Clea Simon
Before turning to a life of crime (fiction), Clea Simon was a journalist. Starting as a rock critic, she ended up writing about books and other arts. A native of New York, she came to Massachusetts to attend Harvard University, from which she graduated with high honors, and never left. The author of three nonfiction books and seven mysteries, she lives with her husband, the writer Jon S. Garelick, and their cat, Musetta.
All Books By Clea Simon
A Cat on the Case
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Hillary Huber
- Length: 8 hours 29 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: February 08, 2021
- Language: English
-
3.8(68 ratings)
When a panicked stranger shows up at Charm and Cherish, Becca Colwin feels compelled to help. But when that stranger then disappears, leaving behind her heirloom violin, the aspiring witch detective is drawn further into a web of deceit and intrigue complicated by a history only her three magical cats truly understand.
... Read moreA Spell of Murder
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Hillary Huber
- Length: 8 hours 51 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: November 05, 2019
- Language: English
-
3.07(228 ratings)
Becca, newly single and newly unemployed, wants to believe she has psychic powers. With nothing but time–and a desire for empowerment–she’s studying to become a witch.
What she doesn’t know is that her three cats–Harriet, Laurel, and Clara–are the ones with the real power. And when Harriet, “”a cream-colored longhair with more fur than commonsense,”” conjures a pillow for her own comfort, Becca believes her spells are finally working.
Could that be why Trent, the coven’s devilishly handsome leader, has been showing her special attention? Or why Suzanne, a longtime coven member, draws her aside to share a secret–a confidence that may lead to murder?
... Read moreAn Incantation of Cats
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Hillary Huber
- Length: 8 hours 37 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: November 26, 2019
- Language: English
-
3.36(128 ratings)
When two new clients seek Becca’s professional services, the fledgling witch detective is overjoyed. Finally, she can use her skills to help her magical community. But as the young witch finds the new cases intertwining, things grow more complicated. Becca’s three cats–the ones with the real power–can smell something is wrong with these clients. But not even Clara, the calico, knows what to do when a man ends up dead and a powerful and poisonous root appears–and disappears–in the case. To make matters worse, Clara and her littermates are feuding, and she can’t tell them about an unsettling interaction she’s had with one of the client’s sisters.
Is it possible that some humans may have the same powers as the magical felines? What does that mean for Clara’s beloved Becca–and for the potent poison that has already taken one person’s life?
... Read moreCats Can’t Shoot
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hours 38 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2012
- Language: English
-
3.49(270 ratings)
When Pru Marlowe gets the call that there’s been a cat shooting, she’s furious. Animal brutality is one thing that this tough animal psychic won’t stand for, and in her role as a behaviorist, she’s determined to care for the traumatized pet.
But when Pru finds out that it was the cat who did the shooting—accidentally setting off a rare dueling pistol—she realizes something else is going on. Could the white Persian really have killed her owner, or did the whole bloody mess have something to do with one pricey collectible? With the white cat turning a deaf ear to her questions, Pru must tune in to Beauville’s other pampered residents, from the dead man’s elite social set to their equally spoiled pets, to learn the truth, before her ex, a former New York cop, gets too close.
In a world where value is determined by a price tag, the pedigreed puss may have a reason for revenge, and only Pru Marlowe and her trusty tabby, Wallis, can figure out whether this was a case of feline felony or if some human has set up the Persian as the ultimate cat’s-paw.
... Read moreCries and Whiskers
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hours 50 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2007
- Language: English
-
3.57(150 ratings)
Music-journalist Theda Krakow is caught up in investigating the rise of a dangerous new designer drug that threatens the musicians and fans of her beloved club scene. But she puts her story on hold when she learns of an animal-rights activist who was killed in a hit-and-run accident while trying to rescue feral cats from a ferocious winter storm.
Theda feels moved to help out with the effort. But as she and her buddy, Violet, race to save the half-wild felines from the freezing New England winter, they uncover simmering tensions among the extremist organization that make the activist’s death seem more than accidental. Theda tries to hang onto her journalistic objectivity, but when the threats become more personal and her beloved cat, Musetta, goes missing, she will risk her reputation, her career, and possibly her life to solve these mysteries once and for all.
