Clea Simon is turning the cat cozy on its furry little head in her wonderfully fresh series. CRIES AND WHISKERS is her third entry and, for my money, her strongest yet.

Theda Krakow is not your ordinary cat-cozy sleuth. In contrast to the stereotypically reclusive cat woman of a certain age, she a young woman who thrives in the rock and roll club scene she reviews for the Boston Morning Mail. Her roots are in punk and she knows all about emo, screamer and just about every other subcategory of rock you can name (and possibly many you've never even heard of).

Better, she describes the music in a way that makes you throb with the reverb even as she alerts you to the nuances of the composition. Though the music writing alone is worth the price of admission, Simon treats us to a sprawling, vigorous mystery as well.

It turns out that this vibrant 30-something is also a cat lover. Her own kitty, Musetta, is an anchor in her life, providing affection and warmth even when Theda's life is at its most bleak. Musetta is never far from Theda's thoughts, and anyone who's ever loved an animal will identify with her affection for her pet.

Things start to go awry when animal rights activist Gail Womynfriend, who had been caring for the feral cats sheltering in an old bottling plant, is seriously injured when she's run over by a hit-and-run driver on an icy stretch of roadway nearby.

No one in her animal rights organization is willing to take on the task of caring for these cats because the group considers domesticated animals to be an abomination against nature. That leaves Violet, who runs a small local shelter, alone with the task. When Violet calls her pal Theda asking for her aid with a cat-trapping emergency, naturally Theda rushes to help her.

Gail soon dies on the operating table. At first it appears that the accident was the cause of her death, but soon a more sinister reason comes to light.

Meanwhile, Theda's boyfriend Bill is holed up in his apartment with a badly broken leg. Here Simon does not deviate from the genre convention because Bill is, of course, a homicide detective. He's used to lots of physical activity, and his current enforced life on the couch is making him cranky. To make things worse, Theda's not your average nurturer, and Bill's constant need for care and entertaining is straining their relationship.

When her boss asks her to cover a new band attempting to make a big splash on the local club scene, Theda gets to work digging into the background of these musicians she's never heard of. As she interviews people about the band, she notices some strange drug overdose cases cropping up, which she quickly traces to a new designer drug that's circulating through club culture. As she begins to investigate the new pharmaceutical, the plot really starts to roll.

Simon's found herself a winning combination here. She's given us a glimpse of a cozy urban village with a cast of quirky and compelling characters. And though she explores a thicket of diverse issues including the importance of small clubs in nurturing musical talent; the value of programs that catch, neuter and release feral cats; the problems with real estate development that seeks to gentrify beloved landscapes; and even animal rights agendas that run amok with political correctness, the plot is always front and center. There's a lot of suspense in this book, and there's a climactic scene that will definitely set your pulse racing.

It's wonderful to discover a strong, new take on the cozy, and it's even more fun to watch Simon's smart, original approach to the problems of the cat-centric story. Even if you don't usually like cat mysteries, give CRIES AND WHISKERS a try. You won't be disappointed.

Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, August 2007

From Kirkus Reviews

November 2007

CRIES AND WHISKERS

Animal rights meet designer drugs in frigid Cambridge, Mass. Freelance writer Theda Krakow (Cattery Row, 2006, etc.) covers the club scene for the local newspaper. Her latest assignment is a new band who have just rented a hall for their first big gig. Theda and her cat Musetta share an apartment when she's not with her boyfriend Bill, a homicide cop currently on crutches. After an acquaintance of hers is killed in a hit-and-run, Theda starts asking questions. Gail Womynfriend, a member of a radical animal-rights group, had been violating the group's precepts by trying to rescue feral cats from a sparsely populated factory building whose prime location had drawn the attention of a local builder. Theda worries that her friend Tess, who had a car accident the night of Gail's death, may be involved. When Theda and her friend Bunny are slipped a designer drug during dinner at a club, it's clear that her questions have hit a nerve. There are almost too many suspects: musicians Theda panned; drug makers who didn't like her questions; animal activists; even the builders struggling to keep a low profile. When Musetta goes missing and Theda gets a call from the catnappers, she must put all the pieces together to save her beloved pet.

A fast-paced look at the Boston music scene and a delight for cat fanciers.

From Publishers Weekly

Cries and Whiskers

Clea Simon. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (260p) ISBN 978-1-59058-464-4
In Simon's energetic third Theda Krakow mystery (after 2006's Cattery Row), freelance music journalist Theda delves into the seamy underside of the club scene and the radical side of animal rights. When Animals Now activist Gail Womynfriend is killed in a hit-and-run, Theda and her pet-sheltering punk rocker friend, Violet, take over Gail's efforts to save feral cats from the brutal Boston winter. The more they investigate the accident, the more they learn about tensions among Animals Now's members, and Theda becomes uncomfortably suspicious of a friend. She's also hunting a dangerous new designer drug making the rounds of music venues and wondering about its connection to an elusive group of musicians who want Theda's attention, but only on their own terms. When her beloved cat, Musetta, goes missing, Theda risks everything to get her back and solve all these mysteries once and for all. Readers will thrill to Theda's engaging adventures in amateur sleuthing. (Dec.)

From Gumshoe

Cries and Whiskers: A Theda Krakow Mystery

by Clea Simon
Review by Gayle Surrette
Poisoned Pen Press Hardcover: ISBN/ITEM#: 9781590584644
Date: 15 December 2007 List Price $24.95

Cries and Whiskers is the third book featuring Theda Krakow, a freelance writer who does a weekly column called Clubland, about the live music scene in Cambridge. Theda's got her hands full: her boyfriend Bill is laid up with a bad knee after two surgeries; Musetta, her cat, doesn't like being left alone so much; Violet is desperate to find the feral cats Gail Womynfriend had set traps for before they freeze in the snowy sleet hitting Boston; Tim, her editor, pulls her feature and wants a big spread on a new band, Swann's Way, that no one has ever heard play; and her friend Tess is acting secretive and defensive. But then life is never just one thing at a time. So, what will be the straw that causes them all to tumble down?

Theda has many friends and acquaintances as well as her professional contacts, some of whom fit into the first two categories. She loves music and enjoys her column writing about the bands and clubs in the area. She feels comfortable in the clubs, sort of an adjunct of her living space, since many of her friends were met while listening to music in the clubs. In this book, Simon causes Theda to questions all the assumptions she's made in her life and career. Who can she believe? Who can she trust? And, even more important -- can she trust her own judgment?

Genre writing is often said to be about plot at the expense of character. All of us readers know that there are some really fantastic writers in the various genres. Personally, while I love a rollicking good adventure or mystery tale that is well told; I love it even more when I care about the characters having this adventure. Theda is a strong woman, who has come to adulthood with a lot of options open to her. She's freelance and that means running your own business of one. She's a reporter which implies a certain propensity to notice things. As the various threads of this story come together, Theda can see or sense that there's connections between the events. However, to fully discover what is going on she must challenge her own assumptions about her life, her friends, and her view of the club scene. It's this challenge to her core that raises this book above the level of just telling a good story well.

