Grey Expectations

March 12, 2012
Simon’s enchanting fourth Dulcie Schwartz mystery (after 2011’s Grey Zone) finds Harvard grad student Dulcie still at work on her doctoral thesis on late 18th-century gothic fiction and still trying to identify the anonymous author of “her long-time favorite adventure,” The Ravages of Umbria. Esmé, Dulcie’s telepathic tuxedo kitten, provides distraction. When an 11th-century manuscript, the Dunster Codex, goes missing from the rare book collection in the Widener Annex, suspicion falls on Dulcie’s brash Victorian studies friend, Trista, whom the police already suspect of having something to do with the disappearance of visiting scholar Roland Galveston. Dulcie, aided by her ghostly cat, Mr. Grey, and her live-in boyfriend, Chris Sorenson, seeks to solve the puzzle, which soon takes a murderous turn. Fans of academic paranormal cat cozies will be in heaven. Agent: Colleen Mohyde, Doe Coover Agency.

April 15, 2012
A Boston-based grad student searching for supporting documentation for her thesis finds herself involved in yet another murder. Dulcie Schwartz has chosen The Ravages, a little-known Gothic novel whose anonymous author created an early feminist heroine, as the subject of her dissertation. Her investigation into the author's identity is disturbed when the valuable Dunster Codex goes missing from a secured area of the library, and all the doctoral students who have access are suspect. Dulcie's friend Trista claims that two police officers have accused her of murdering Roland Galveston, a graduate student with dubious credentials who vanished along with the Codex. Trista's boyfriend is frantic, but the police refuse to do anything until Trista's been missing for a longer period. Meanwhile, Dulcie wonders if she's being set up herself for the theft. Her psychic mother is calling her with dire warnings, and Dulcie's having strange dreams about the unknown author of The Ravages. She can't help be a bit jealous of the fact that her deceased cat Mr. Grey, who's always looked after her, has been talking more lately to her boyfriend Chris, and her new cat Esme isn't talking at all. Despite warnings from the campus police to stay out of what is now the murder of the professor who brought the Codex to the university, Dulcie continues to use her research skills to get herself out of trouble. Dulcie's fourth (Shades of Grey, 2011, etc.) is slow going. The identity of The Ravages' unknown author is a lot more interesting than the present-day shenanigans on the college campus.

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March 15, 2012
The fourth in Simon's Mr. Grey and Dulcie series, following Grey Zone (2011), continues successfully to marry the apparently very different subgenres of the cat mystery and the academic mystery. Finally writing her thesis, Dulcie isn't in the mood for dramatics, even from her grad-school pals. All she wants is peaceful time in the library to continue her research. But when a rare book goes missing from a locked archive to which only she and the other English students have access, she must emerge from her writing fog and start investigating. Usually, she has the ghostly feline, Mr. Grey, to help out, but he seems to have transfered his affections and communications to Dulcie's boyfriend, Chris. Meanwhile, the new kitten, Esme, continues to bite and play more than talk. After best friend Tris disappears, Dulcie is on her own, which is too bad because it seems that Dulcie may be being framed for the theft. Using Dulcie's ongoing struggles with her dissertation to frame each entry in the series provides good continuity and keeps readers engaged. This is definitely more than just another cat mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)