Blog
What “The Americans” can teach us about trauma
Like so many viewers, I was transfixed by the characters and the writing of the series "The Americans." However, I thought I might have a different perspective on how its writers developed the character of Elizabeth Jennings, and penned this op-ed for the Boston...
#MeToo and my op-ed in today’s Boston Globe
As many of you may already know, I have an op-ed in the Boston Globe today, talking about "The Americans" and, more to the point, the aftereffects of rape. I wrote this piece because of a theme that seemed obvious to me – how the trauma of rape can derail a person and...
For cat lovers!
Publishers Weekly weighs in on Cross My Path: "Cat-loving fans of grim postapocalyptic tales will best appreciate Simon’s third Blackie and Care mystery..." it begins, concluding, "The disparate plot lines combine in a fiery finale."
The bodies don’t stay buried…
A friend reading World Enough recently asked me how much was fiction and how much true. Tara's learning curve as a rock critic is largely mine, I told him. The band anecdotes are largely lifted from life: the crazy drinking, the drugs, the partying. And the underlying...
What’s in a name?
"How do you come up with the names?" That's what my wonderful mother-in-law Sophie always wants to know. "Dulcie and Pru, and now Care? Tara? Where do they come from?" "I'm not sure," I've told her. And she shakes her head in wonder. "I make them up," I say. Although...
“Irresistible”- PW.
The early reviews are rolling in, and Publishers Weekly calls Fear on Four Paws an "irresistible outing." I'm thrilled! Here's the full review: Fear on Four Paws: A Pru Marlowe Pet Noir Clea Simon. Poisoned Pen, $15.95 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-1-4642-1009-9 At the...
Writing without a net
Mystery authors tend to break down into two camps: plotters and "pantsers," i.e., those who write by the seat of their pants. I tend to be a pantser. I start with an idea, a scenario, or a basic problem, and write from there, letting the story unfold as I go. This is...
Book extract: Cross My Path
Care’s reputation as a private investigator is growing and clients are beating a path to her door. An elderly woman seeks Care’s help in finding out what happened to her brother. Blackie senses he’s met this woman before, sometime before he became a cat. But who is...
World Book Day
It's World Book Day! That one kind of snuck up on me, but around here every day is book day. In the course of our Sunday stroll yesterday, Jon and I ended up at Harvard Book Store, where Jon picked up "Historians on Hamilton: How a Blockbuster Musical is Restaging...
Book extract: Cross My Path
Care’s reputation as a private investigator is growing and clients are beating a path to her door. An elderly woman seeks Care’s help in finding out what happened to her brother. Blackie senses he’s met this woman before, sometime before he became a cat. But who is...