For those who've been following the series, the Theda at the end of this book is not quite the same as she was. Her world view has been shaken but she'll go on, because she knows how to keep going forward. And for those of you who are just coming new to the series don't be afraid to pick up with this book, Simons manages to give you the back story with out slowing down the pace. Music is such a part of this series that it's almost like the book has a sound track but the music is the reader's choice.

Recommended.

From Booklist

Booklist

Advanced Review — Uncorrected Proof

Issue: October 1, 2007

Cries and Whiskers.
Simon, Clea (Author)
Dec 2007. 260 p. Poisoned Pen, hardcover, $24.95. (9781590584644).

Freelance journalist Theda Krakow is back with a cat story that is anything but cozy. When an animal-rights activist who cared more about wild creatures than people is killed by a hit-and-run driver, Theda is not particularly upset. She is busy covering the Cambridge, Massachusetts, club scene and investigating a new designer drug that is endangering both musicians and patrons. Her boyfriend, Bill, a homicide detective, is recuperating from a broken leg, and her cat, Musetta, resents the time that she spends with him. When Theda learns that the accident victim was rescuing feral cats during a winter storm, she decides to help her friend Violet, a punk rocker who owns an animal shelter, investigate. As she learns more about the tensions within the animal-rights group and the origins of the dangerous drug, Theda finds that she may have the biggest story of her career. It may also be her last. Simon has written a fast-moving story full of lively characters, both two- and four-legged. This series is highly recommended for mystery fans who love cats but who prefer to leave the crime-solving to humans.

— Barbara Bibel

From The Cambridge Chronicle

Cambridge writer is queen of the kitty caper

By Rachel Lebeaux/Correspondent
Mon Nov 26, 2007, 12:53 PM EST

CAMBRIDGE - Craving a captivating kitty-centric caper? Cambridge resident Clea Simon has written just the series for you.

Simon's latest mystery novel, “Cries and Whiskers,” follows music critic Theda Krakow as she investigates the hit-and-run death of an animal rights activist who cared more for wild animals than for people. But, as is usually the case in a good mystery, there's much more to the activist's death than initially meets the eye.

Interested yet? It gets even better: “Cries and Whiskers,” like the two Theda Krakow mysteries preceding it, takes place in none other than Cambridge.

“They're set in Cambridge because I love that it's a liberal and literate place,” Simon said. Among the topics dealt with in the book are animal rights vs. animal welfare, the city's struggles gentrification, and how singles feel their way through relationships and friendships.

“There are a lot of mystery series about exotic places like Venice or New Orleans, but I think people from outside the area should know about Cambridge,” Simon said. “It has a cool history and a cool, happening culture. I think the greater Boston/Cambridge area is as fascinating as any place on earth and deserves to have its own stories brought to life.”

Simon grew up on Long Island and attended Harvard, where she studied English, American literature and novels of the early 1800s. “I really fell in love with the city,” she said. She lives near Inman Square, although her heroine, Theda, lives in Cambridgeport, as she did for many years.

A full-time writer and journalist who currently writes a radio column for the Boston Globe. Simon said she “kind of fell into journalism” and worked as a rock music critic for years for publications such as Rolling Stone, the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and the Phoenix.

“At 46, I still go out to the occasional [music] show, but I no longer regret that Boston has a 2 a.m. closing hour, and I no longer drive to New York for a show, drive back when the show's finished and stop in Connecticut for breakfast,” she laughed.

Simon has written three nonfiction books: “Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings,” “Fatherless Women: How We Change After We Lose Our Dads” and “The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats.” “I started writing nonfiction because, having been a journalist, it was a natural extension,” Simon said.

But then, a few years ago, Kate Mattes of Kate's Mystery Books on Mass. Ave. invited Simon to a holiday party for writers. Simon protested that, although she loves reading mysteries (she grew up reading “Encyclopedia Brown”), she had never written one. Mattes informed her that there is often an overlap between people who have cats and people who read mysteries and urged her to attend.

So Simon went to the party. “At the end of the night, [Mattes] said, 'Clea, you should write a mystery.' I swear I started the next day. She gave me permission,” Simon said.

In her first mystery, “Mew is for Murder,” an elderly woman who takes in cats is killed. The book deals with the issue of animal hoarding and was styled after the case of a local woman who considered herself a breeder, but had so many cats that the environment was not healthy for them, Simon said.

Her second mystery, “Cattery Row,” was based on a real set of crimes in New England when somebody was stealing high-end cats from breeders. “To me, that raises the question, why would anyone steal pedigreed cats?” Simon said. “It also gave me the chance to raise the question, should we be raising [high-end cats] at all when there are lovely animals in the shelter?”

In “Cries and Whiskers,” I really wanted to ratchet up the suspense,” Simon said. “One of the things that really interests me is how much we love our pets, and the different roles friends and pets play in our lives. Theda has to question her friends and their loyalty. Who do we care for? The innocent animal who depends on us, or the adult who made bad choices? In the real world, you can't be everything for everyone - so who do you save?”

Theda's cat, Musetta, also goes missing during this book. Not coincidentally, Simon also has a black-and-white cat named Musetta. However, “even though it's my cat in them, [the books] are not cute? they're almost like pet noir,” Simon said.

“I would never, ever hurt a cat in my books because the people who read books with animals in them don't want that,” she added.

Simon stressed that, although she and Theda share much in common, they are not the same person. For one thing, “I've never found a dead body!” she said.

Simon's not slowing down: she's already drafted another book, this one a non-Theda mystery starring a Harvard graduate student. But fear not, cat-centric fans: “I definitely have more plans for Theda and Musetta.”

From Reader Views

Cries and Whiskers: A Theda Krakow Mystery

Clea Simon
Poisoned Pen Press (2007)
ISBN 9781590584644
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (8/07)

“Cries and Whiskers” is the third novel in the Theda Krakow mystery series.  Theda is a cat lover, music fan, journalist and investigator.  There are several events all happening at the same time in this novel.  The adventure begins when Theda is doing an investigative report about a new designer drug that has been making an appearance at the local club that she hangs out at.  Then mystery begins when an animal rights activist is killed.  After she is killed in a hit and run, it is discovered that she had toxic levels of strychnine in her system.  The mystery deepens when a pregnant close friend of Theda's is drugged at the club that they frequent.  Then Theda is terribly upset when her beloved cat disappears and she receives a threatening call.  Each situation seems unrelated; however, as Theda digs deeper, she finds a connection between them all.

She also has to deal with issues of how to fit her temporarily disabled, cop/boyfriend into her life.  He is not very thrilled about her interest in the music/club scene.  She also has to figure out which of her friends she can trust. She is concerned that one of them might be responsible for the activist's death.  She is also worried about the strange behavior of another one.  She is also, understandably, desperately upset to lose her cat, especially when she suspects foul play.

