World Enough

September 25, 2017
This intriguing series launch from Simon, best known for her cozy Dulcie Schwartz mysteries (Into the Grey, etc.), introduces Boston journalist Tara Winton, who back in the 1980s covered local punk rock bands for fanzines that paid little but gave her access to the musicians and the music that remain central to her life. Now divorced and employed writing banal corporate reports, Tara is still holding on to what is left of the live music scene in Boston. After friend and former musician Frank Turcotte dies, Tara’s ex-boss offers her a chance to write a story about Boston-based bands for a glossy magazine. Soon Tara’s stable life begins to unravel as she revisits the past. Was Frank’s death accidental or was it murder? Is it tied to the long-ago death of singer Chris Crack, who blazed onto the stage eclipsing another band and destroying their shot at a record deal? Vibrant descriptions of Boston’s former music scene overshadow the plot, but readers with a taste for noir are sure to want to see more of the edgy Tara. Agent: Colleen Mohyde, Doe Coover Agency.

September 15, 2016
Graduate student Dulcie Schwartz is preparing to finish her dissertation when an eccentric professor newly added to her committee cuts off her access to important research. She tries to visit his home and encounters an angry wife. She tries his office and finds him dead from a head wound; naturally, she quickly becomes the main suspect, which gets her suspended from the university, bringing progress on the dissertation to a grinding halt. Professor Fenderby was rumored to have harassed female students, and Dulcie is shocked to find that her cousin, Mina, was bringing a suit against him and that Alyson, Dulcie's student, was having a long-term relationship with him. As always, Dulcie receives wisps of insight from the cats in her life, though the spirit of the late Mr. Grey, usually her leading consultant, seems peculiarly quiet. Simon again mixes Dulcie's personal relationships (human and feline, traditional and paranormal) with realistic portrayals of academic life, including such current hot-button campus issues as sexual harassment. An unlikely blend, perhaps, but one that has found a core of satisfied readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)