Clea Simon
CrimeReads
Somerville, MA, United States
Contact Clea
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Clea:
Five Great Novels Immersed in Music Scenes and the Lives of Musicians
The punk rock scene I came up in never had much in common with an English village. But the nocturnal world of basement clubs and backstage passes has long proved rich territory for crime writers examining themes of community, creativity, and fame. As I’ve turned from my usual cat cozies to psychological suspense, the mix […] → Read More
Women on the verge in Hilma Wolitzer’s new collection
Throughout her career Wolitzer has excelled at domestic dramas, focusing on the hilarious or heartbreaking moments that can make or break a marriage — or a woman’s sanity. The title story in “Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket” reveals that those moments are often linked. → Read More
The cost of uncertainty
Bouchercon was planned for Aug. 25–29 in New Orleans. Yes, New Orleans, where the number of new COVID-19 cases is breaking daily records and hospitalizations are through the roof. → Read More
Celebrating Nora Barnacle in ‘Nora: A Love Story of Nora and James Joyce’
Author Nuala O’Connor presents the young chambermaid as lusty and full of life when she meets the writer — who has returned to his hometown Dublin after a brief sojourn as a medical student in Paris — in the spring of 1904. → Read More
Music history, in a minor key, in ‘Adrianne Geffel’
David Hajdu knows music. It makes sense, therefore, that the biographer of Billy Strayhorn (“Lush Life”) and chronicler of both pop (“Love for Sale”) and folk music scenes (“Positively 4th Street”) would set his first work of fiction in this artistic milieu. → Read More
Fiction in the pandemic
As our own reality changes, what happens to the worlds we writers imagine? → Read More
New novel ‘Rodham’ imagines Hillary without Bill
Smart, engaging, and heartbreakingly plausible, Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel posits a world in which Hillary Diane Rodham never married William Jefferson Clinton but instead went on to pursue her own political career decades earlier than she did in real life. → Read More
Bookshelves of the rich and famous
Was that 'Pride and Prejudice' on Amy Klobuchar’s shelf? Did I recognize the Oxford World’s Classics editions of Anthony Trollope behind actor Paul Giamatti? → Read More
‘The King of Warsaw’ is a Holocaust novel with a twist
The putative protagonist of Szczepan Twardoch’s heartbreaking novel lives with the results of choices made decades earlier, when he embodied the book's title, as a champion boxer working as an enforcer for a crime lord in 1937 Poland. → Read More
Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell comes full circle
A trilogy, and a man, reach a fitting end. → Read More
In Daniel Kehlmann’s darkly brilliant ‘Tyll,’ a fool worth following
The mercurial protagonist of the German author's new novel reflects the vanity and folly of those in power, while serving as a mirror of the times. → Read More
I wanted to review ‘American Dirt.’ Then I didn’t. Here’s why.
Our book reviewer was ready to pan « American Dirt, » but is all publicity truly good publicity? → Read More
Rita Woods moves through history, memory, family, and dreams in stunning debut ‘Remembrance’
An epic, breathtaking debut novel centers on a sanctuary village on the Underground Railroad. → Read More
In Emma Donoghue’s ‘Akin,’ an unlikely journey across nations and generations
The “Room” author returns with an odd little social experiment of a novel. → Read More
The great books are going to pile up like leaves
Globe critics offer promising picks from the fall shelves in fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and genre fiction. → Read More
‘The Ghost Clause’ peers through the walls of loss and memory
Howard Norman writes a different kind of ghost story. → Read More
Beach reads are stressing me out, and I'm not alone
Beach read thrillers like Daniel Silva's latest book "The New Girl," with protagonist Gabriel Allon, have lost allure in a summer of anxiety and possible war. → Read More
He wrote/she wrote. On gender in mystery writing
When it comes to fiction, can men write women? Moreover, should men write as women? → Read More
A Spell of Murder by Clea Simon
… ◊ A Spell of Murder Witch Cats of Cambridge Book 1 by Clea Simon Genre: Cozy Mystery ◊ “It’s Harriet’s fault. It’s always her fault, not that she’ll ever admit it.” So begins A Spell of Murder: A Witch Cats of Cambridge mystery, the first in a new cozy series that mixes feline fiction with a touch of the paranormal, and a little romance as well. Becca, newly single and newly unemployed, wants… → Read More
Without An Arts Education Coordinator For Massachusetts, Advocates Are Concerned
Arts educators and advocates are concerned that there will be little oversight for the implementation of a statewide initiative that started in 2017 to improve arts education and of a new arts curriculum expected to be finalized this year. → Read More