I really enjoyed how well the plot was developed. I could feel Theda's angst as she desperately tried to find her cat.  I also could relate to her tension of trying to meet deadlines for her work.  Her concerns regarding issues with her boyfriend and worries about trust also were relayed very well.  I think most women can really relate to those feelings.

This is a really, fun mystery.  Clea Simon does a great job of incorporating her love for cats into this novel.  This is definitely a great read for cat lovers.  I also enjoyed her character development.  Her friends all have redeeming values, yet some of them border on being on the extreme side of animal rights fanaticism.  As a PETA member, I know there is a point where you have to draw the line.  I recommend “Cries and Whiskers” as a gift to cat lovers and I also believe that it should be considered for women's reader groups.

From Weekly Dig

[defend yourself]
CLEA SIMON

By Alyssa Voorhis

As a cold-hearted cynic who frequently jokes about throttling/stomping/eating all things small and fuzzy, I've been ruined. In response to the upcoming release of the third installation of her cat-centric Theda Krakow mystery series, Cries and Whiskers, I called author and feline enthusiast Clea Simon for an interview and was caught completely off guard by the ease with which she got me talking about my (dare I say it?) secret affection for kitties and puppies. Damn you cute diminutives. Damn you pleasant fluffiness. Damn you stupid melting heart.

I don't think there's been a blend of felines, music and mystery since Josie and the Pussycats.

You've discovered my hidden inspiration, it's true. I don't think there is another cats & crime and rock & roll writer, which is a shame. I hadn't thought about it, but I used to love Josie and the Pussycats back in the days when they were an actual cartoon.

There are striking similarities between you and your protagonist, Theda Krakow.

Well, you write what you know, but I've never found a dead body.

Do you take evasive or defensive action when it comes to your cat's foot-biting? Or do you just roll with it?

She always seems to get me before I put on socks... I think she enjoys when I shriek a little bit. She doesn't break the skin; she just strikes like a cobra. I wear socks more often now, but she still gets me in that moment when my feet are bare.

Opportunistic little cat.

Yes. We all have our vices. My cat is very affectionate, she loves to sit next to me or on my lap and she just purrs like mad but every once and a while it's like she goes, “Oh I just can't resist.”

May I make a snarky comment regarding the evident superiority of dogs to cats?

You can say whatever you want. I'd like to say I'm not a specist. It's like sexual preference -- you know what you like, but you should let everyone else choose too. Some people like S&M; I like cats.

From Library Journal

Mystery

By Jo Ann Vicarel -- Library Journal, 11/1/2007
Simon, Clea. Cries and Whiskers: A Theda Krakow Mystery. Poisoned Pen. Dec. 2007. c.251p. ISBN 978-1-59058-464-4. $24.95. M
During a particularly nasty winter, Theda Krakow (Cattery Row), a freelance writer covering the rock scene in Cambridge, MA, is caught up in rescuing feral cats, probing the murder of a proactive animal rights activist, and trying to get information on a new band in the area. Simon lives in Cambridge. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 8/07.]

From Newark Star-Ledger

Season's readings for pet lovers

Sunday, December 10, 2006

TONS OF NEW RELEASES hit our desk year-round, but the volume increases exponentially in anticipation of the holidays. Narrowing down to a few to recommend is daunting. Having issued that disclaimer, here are some worthy selections as gifts or for your own collection:

Cattery Row

Clea Simon ensnares you immediately in her latest mystery, "Cattery Row" (Poisoned Pen Press, $29.95). Don't expect a cutesy-pie story with kitties romping around. Simon's sleuth, Theda Krakow, hunts down cat-napped show cats. An established newspaper woman (like Simon) with a solid background in punk rock music and a cool cat herself with a coterie of hip friends, Theda is determined to collect the cats and solve the murder of a breeder among a colorful group of suspects. She held me captive, only stopping for food and drink, until the final denouement.

At the recent Cat Writers Association conference in California, Simon won the prestigious Muse Medallion (the Oscar for cat writers) in the fiction book category and then snagged the coveted President's Award, chosen among all Muse Medallion winners (30 this time) for her last mystery, “Mew Is for Murder.” I can hardly wait for the next in the Theda series.

Contact Joan Lowell Smith at P.O. Box 302, Garwood, N.J. 07027 or e-mail her at jsmith@starledger.com.

From Richmond Times-Dispatch

MYSTERIES Animals share the spotlight

BY JAY STRAFFORD
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Sunday, October 29, 2006

Sly as a fox. Dogged determination. A cat's curiosity. Horse sense. The comparisons between animal stereotypes and mystery novels could go on and on -- but thankfully, not in this space. Several mystery series find their center in our relationships with animals, and these four are a mix of old favorites and newer entries.

Someone is stealing the show cats of Boston.

And Theda Krakow, freelance journalist and cat lover, wants to know why.

Cattery Row (238 pages, Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95) is Clea Simon's second entry in the series, and it finds Theda caught up in murder and extortion, as well as the cat thefts. The mystery's a winner, but the real appeal of Simon's work is Theda herself -- torn between two lovers, trying to make her freelance career work, balancing her eccentric friends, trying to stay active in the rock-club scene.

Cat-themed mysteries are often classified as "cozies," but "Cattery Row" is, if not hard-boiled, nowhere near cute -- except, of course, for the cats. Simon writes with grit, and in Theda, she has created a flawed and sometimes infuriating protagonist, one readers will want to see for many more lives.

Contact staff writer Jay Strafford at jstrafford@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6698.

From Boston Globe

BOOK REVIEW

Fans of feline mysteries will have a ball with this yarn

By David J. Montgomery, Globe Correspondent  |  September 4, 2006

Cattery Row By Clea Simon
Poisoned Pen, 238 pp., $24.95

Let's be upfront about something: This is a mystery about cats. There's a big picture of a cat on the jacket, the story's protagonist is a cat lover, and a series of catnappings features prominently in the plot.

Books like this tend to get a bad rap, and sometimes that reputation is justified. But Clea Simon, a Globe contributor, is doing her part to turn that around, with another fun and well-crafted mystery that is entertaining enough to appeal even to readers for whom cats hold little charm.

Series character Theda Krakow, who made her first appearance in last year's “Mew Is for Murder,” is a struggling freelance writer trying to make a living in Cambridge and barely scraping by. She's got good connections in the local music scene and a sharp eye for spotting the latest trends, but she's burned so many bridges that it's difficult for her to find work.

When an offer to write a cheesy profile of several “women of the new millennium” comes along, Krakow holds her nose and takes the job. At least the article features a couple of her old friends, including a local musician who's made it big, and a cat breeder who's well known on the show circuit. Krakow is in the middle of her story when one of the women is murdered. Naturally, she is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Books like this are, by necessity, built around fantastic premises. Do freelance journalists investigate murders? Of course not. Even so, Simon does a deft job of making Krakow's sleuthing plausible, if not quite realistic. Also worth noting, and this is to the author's credit, it is the journalist and not the cats who actually solves the crime.