... Read moreDogs Don’t Lie
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hours 59 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
-
3.51(464 ratings)
Pru Marlowe isn’t your ordinary animal psychic. A tough girl on the run from her own gift, Pru left the big city to return to her picturesque Berkshires hometown looking for a little peace. Too bad her training as an animal behaviorist got her mixed up with Lily, a rescue dog, and Charles, the dog’s guardian. Now Charles is dead, and Lily appears to be headed for the same end, for Lily is a pit bull, a fighting-ring dropout, and is far too traumatized to give Pru a clear picture of what she has witnessed. But Pru knows something about bad girls trying to clean up, and, with a sense of justice strong enough to overcome her dislike of human society, she takes the case.
Listening to the animals, Pru picks up clues and learns there are secrets in the pretty little town that make murder look simple. Unable to tell anyone about her psychic abilities, and uncertain at times about her own sanity, Pru comes to realize that if she clears Lily, she’ll likely become the prime suspect—or the next victim. While the only creature she can totally trust is her crotchety tabby cat, Wallis, Pru must uncover the real killer—and find a way to live with her gift—before the real beasts in the town maul her and those she has come to love.
... Read moreGrey Dawn
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hours 55 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: June 01, 2013
- Language: English
-
3.36(60 ratings)
When grad student Dulcie Schwartz hears a wolf late one night she tries to dismiss it, but the noises, the dark building, and an unnerving sighting of her adviser all combine to give her the creeps. Next morning Dulcie learns that a university student was savagely attacked that very night. A woman who looks like Dulcie. Aided by the cryptic advice from her kitten Esme and the ghost of her late, great cat Mr. Grey, Dulcie investigates…
... Read moreGrey Expectations
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hours 30 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: April 01, 2012
- Language: English
-
3.42(89 ratings)
Could a missing book be haunted? Dulcie Schwartz doesn’t want to think so, but ever since it disappeared from the university, things have gone from bad to worse – one of her colleagues accused of homicide, and another revealed as an impostor. To top it all off, both the ghost cat Mr. Grey and the kitten Esme seem to have switched their allegiance to her boyfriend. Deprived of feline assistance, Dulcie must uncover the truth by herself, or else find herself on the hook for the theft – and murder.
... Read moreGrey Zone
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hours 9 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: November 01, 2013
- Language: English
-
3.37(80 ratings)
When a student goes missing and a professor ends up dead, Dulcie Schwartz realizes that midterms are going to be worse than ever. She’s hard at work on her thesis, but present day concerns – including the destructive mischief of her growing kitten – keep dragging her back into a tangle of motive, misbehavior, and maybe even murder. If only Mr. Grey, her beloved feline ghost, would lend a hand, at least with that rambunctious kitten…
... Read moreKittens Can Kill
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 9 hours 23 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2016
- Language: English
-
3.64(124 ratings)
The dead don’t keep pets. So when animal behavior expert Pru Marlowe gets a call about a kitten, she doesn’t expect to find the cuddly creature playing beside the cooling body of prominent local lawyer David Canaday. Heart attack? His three adult daughters angrily blame drug interactions, feline allergies–and each other. And they begin to feud over their father, his considerable estate, and that cute ball of fluff. While the cause of death is pending, each sister has an ax to grind–and the arguments escalate when Canaday’s will is read.
Pru’s special sensitivity to animals, which caused her to flee the cacophony of Manhattan for the quiet Berkshires, adds further problems. The local vet is overwhelmed as the animal hospital’s money runs out. There’s a needy Sheltie and some invasive squirrels, too. But the dead man’s kitten, his former partner, and his troublesome family keep drawing “wild-girl” animal psychic Pru back in.
Despite the wry observations of her trusty tabby Wallis, now acting as guardian for the wrongfully accused kitten, and the grudging compliance of her cop boyfriend, this may be one time when Pru can’t solve the mystery or save the kitten that she wants to believe is innocent. A single witness knows the truth about that bright spring morning, but how far can Pru investigate without risking her own hidden tale?
