As some of you know, dear Polis Books has called it quits. That left us Polis authors out in the cold… but I’m thrilled to announce that Bloodhound Books has picked up HOLD ME DOWN! This UK publisher will re-publish my dark rock ‘n’ roll standalone in e-book and trade paperback on Sept. 9. Working with the team now on a new cover… very exciting!
In preparation, I’ve sent them this list of blurbs. Fun, huh?
HOLD ME DOWN, a Massachusetts Center for the Book “must read”
“Clea Simon knows how to capture the texture of the rock club — its heat, sex, power, energy, and danger, too. … In electric prose, Simon conjures the rock-and-roll world, its drink, drugs, and band-dynamics, and the twin seductresses of excess and success, as she makes a penetrating portrait of friendship.” — Boston Globe
With Hold Me Down, Simon “stakes her claim as crime fiction’s foremost purveyor of tales that blend mystery with music. … this is a character that demands to be invested in.” — BOLO Books
“Hold Me Down is terrific. Its power lies in the vitality of Clea Simon’s prose and her insider savvy.”— ArtsFuse
“Simon perceptively illustrates the sacrifices one makes for art. Simon’s tour of the Boston music scene will make readers wish ‘Hold Me Down’ included a link to iTunes.” — Oline Cogdill, Sun-Sentinel
“A mystery that explores character motivations … For fans of Alexander McCall Smith and Janet Evanovich.” — Library Journal
“Simon draws on her career as a journalist, in particular her reporting on Boston’s music scene in the 1990s, for the setting, concert scenes, and flashbacks, bringing a gritty reality to this dark suspense tale.” — Booklist
“This devastatingly powerful mystery hits like a punch to the heart.” — Caroline Leavitt, New York Times-bestselling author of Days of Wonder
“A flat-out, stoked-up, red-alert blistering justice-gets-done story that you can’t put down.” — E. Jean Carroll, author of What Do We Need Men For?
“Lyrical, layered, and full of surprises. Simon has penned a raw and emotional thriller with a heartbeat, about lost dreams and missing friends, regrets and buried memories, the final note reminding us that it’s never too late to start again. Provocative, moving, and suspenseful.”
— Lisa Unger, New York Times-bestselling author of Last Girl Ghosted
“Gripping and intense, a darkly suspenseful dive into friendship, fame, murder, and the thrilling power of rock music. I couldn’t put it down.” — Meg Gardiner, author of the UNSUB series
“The big mystery in this exquisite novel is not the one in the story but the one in the way Clea Simon tells it. We hear music that never existed, pine for memories we couldn’t have, and mourn for the survivors.” —David Hajdu, author of Lush Life and Positively 4th Street
“This pitch-perfectly dark psychological suspense underscores the price of fame, the price of friendship, and the temptations of success. Sharp and insightful, and written with exquisite detail, this story has a soundtrack that will linger long after the final page.” —Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today-bestselling author of Her Perfect Life
“HOLD ME DOWN is a joyous novel about friendship and survival, but what dark, bitter joy. Simon has gone deep into a world many women know all too well, where pride, guilt, and pain do battle inside the stories we tell. A cracking plot in a rich setting round out this important, timely book to perfection.” —Catriona McPherson, Edgar-nominated author of A Gingerbread House
“Powerfully written and compulsively readable. Part murder mystery and part wistful history of a one-time rock star and her deeply buried secrets.” —Dave Zeltserman, award-winning author of Small Crimes
“A hard-rocking riff of a novel, HOLD ME DOWN explodes with a passion for music while also probing the intimate betrayals buried under a haze of alcohol and pills. Simon expertly explores how music seeks to embody truth, even when musicians hid their own pain behind the melodies.” —Joanna Schaffhausen, winner of the MWA/St. Martin’s Minotaur first crime novel award for The Vanishing Season