The plot of “Cattery Row” unfolds rather simply, but that doesn't stop it from being fun to read. The cat scenes do tend to get old quickly. How much purring, cuddling, and petting does a murder mystery really need? Of course, that is the hook of the series, and Simon sticks to it. But the real heart of the book is in the music.

It is when the author takes the story into the nightclubs and starts to describe the rhythms and artistry of the performances that the book really comes alive. It's clear that Simon has a real love for, and understanding of, contemporary music, and that knowledge adds a unique flavor to her books that makes them stand out from the rest of the clowder of cat mysteries.

A well done example of the traditional (or “cozy”) mystery, “Cattery Row” is a pleasant and diverting book. Simon clearly has talent, and it will be interesting to watch how her writing develops, hopefully as she expands into new areas. While feline crime novels are fine, the restrictions of the subgenre are too limiting for an author of her abilities.

David J. Montgomery is the editor of Mystery Ink (www.mysteryinkonline.com ). Clea Simon will read from “Cattery Row” Sept. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass. Ave., Cambridge.

From New York Post

MEOW-STERY

By JULIA SZABO

September 3, 2006 -- MYSTERY fiction and cats: What's the connection? Clea Simon - whose new book, “Cattery Row,” just hit bookstores - has a theory.

“[Cats] are conducive to cuddling up with a book, whether you're a reader or a writer,” Simon explains, gazing at her feline Musetta. “Both in life and in literature, they serve as meditation aids. Cats help us think.”

Simon joins the ranks of authors for whom cats play a prominent role on and off the page: Shirley Rousseau Murphy, author of the “Joe Grey” cat mysteries; Carole Nelson Douglas, of “Midnight Louie” fame; and Rita Mae Brown, who shares authorship of her titles with a cat named Sneaky Pie Brown.

Unlike her colleagues, Simon sees felines not as PIs with paws, but as subjects of serious debate. “I don't anthropomorphize my feline characters,” the author adds. “They're not four-legged sleuths. They're just cats.”

Instead, she continues, “I make a point of including real cat issues in my books.” For instance, the theme of her debut novel, “Mew Is for Murder,” was hoarding - people who collect more cats than they have the resources to care for. “Cattery Row” asks the question, Why breed fancy felines for show and sale when so many cats are put to sleep at animal shelters?

Simon, who got Musetta from Boston's Animal Rescue League, clearly favors adoption - as does her book's heroine, music-journalist-turned-amateur sleuth Theda Krakow. Still, like her fictional alter ego, Simon's a journalist, and the reporter in her takes pains to show all sides of every cat issue she tackles.

“I like to think I present the breeders sympathetically, too,” she says. “Besides, my characters aren't taking sides, they're solving crimes.”

As for Musetta, she enjoys playing editor, adding to manuscripts by walking across Simon's keyboard. “We have typical writer-editor conflicts,” Simon concludes with a laugh. “But she can't pick me up and put me on the floor, so I usually win!”

Clea Simon will read from “Cattery Row” Sept. 14 at Partners & Crime Mystery Booksellers, 44 Greenwich Ave.; (212) 243-0440, crimepays.com.

js@pet-reporter.com

From Publishers Weekly

Cattery Row: A Theda Krakow Mystery
Simon, Clea (Author)
ISBN: 159058306X
Poisoned Pen Press
Published 2006-08
Hardcover , $24.95 (227p)
Fiction | Mystery & Detective | Women Sleuths
Reviewed 2006-08-28

In Simon's satisfying second kitty cozy (after 2005's Mew Is for Murder ), spunky Boston journalist Theda Krakow and her feline friend, Musetta, are plunged into a crazy quilt of cat-related crime. In recent months, eight catteries near Beantown have been broken into, and expensive show cats stolen. Theda is puzzled over these thefts-without documents of their lineage, the cats are practically worthless, so why would anyone steal them- Then, one of Theda's friends, eccentric cat-breeder Rose Keller, lets on that she's received some threatening phone calls. A few days later, Rose turns up dead. Meanwhile, a blues singer called Cool tells Theda that she's being blackmailed. Someone has evidence that Cool has been drinking and using prescription drugs. (This is the weakest strand in the plot - would a celebrity musician shell out big bucks to keep a little pill-popping secret.) With its well-developed cast of characters and a multilayered plot, this feline mystery is the cat's meow.

Copyright © 1997-2005 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Gumshoe

Cattery Row by Clea Simon
Review by Gayle Surrette

Cattery Row is, I believe, the second of the Theda Krakow mysteries. The mystery is convoluted and engaging, the cats run the gamut of feline personality types, the characters are fully developed individuals, the relationships realistically confused, the Boston music scene real enough to feel the bass beat and smell the beer, and the action non-stop.

Theda Krakow is a freelance journalist. She quit her job at the Boston Morning Mail, features department, in a righteous snit when the boss wanted to take one of her ideas for a column, give to someone else, and have Theda teach the person how to do the job. Now she's between jobs and worried about getting another one. Luckily, she gets a call from City Magazine about doing a follow up to their "Women of the Millennium" article to see what they're doing now. Theda would do a profile on four of the original ten women and luckily she knew two of them pretty well already. Things were beginning to look up for Theda.

As we know, that's when everything falls apart. Someone is stealing pure breed cats from area catteries while the owners are away at shows. Violet, a friend of Theda's, manages the Lillian Helmhold Home for Wayward Felines, and she's worried even though her cats are strays and of truly mixed and unknown parentage. But Rose of Rose Blossom Cattery and a past 'Millennium Woman', has Turkish Angoras and someone has called to threaten her cats if she doesn't pay. Theda later learns that Jan Coolidge (also a 'Millennium Woman') is also being blackmailed but by someone who wants to ruin Jan's music career.

Things look bleak what with blackmail, threatened cats, a missing sales receipt, Halloween coming up, Theda's boyfriend not particularly liking the same music as Theda, the ex-boyfriend showing up on the scene, missing kittens, and now a body -- a very dead body.

The writing is wonderfully tight even though the narration and dialogue give you ample opportunity to get to know these women and their problems. There's just something about a book where women interact and support each other in their choices that makes me think the world is alright after all and there is hope. I would have like to learn a bit more about the grrrl punk -- maybe have some names of groups or individuals so I could look for the CDs.

Recommended for those who like action, relationships, cats, and a diversity of characters some of whom you wouldn't mind meeting someday. And, you don't need to read the first book (Mew is for Murder) to understand this one but why not get it anyway.

