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 . . .
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
Twentysomething Dulcie Schwartz is a doctoral student at Harvard, struggling to find a thesis topic, mourning her recently deceased cat Mr. Grey, and working a summer temp job. Then, one afternoon, she thinks she sees Mr. Grey and believes he warns her not to go home. When she enters her apartment, she finds her despised subletter dead with her knife in his chest. Mr. Grey, Dulcie's mother informs her, is her spirit guide; that's fortunate because Dulcie could certainly use extraterrestrial help, seeing as she finds herself suspected of both murder and hacking into her computer system at work. Well paced and tightly plotted, Shades of Grey debuts a promising series from the author of the Theda Krakow mysteries (Probable Claws, 2009). With scholar Dulcie as the main character, and most of the action taking place on the Harvard campus and inside the Widener Library, it should appeal to a wide audience, including fans of both cat cozies and fiction that uses an academic frame story (Lauren Willig's The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, 2005). --Booklist, 1st August 2009
You're without a definitive idea for a thesis, you've had to have your beloved cat put down, you're working temporarily in a corporate snakepit, you've discovered your temporary roommate's murdered body -- and you're suspected of killing him. Grad students' lives aren't generally this complicated, but Clea Simon makes it all work in Shades of Grey (216 pages, Severn House, $28.95), the first in her projected series featuring Dulcie Schwartz. The author of four books featuring Cambridge, Mass., rock journalist Theda Krakow, Simon steps boldly onto a new path with Harvard student Dulcie. And though this is a fine whodunit, it's not just another mystery. Simon gives it a hint of the supernatural -- Dulcie thinks the spirit of her late cat, Mr. Grey, is trying to warn and protect her -- as well as subplots involving hacked computers and Gothic novels. Dulcie's an intriguing and sympathetic lead character, Simon's plot is well-conceived and the feline angle satisfies without being overplayed. And "Shades of Grey" reminds us that our pets are never gone from our hearts. Give this one a blue ribbon. --Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sept. 27, 2009
You're without a definitive idea for a thesis, you've had to have your beloved cat put down, you're working temporarily in a corporate snakepit, you've discovered your temporary roommate's murdered body -- and you're suspected of killing him. Grad students' lives aren't generally this complicated, but Clea Simon makes it all work in Shades of Grey (216 pages, Severn House, $28.95), the first in her projected series featuring Dulcie Schwartz. The author of four books featuring Cambridge, Mass., rock journalist Theda Krakow, Simon steps boldly onto a new path with Harvard student Dulcie. And though this is a fine whodunit, it's not just another mystery. Simon gives it a hint of the supernatural -- Dulcie thinks the spirit of her late cat, Mr. Grey, is trying to warn and protect her -- as well as subplots involving hacked computers and Gothic novels. Dulcie's an intriguing and sympathetic lead character, Simon's plot is well-conceived and the feline angle satisfies without being overplayed. And "Shades of Grey" reminds us that our pets are never gone from our hearts. Give this one a blue ribbon. --Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sept. 27, 2009
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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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Purrfectly Charming Mystery!,
By Laura Hinds "Book Addict" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shades of Grey (Dulcie Schwartz) (Hardcover)
Take one part Ghost Cat, add one part Murder Mystery, sift in high-tech shenanigans and mix thoroughly with a group of grad students at Harvard, a lousy temp job at an insurance agency, an obsession with Gothic novels, trouble getting started on her thesis, and a far from fulfilling love life and you've got Dulcie Schwartz's Very Bad Summer.
"Shades of Grey" is author Clea Simon's first entry into her new series of "Dulcie Schwartz Feline-Filled Mysteries" and it certainly gets the series off on the right paw. Dulcie is a character who those of us self-proclaimed bookaholics can relate to. She is most comfortable with her books, yet she misses her late lamented cat, Mr. Grey. One particular sentence in the novel really spoke to me- "What she really wanted to do is crawl into a book..... and pull the cover closed behind her." As Dulcie deals with finding her temporary room-mate murdered in their own apartment, the rest of her life seems to be falling apart as well and she soon fears for her sanity as she keeps seeing and hearing (with an English speaking voice, no less) her beloved Mr. Grey. Dulcie's Mom, Lucy, who is back home in Oregon while Dulcie attends Harvard in Cambridge, has visions. Some of these are as clear as mud, but others start to make sense and this leads Dulcie to believe the ghost of Mr Grey is indeed real. I really enjoyed this book because the plot is unique and current, the characters are very well presented and as a reader you find yourself rooting for the protagonist, Dulcie, and as a cat loving reader, I found myself waiting for more scenes with Mr. Grey and I was not disappointed. I am an avid mystery reader and can usually tell if I'm going to enjoy a book within the first three or four chapters. "Shades of Grey" had me hooked from the start and I highly recommend that you get in on the ground floor with this new series and read this book as soon as you can- because I just know Clea Simon is hard at work on the sequel! Enjoy the read-- I sure did!Are You Gonna Eat That Banana?: An Improbable Tale
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful new series by Clea Simon,
This review is from: Shades of Grey (Dulcie Schwartz) (Hardcover)
The first book in the brand new series by Clea Simon, Shades of Grey features Harvard grad student Dulcie Schwartz, who is fascinated by 18th century Gothic novels. Dulcie is not having a good summer. She recently lost her beloved pet cat Mr. Grey, her best friend and room-mate has gone away for the summer, and she has sublet her apartment to an unpleasant business school student. One day, Dulcie comes home from her boring temp job at an insurance agency and is about to enter her apartment when she sees a cat that looks just like her beloved Mr. Grey, and she clearly hears a voice in her head warning her "I wouldn't go in just now, if I were you." Is it he spirit of her pet? Dulcie ignores the warning, and finds her room-mate murdered with her own kitchen knife.
This sets up a multi-layered plot in which our heroine deals with murder, someone hacking into computers at the insurance agency she temps at and at Harvard, and research for her thesis on Gothic novels. Throughout all of this, the ghost of her cat continues to appear, offering his cryptic advice. Is it a ghost, or a spirit guide? You'll have to read this extremely well-crafted and enjoyable mystery to find out for yourself. This book has everything a mystery (and cat) lover could want: a great story, a likeable heroine, a spirit cat, a little bit of romance, exceptional story telling and multi-dimensional secondary characters. I can't wait for the next book in this series.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fine new heroine and feline hero,
This review is from: Shades of Grey (Dulcie Schwartz) (Hardcover)
Known for the Theda Krakow series, Clea Simon has created an appealing new heroine in Dulcie Schwartz. Smart, hip and bookish, Dulcie also happens to have a ghost cat as a friend and confidante. But unlike those in the Theda series, the mystery here doesn't revolve around felines: Instead it's her roommate that bites the dust, and Mr. Grey is there to comfort the long-suffering Dulcie as she pute the pieces together, dicovers the roommate's shady past and struggles with her own relationships and thesis. Simon is a master at creating appealing and believable characters, and the twists and surprises keep coming until all is revealed.
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