens to be the local coffee shop barrista) thinks otherwise. Working together, Theda and Violet attempt to discover what really caused Lillian's unfortunate demise.

I really wanted to love this book; after all, I love mysteries and cats, and live in the Boston/Cambridge area. Although I did enjoy it, and would certainly pick up another mystery by this author in the future, the story was not quite as captivating as I would have hoped (mainly because it was quite easy to guess the ending). However, it was nevertheless enjoyable, and I'd recommend it, especially to readers who like "cat mysteries."

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clea Simon Has A Winner, December 15, 2005

By 

Liz Straw (Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mew is for Murder (Theda Krakow Mysteries, No. 1) (Hardcover)

Clea Simon has a winner! This is a mystery that cats are really cats; and that is so refreshing. Theda Krakow a freelance writer decides to write about a cat hoarder in her neighborhood. Only to discover that the woman in question is lying dead in her kitchen on the day she goes to interview her. Is the cat lady's death an accident as the police have reported it?

Theda not quite ready to adopt a cat yet so soon after the death of her own cat, but she rescues a limping kitten. The other cats in and about the house are rounded up and taken to the shelter. Somehow, she cannot see the kitten going into such an uncertain future. Something keeps drawing Theda back to the house and she begins to suspect murder.

Is it the young girl who has a punk band and sneaks in to take car of some of the cats left behind? Is it the woman next door who is a real estate dealer and wants to see the large house sold to someone who can take care of the property and raise the property values around the neighborhood? Some Theda is not sure she is comfortable with as she lives in the same neighborhood and gentrification will put her and many of her neighbors out.

What about the prejudice behavior towards the cat lady's mentally ill son? Would someone have killed her to keep him away from the neighborhood? To hunt for a supposed hidden treasure that he would not be able to handle. Why are people so nasty about her son?

Who are the other characters that show up at the house off and on and what are they looking for? Why is everyone interested in the cat lady's house and was she a true cat hoarder or was she someone who really took care of the cats and rescued them?

Read this book for a great mystery with real cats that do not talk or read books. You may find yourself rethinking your views on gentrification, mental illness and thankful that Clea Simon has provided the information in a great story with interesting characters. I can't wait to read about Theda, Musetta, and hopefully Violet again.

Liz Straw