From Cat Fancier’s Association

FEATURED BOOK

Cattery Row

Someone starts breaking into catteries, stealing valuable pedigreed cats. Based on a true incident, these cats seem to disappear. But why steal cats without their papers? What value will they have without their pedigrees? And will a friendly show judge and breeder ever be able to convince a shelter owner that pedigreed cats do not simply make for more unwanted animals?

As feline-friendly freelance writer Theda Krakow investigates, she must traverse the world of cat shows and breeders. Along the way, she also learns the horrible truth about kitten mills, pet overpopulation, and how pet trends can harm animals.

Theda and her sidekick, the shelter-owner VIolet, don't take sides -- they solve crimes. But by raising questions about the animals we love and value, they also raise awareness.

Cattery Row
by Clea Simon
Hardcover: 238 pages
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press Language: English
ISBN: 159058306X

From San Francisco Chronicle

MYSTERY: THE CAT-WOMAN CONNECTION

- Jeanne Cooper
Sunday, November 13, 2005

She may spend her time writing mysteries, but Clea Simon, author of the new “Mew Is for Murder” (Poisoned Pen Press) and the forthcoming “Cattery Row,” wants to clear up some misconceptions about that popular figure of fun (and fear), the crazy cat lady.

“It is not the number of cats that makes you a ‘crazy cat lady’ or a hoarder; you can have 30 cats and be totally sane and healthy, and you can have five and be over the edge,” she says firmly. “It's about your ability to take care of yourself and them.”

According to Simon, who explored the phenomenon in her nonfiction book “The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats” (St. Martins Press, 2002), if everyone and every cat is fed, clean and safely housed, no problem. But for those who can't take care of themselves and their animals, “the big problem lies in that they don't see that they have a problem,” says Simon, who also weaves the cat lady theme into “Mew Is for Murder,” the first installment of her new cat-themed Theda Krakow mystery series.

So why don't you hear about the crazy cat guy?

Well, Simon says, women are more likely to hoard animals than men, and women are more likely to hoard cats than other species.

“The men who do hoard animals are more likely to hoard dogs, but it's harder to do,” she says. “When you get 10 or 12 dogs together and they start barking, the neighbors complain.”

Most hoarders are older than 60 and live alone -- or rather, without other human companionship -- which has spurred the urban myth that if you're a single woman with cats, “you're going to die alone and your cats are going to eat your face,” Simon says.

The true hoarder is probably manifesting obsessive-compulsive disorder, and there has been some success treating it with Paxil, says Simon, who drew on research from Tufts University's veterinary school for “The Feline Mystique.”

But any woman with cats, “especially any woman alone with a cat, is falling afoul of centuries of female/feline prejudice,” Simon says. “Before the Christian era, women and felines were linked as goddesses.”

That's because they were associated with sensuality, beauty and mystery -- cats through their eerie night vision and ability to survive falls, and women through their ability to give birth, Simon says: “We traverse worlds.”

Today, the connections are largely negative: Being a single woman in your 30s and having a couple of cats seems to “mean you can't get or you won't love a man,” she says.

Simon, who is married, has to take a break in the telephone conversation from her home in Cambridge, Mass. Her cat, Musetta, “gets jealous when I'm on the phone, so she's bringing me a toy and she's going to say, ‘Wooahh!’ until I acknowledge her,” she confesses.

The gift of a toy black mouse properly noted, Simon continues.

“People have the misconception that cats aren't affectionate. It's just that cats aren't slavish. I like to tell people, ‘Dogs are like having a child; they're dependent on you. Cats are like having an interesting adult roommate from another culture. It's a more equal relationship.’

Clea Simon signs copies of “Mew Is for Murder” at 5 p.m. Friday at M Is for Mystery, 86 E. Third Ave., San Mateo; 2-3 p.m. Saturday at the Cat Writers' Association booth at the CFA International Cat Show in the San Mateo Expo Center; and 11 a.m

E-mail Jeanne Cooper at jcooper@sfchronicle.com.

From The Oregonian

GOOD READ

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Deborah Wood
The Oregonian

Hip sleuth sinks claws into new cat mystery

“Mew Is for Murder” by Clea Simon (Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95, 224 pages) is the newest mystery for cat lovers. It's also one of the best.

Protagonist Theda Krakow is a freelance writer. When she's on an assignment for a Boston paper to write a story about a woman who might be a cat hoarder, Theda finds the old woman dead. Theda isn't convinced it's an accident.

Theda's a first-rate new sleuth. She's vividly portrayed and she's likable. Unlike the little old ladies who usually solve cat mysteries, Theda is in her 30s, hip and a serious fan of rock music.

The minor characters are also deftly written. For example, there's a purple-haired barista and lesbian rocker who was friends with the murdered woman and her cats. And there's the rock music critic at the daily newspaper -- complete with balding head and little gray ponytail.

“Mew Is for Murder” has some flaws. Theda got a little too much help for my taste from a clue-giving cat in solving the murder -- especially since this is an otherwise realistic tale. I also don't understand why female sleuths always refuse to tell their cop friends important little details -- like someone slipping drugs into Theda's Diet Coke.

Still, it's a well-written, absorbing, character-based mystery. It's a great book for snuggling on the couch with your favorite cat on an autumn evening. I hope there will be many more Theda Krakow books to come.

©2005 The Oregonian

From the Cambridge Chronicle

Cambridge writer finds her mews

By Alexander Stevens
Thursday, September 29, 2005

In her new book, “Mew Is for Murder,” Clea Simon writes about Cambridge, cats and murder. So, in the “write about what you know” department, Simon is three-for-three.

She knows about Cambridge, because she's been living here - with the exception of one year - since she came to go to school in 1979.

She knows about cats because she's a self-confessed cat lover, obsessed enough to write the nonfiction book, “The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection between Women and Cats.”

And she knows about murders because she's been reading about them for years. She, like many first-time mystery writers, is a huge fan of the genre.

“I read mysteries like people eat potato chips,” she says.

At a holiday gathering of mystery writers and their fans at Kate's Mystery Books in Cambridge, mystery maven Kate Mattes told Simon she should write a mystery.

“It was basically the next day that I began writing the book,” she says.

The result is “Mew Is for Murder,” the story of Cambridge freelance journalist Theda Krakow, a devotee of the local rock music scene, who stumbles across a murder in the course of researching a story. In the great tradition of “cozy” murder mysteries, it's an amateur sleuth who's out to solve the crime, and Simon puts the emphasis on plot, not gore.

Simon says the book is largely autobiographical (with the notable exception of the murder). Simon follows the local music scene; she currently has a taste for the garage bands she finds at the Abbey. But she's also spotted at T.T.'s and the Middle East, and recently she was at Scullers with her husband, Jon Garelick, arts writer/editor with the Boston Phoenix.

“I used to virtually live at the Rat,” she says.

But now it's more about cats than the Rat. Cats play a significant role in the book. In the somewhat haunting prologue, the only witness to the murder are the “yellow and green and gold” eyes of a cat. And Simon sees a connection between cats and mystery lovers.