... Read morePanthers Play for Keeps
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hours 45 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2014
- Language: English
-
3.71(107 ratings)
When Pru Marlowe takes a dog for a walk, she doesn’t expect to find a body. But Spot, a service dog in training, has a good nose that leads her right to the remains of a beautiful young woman. Despite her best instincts, Pru can’t avoid getting involved. The young woman seems to have been mauled by a wild cat, but Pru knows there have been no pumas in the Berkshire woods for years. And while Wallis, Pru’s curmudgeonly tabby, seems fixated on the idea of a killer cat, Spot has been sending strange signals to Pru’s own heightened senses, suggesting that the violent death was something more than a tragic accident. As motives multiply, a cougar of a different sort sets her eyes on Pru’s sometime lover, and another woman disappears. With panther panic growing, Pru may have to put aside her own issues–and her own ideas of domesticity–to solve a savage mystery.
... Read moreProbable Claws
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hours 52 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2012
- Language: English
-
3.69(104 ratings)
When cats start getting sick, feline-loving freelance writer Theda Krakow suspects it’s accidental. But Violet, Theda’s shelter-owning rock-music buddy, claims the cats’ kibble was poisoned. When Theda starts looking at politics at the city shelter, she finds a number of people who could have happily committed the heinous crime. Meanwhile, the city shelter may be backing down from a healthy-pet initiative, a series of threatening letters suggests a darker motive, and old-fashioned jealousy may factor in as well. The pressure mounts as Theda’s editor grabs onto the idea of a hot story and dangles a prime job as bait. But how can Theda investigate when feelings run so high?
As the music scene rallies to raise funds to save the cats, Theda finds herself on the outs with both her buddies and her longtime boyfriend, Bill. And when she’s caught at a murder scene, bloody scalpel in hand and only her beloved cat Musetta as a witness to what really happened, Theda must scramble to find the real killer before she, and Musetta, become the next victims.
... Read moreTrue Grey
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hours 37 minutes
- Publisher: Dreamscape Media
- Publish date: January 01, 2013
- Language: English
-
3.52(63 ratings)
When Dulcie Schwartz stumbles across the body of Melinda Sloane Harquist, a visiting scholar whose upcoming book threatens to ruin Dulcie’s thesis and who she threatened to kill, in jest, just days before, it’s creepily reminiscent of the nightmares that have been waking her for the past week. And with boyfriend Chris distant and preoccupied, and both the ghost cat Mr Grey and her kitten Esme strangely cryptic in their advice, it’s up to Dulcie to prove herself innocent, before it’s too late…
... Read moreWhen Bunnies Go Bad
- By: Clea Simon
- Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 8 hours 22 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2016
- Language: English
-
3.49(125 ratings)
Winter is hard in Beauville, where the melting snow can reveal much more than last season’s dead leaves. So when a wealthy, obnoxious tourist and his ski-bunny girlfriend surface in Pru Marlowe’s little Berkshire town, she knows she should stay out of their way. The bad-girl animal psychic has to focus on more immediate concerns, including Henry, a supposedly tamed wild rabbit illegally living with an eighty-four-year-old lady.
Henry, who seems to be acting out and hiding, avoids responding to Pru. Yet when Pru discovers the tourist murdered and his girlfriend’s high-maintenance spaniel falls to her care, she gets dragged into a complicated case of crime and punishment that involves some new friends, an old nemesis, and her own shadowed past. A recent museum art heist draws the feds into the investigation along with a courtly gentleman radiating menace, who represents secretive business interests in New York and shows a surprising awareness of Pru. Her on-again, off-again romance with police Detective Creighton doesn’t stop him from warning her to steer clear of the inquiry. The spaniel, however, lures her in.
Pru lives in a world where only her crotchety tabby Wallis knows the whole truth about her past, her flight from Manhattan, and her unique gift that surfaced abruptly one day. Fearing the worst, Pru now comes dangerously close to being exposed. With everything in motion, Pru, Wallis, and everyone they hold dear will be lucky to escape … by a hare.
... Read more