“People who love cats tend to be introspective and contemplative,” she says. “Besides, it's easier to read with a cat in your lap than with a dog that you have to walk.” And then she quotes a study that showed dog owners tend to bond with their dogs during activities like walking, running or playing fetch, while cat owners bond with their cats during quiet times. Simon has written several nonfiction books, but she now has a taste for this fiction thing. She says that after years of nonfiction writing, she now finds it “liberating” to be able to make stuff up - a practice that's frowned upon in journalism.

She's already deep into her second Theda Krakow mystery, “Cattery Row,” and, yes, as the title suggests, cats play another important role. As does murder. And Cambridge.

“It's still a place where you can walk to a coffeehouse or a book store,” she says, describing her fondness for the city, “even if the names of the coffeehouses and bookstores are changing.”

Clea Simon will talk as part of a mystery books panel at Porter Square Books on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m.

From the Magic Valley (Idaho) Sun Times

Mew is for murder: a cat mystery

When is a mystery more than a simple mystery? When it's also an animal book, full of advice and pet-care tips for those of us who love our four-legged friends. That's the story behind “Mew is for Murder” by author Clea Simon.

“Mew is for Murder” is more than a “cozy,” as classic whodunits are called, because Simon knows something about cats. Her 2002 nonfiction book, “The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats,” chronicled the history and mythology that have long linked the feminine and the feline and also recounted stories about cat lovers, feral rescue, shelter programs, and the strange behavior known as animal hoarding. Simon, who also writes for the Boston Globe and New York Times, put her feline research to good use in her first fictional foray.

“The people who read cat mysteries are first and foremost cat lovers,” says Simon from her Massachusetts home. “I know because I'm one of them! But I don't like cutesy cat books, where the cats don't act like real felines. I wanted to give readers a book that played up the actual `catitude' of our favorite pets -- the real-life traits that make them so adorable -- as well as a murder mystery and a little romance.”

The result mixes animal lore in with a killer plot. As it opens, the heroine, a cat-loving freelance writer named Theda Krakow, thinks she's got a cat hoarder -- a “crazy cat lady” -- in her neighborhood. But when she sets out to interview the old woman, she finds her dead. The neighbors are glad that the “cat lady” is gone, and the police are only too willing to believe that the death of a solitary old lady was accidental. Therefore, it falls to Theda to find out who would want an innocent person dead -- a mystery she must solve in time to save all the cats and kittens the old lady had been sheltering in her tumbledown house. To meet both of her goals, Theda must navigate the harsh realities of pet overpopulation and shelter overcrowding. Along the way, she also learns something about herself, particularly when she ends up fostering a black-and-white kitten named Musetta.

On Simon's Web site, www.CleaSimon.com, you'll find photos of the real-life Musetta who inspired the book, complete with the off-center white star on her nose. Musetta, said Simon, was also a shelter kitty. On the site, you'll also find links to stories on real-life animal hoarders, stories that don't have quite such happy endings as the one in “Mew is for Murder.” But for Simon, the chance to share such knowledge in a fun and entertaining format outweighed the need to focus on the dark side.

Animal hoarding, as Simon explains, is a strange phenomenon that scientists are only beginning to understand. Although the classic hoarders (and people do hoard other animals, although cats are most common) don't realize it, they take in too many animals. They end up not being able to care for the animals (which often become ill or starve) or themselves. But because of their condition, which may be a mental illness related to obsessive-compulsive disorder, the hoarders don't see how filthy their homes have become or how sick their animals are.

“We all know that we should have our animals spayed or neutered,” Simon said. “But we need to remember why.” In “Mew is for Murder,” she makes the lessons real with a little mystery and mayhem thrown in.

Former Twin Falls veterinarian Marty Becker is the coauthor of the book “Chicken Soup For The Horse Lover's Soul” and a popular veterinary contributor for ABC's “Good Morning America.” Write to him in care of Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, 700 12th St. NW, Suite 1000, Washington D.C. 20005.

From the Chicago Sun-Times

Books

Host of new whodunits merits a look

August 14, 2005

BY DAVID J. MONTGOMERY

Vanish (Ballantine, $24.95), the latest whodunit from bestselling author Tess Gerritsen, is a “high concept” thriller -- a story built around an easy-to-grasp premise that grips an audience right away and won't let go.

It begins with the body of a beautiful woman in the Boston morgue. Just another accidental death -- until she suddenly comes back to life. At the hospital, she seizes a security guard's gun and takes several hostages. One of them is homicide detective Jane Rizzoli, who is due to give birth at any moment. It is up to Rizzoli's husband, FBI agent Gabriel Dean, to get his wife and unborn child out safely.

From that basic set-up, the author weaves a spellbinding tale of government conspiracy and white slavery, with themes as current as the morning newspaper. Some of it might be a little overblown, but there's no denying the power of Gerritsen's storytelling.

Vanish is a perfect example of the best-selling thriller: action-packed, entertaining and compulsively readable.

British thriller writer Zoe Sharp has been winning accolades in England, and now her work debuts in America. First Drop (St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95) is the fourth book in the series featuring female bodyguard Charlie Fox, but it makes a good introduction to Sharp's work.

Charlie is hired to watch over Trey, an American teenager facing vague threats from some unknown party. Charlie isn't sure what to make of the situation, but when Trey is nearly wiped out by a gunman at a Florida theme park, Charlie's instincts and training kick in to high gear.

From then on, Charlie and Trey are on the run, fleeing former allies and crooked cops determined to see them dead. This is when Charlie really shines, her lethal abilities and winning personality combining to make her a compelling figure.

Although the action is at times choppy, Sharp keeps the plot moving at a lightning-fast pace. This helps overcome some weaknesses, particularly the cringe-worthy dialogue. With a heroine as tough and savvy as Charlie Fox in charge, it's hard not to be entertained.

Books spun off from television series are often scorned by critics despite their popularity. One author out to change their reputation is Lee Goldberg, a screenwriter who has produced at least a dozen novels as well as scores of TV shows.

With his fifth book in the “Diagnosis Murder” series, The Past Tense (Signet, $6.99), Goldberg has proven that excellent writing can be found anywhere, even in a TV tie-in novel.

When the body of a woman dressed as a mermaid washes up on the beach, everyone is perplexed except for Dr. Mark Sloan (the character played on television by Dick Van Dyke). Sloan recognizes the clues that tie the body to a series of murders nearly four decades before, a case that haunts him still.

The Past Tense contains all the elements of a fine mystery novel: good characters, interesting plot, surprising twists and, above all, crisp and enjoyable writing. With books this good, who needs TV?

Terrill Lee Lankford's excellent Blonde Lightning (Ballantine, $24.95) is the follow-up to last year's Earthquake Weather, a fine Hollywood satire. Would-be mogul Mark Hayes has returned, and his love-hate relationship with showbiz is just as sharp and darkly funny as before.

Producing a low-budget film with alcoholic director Clyde McCoy, Hayes risks his life savings in a last-ditch effort to make it big in Tinseltown. But the project seems cursed from the start.

When their leading lady is nearly killed in an “accident,” McCoy suspects the sleazy agent who had once threatened her life. Desperate to finish the film, Hayes and McCoy seek to eliminate the threat, no matter the cost.

Like Goldberg, Lankford is both a veteran filmmaker and a gifted mystery novelist, and he uses his expertise in both areas to craft a book that gives an inside look at the filmmaking process while entertaining readers with a rich and suspenseful story.

Clea Simon makes her debut with a cozy “cat mystery,” Mew is for Murder (Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95). Feline mysteries are a mainstay of the genre, although they tend to be mediocre. Fortunately, Simon turns that trend on its ear with a pleasing effort.

The story features Theda Krakow, a freelance journalist looking for a juicy story who stumbles on a crazy old woman living in a house full of cats. Her human interest piece goes up in smoke when the woman winds up dead. The cops say it was an accident, but Theda's not sure. She decides to investigate, with predictably dangerous results.

The plot is entertaining, if uncomplicated, but the best thing is the heroine, a pleasant, intelligent woman who easily gains the reader's interest and empathy.

David J. Montgomery is the editor of Mystery Ink (www.mysteryinkonline.com).

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Mew Is for Murder
Clea Simon. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (234p) ISBN 1-59058-165-2

Journalist Simon (The Feline Mystique) makes an auspicious fiction debut with a well-plotted cat mystery that's not your usual four-footed cozy caper. Theda Krakow, an appealing freelance feature writer, really gets down to “kickin'” blues and the Boston rock scene. When Theda goes to interview “cat lady” Lillian Helmhold at home in Cambridge, she finds Lillian dead and her cats circling the woman's big Victorian house in distress. Lillian's death appears to be an accident, but someone keeps breaking into her house, which is rumored to contain treasure in the late owner's stacks of boxes and papers. Suspects include a coffee-bar waitress who helped Lillian with the cats, Lillian's schizophrenic son and an avaricious realtor who lives next door and hates cats. Simon writes well about the visceral tug of today's rock music. We feel the feral heart of true hard rock, and the way the sound, the dancing and the booze all blend into something close to good sex. If the ending borders on the saccharine, and a cat named “Aslan” who saves the day is a little much, this is still a strong start to what one hopes will be a long series. Agent, Ann Collette at Helen Rees Literary Agency. (July)

BOOKLIST Simon, Clea. Mew Is for Murder.
July 2005. 234p. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (1-59058-165-2).

Boston journalist Simon wisely sets her debut novel in the city she knows best.In fact, sharing a native's insight into Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, and other Boston-area haunts does much to make up for a somewhat predictable plot.

Simon's protagonist, Theda Krakow, is a copyeditor who has recently made the move to freelance writer. Desperately seeking stories, Theda sells her editor on an idea to interview Lillian Helmhold, a “crazy cat lady” harboring numerous felines. When she show up for the interview, Theda finds the old lady dead. Is it murder? A punk rocker named Violet, who helped with the cats, definitely thinks so. Theda feels that she owes it to Lillian-and her now homeless cats-to find the truth. With Violet's help, Theda tracks down Lillian's mentally challenged son, looks for a motive, and indulges in her after-hours passion-the rock scene in Boston's small clubs. Although the mystery is easy to solve, Simon brilliantly evokes the Boston music scene and imparts interesting tidbits about freelance writing. Perhaps most thankfully, she avoids the hypercutesiness of some cat cozies. -Jenny McLarin

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2005

MEW IS FOR MURDER

A chance meeting with a kitten on a sidewalk in Cambridge, Mass., leads a freelance writer into a mysterious maze with murder at the center.

Theda Krakow is still down in the dumps over the loss of her beloved cat and the breakup of a relationship when she follows Musetta the kitten to a run-down house where an old woman lives with numberless felines. She returns to interview Lillian Helmhold for a story on what she thinks may be cat hoarding only to find her dead. Now Theda's interest turns to saving the cats and helping purple-haired rocker Violet Hayes prove her friend's death was murder. Lillian has a schizophrenic son living in a group home that has recently been robbed and nearly lost to arson. Apart from the rumors that Lillian had a treasure hidden, the house itself proves valuable enough to interest Patti Wright, the realtor next door, to apply to oversee the estate. Theda encounters a sexy artist, an investigative reporter, the police officer in charge of the case, and divers cat lovers and denizens of the clubs she cruises in her attempt to find answers to her questions.

Newcomer Simon's exploration of the real-life relations between women and cats (Feline Mystique, 2002) gives her and her complicated heroine an edge on other ailurophiles.

Copyright 2005 Kirkus Reviews

From Romantic Times BookClub magazine

Title: MEW IS FOR MURDER
Author: Clea Simon
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Published: July 2005
Rating: ***
Type: Mystery (Amateur Sleuth)

Readers will enjoy following thirtysomething cat lover Theda Krakow around her Cambridge neighborhood in Boston. Theda's a former copy editor turned freelance writer, and author Simon gets the daily details of Theda's job just right.

The trouble starts when Theda pitches a story about a cat hoarder. The little old lady seems perfectly sane, but, because of the large number of cats she owns, Theda suspects she may have a bizarre form of OCD. Her editor greenlights the story, but when Theda goes to talk to the woman, she finds her dead on the kitchen floor, a dent in the back of her head. The cops call it an accident, but Theda is suspicious. Her investigative instincts lead her to evidence that confirms foul play.

Although the murder plot takes a while to kick in, detours into the Cambridge music scene and Theda's angst about adopting a cat lend an authentic feel to this unusual mystery. (Jul., 234 pp., $24.95)

From the Hartford Courant

New Pet Books Offer A Good Read And Solid Advice

August 24, 2005
By STEVE DALE, Tribune Media Services

It's never too late for a good summer read, even if summer is quickly coming to an end. Some books on this list are a good beach read, while others offer real help for pet behavior issues.

“The Lady and the Panda,” by Vicki Constantine Croke (Random House, New York, 2005; $25.95). What a great old-fashioned adventure! Back in the day, adventurers who traveled to far off places received the kind of press pro athletes do now. If supermarket tabloids had been published in the 1930s, Bill Harkness' death in Tibet -- as he attempted to be the first to return to America with a live panda -- would have been front-page news.

Making even bigger news, the late adventurer's dress designer wife, Ruth, announced she would make the same trip, also determined to return with a panda. The public laughed. After all, how could a socialite from New York City succeed on an arduous journey when so many rugged adventurers failed?

As you're reading, you'll feel transformed, as if you are also seeking out the elusive panda. And no wonder, author Croke's zeal for the story took her on the same adventure as Ruth, albeit about 70 years later. In a sense, the story begins after Ruth returns to the United States. For a time, Harkness kept her prize panda as a sort of pet, even showing it off at cocktail parties.

If there was a “Pawlitzer” prize for animal writing, Croke would win have won it years ago. She's a superb journalist, offering copious sources. But it's the story and her passion for it that leaps from these pages.

“Without A Word,” by Carol Lea Benjamin (William Morrow, New York, NY, 2005; $23.95). A young mom abandons her husband and 7-year-old daughter. As a result of the trauma, the daughter turns mute. Rachel Alexander is hired by the dad to find out what happened to his wife. Meanwhile, the daughter is accused of murder but since she's totally uncommunicative, she can't offer a defense. This is a kind of double who-done-it. It's up to Rachel's dog, Dashiell, to assist; in this case by wiggling his way into the daughter's heart in a desperate attempt to encourage her to talk.

This is the 8th Rachael Alexander mystery, all co-starring Dashiell, a pit bull. This is also arguably the most successful mystery series co-starring a canine protagonist, likely because the author is truly an expert on dog behavior. Benjamin is a legendary dog trainer, and the author of many books on dog training.

“Mew is for Murder,” by Clea Simon (Poisoned Press, Scottsdale, AZ, 2005; $24.95). Serious cat lovers will get into this mystery because serious feline issues are involved, such as hoarding. Serious mystery lovers will get into the book, well, because it's good.

Out for a stroll, Theda finds a stray kitten, who leads her to an old woman cat hoarder. The old woman dies, the suspect of an apparent accident. Of course, her demise may not be an accident, after all.

“Dog Dilemmas: Simple Solutions to Everyday Problems” and “Cat Conundrums: Simple Solutions to Everyday Problems,” by Dr. Gary Sampson with Dick Wolfsie (Emmis Books, Cincinnati, OH, 2005; $9.99). Honey the cat's hobby was tossing her feces around the house. Max the cocker spaniel was encouraged to be top dog when it wasn't a job he really applied for.

These are among the real stories from the files of Sampson, a vet in Indianapolis, Ind., with a practice limited to behavioral issues. As it turned out, Honey the cat tossed feces around out of sheer boredom. Sampson recommended enriching her environment with toys (which worked).

Shultz, a 75-pound dog, entered the home several years after Max, the cocker spaniel. But the owner supported her 'first child.' Sampson suggestsed the owner let the dogs work things out on their own, and the pair began to get along. Sampson knew Schultz would be happier as top dog, and Max didn't really want to be a leader anyway.

Unfortunately, behavior problems don't always have simple solutions. For example, though he offers overall sound advice, Sampson's prescription for thunderstorm anxiety isn't likely to work without pharmacological intervention (which he doesn't even mention). Still, for those interested in why pets do what they do, both books are insightful and entertaining, albeit a bit too simple.

“Keeping Pet Chickens,” by Johannes Paul and William Windham (Barron's, Hauppauge NY, 2005; $8.99). You won't believe this new trend: chickens as pets. The authors maintain that such pets don't require much space, and hens are an investment, offering a little nest egg in return. You'll learn about everything from handling chickens and how to house them, to chicken anatomy.

“The Complete IDIOT'S Guide to Dog Tricks,” by Liz Palika (Alpha Books, New York, NY, 2005; $14.95). Prepare your dog to be a TV star. Begin with dog tricks even idiots can teach their canine pals, like “sit.” But then, advance to what Palika calls show stoppers, like fetching a mobile phone. And if you tend to misplace your phone, this is also a very practical trick.

Palika is a well-regarded trainer and pioneer in animal assisted therapy. If you happen to have a therapy dog, this book is still worth picking up just for the chapter on “Tricks for Therapy Dogs.”

“PETiQuette: Solving Behavior Problems in Your Multi-Pet Household,” by Amy Shojai (M. Evans and Company, New York, NY, 2005; $15.95). That old adage about cats and dogs feuding just isn't true. In fact, count yourself among the trendy if you happen to have at least one cat and one dog living together. Shojai's many books about companion animals are always well researched, and this is no exception. The advice on multi-pet combinations is right on the money. This book can help solve behavior issues in multi-pet homes, as well as help owners avoid pet behavior problems before they occur.

Steve Dale welcomes questions/comments from readers. Although he can't answer all of them individually, he will answer those of general interest in his column. Write to Steve at Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207. Send e-mail to PETWORLD(at)AOL.com. Include your name, city and state. Listen to Steve Dale's WEEKLY RADIO SHOW, “Pet Central,” on Saturdays at www.wgnradio.com; or Steve's syndicated radio shows: “Steve Dale's Pet World” and “The Pet Minute.” Learn more at www.petworldradio.net

© 2005 TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

From the Boston Phoenix

Editors Pick
Books

Yes, Clea Simons debut novel, Mew is for Murder, is a mystery thriller for the cat-lady market or at least its disguised as one. Simon, a former Globe copy editor and sometime Phoenix correspondent, has written extensively about mental illness and rock and roll, and both subjects figure prominently in Mews pages: local residents may recognize more than a few of the thinly fictionalized Cambridge rock dives and personalities here. Potboiling pussies aside, the murder in question is a human one, and Simon brings her subjects to life with effortless warmth and grace.

From the Boston Globe

Murder mystery
'Mew' offers a pleasing first case

By David J. Montgomery, Globe Correspondent  |  August 31, 2005

Mew Is for Murder, By Clea Simon, Poisoned Pen, 224 pp,. $24.95

Crime novels starring cats in prominent roles are a mainstay of the mystery genre. Authors such as Lilian Jackson Braun, Carole Nelson Douglas, and Rita Mae Brown have all built thriving careers based on series featuring feline characters.

Boston-based writer and critic Clea Simon, a frequent contributor to the Globe, goes by only two names, but she is nonetheless poised to join the ranks of the more established authors of the cat-centric mystery with her debut novel, “Mew Is for Murder.”

Theda Krakow is a journalist working for a major Boston newspaper. After suffering through the breakup of her relationship and the death of her beloved cat, Theda is in a bit of a funk. Since she's recently made a career change from copy editor to freelance writer, her financial situation isn't looking so great either. She could really use a break.

She seems to be on the brink of a juicy story when she meets a neighbor with a house full of cats. Could this elderly woman be one of the fabled crazy cat ladies who populate tabloid reports and urban legends? Theda decides to find out, only to stumble on a far more complicated situation when she discovers the old ladydead the next day.

Theda is ready to leave the story behind and move on, but a young woman who works at the local coffeehouse, another neighbor, believes the death wasn't an accident and is determined to uncover proof. Theda finds herself reluctantly drawn into the case, a decision that leaves both her and the barista facing the same threat that put the cat lady in danger.

Although the plot of “Mew Is for Murder” is entertaining enough, there isn't a lot of depth or nuance to it. Of course, that's not always a bad thing, especially for readers searching for an undemanding book to take to the beach or read by the pool. The uncomplicated story arc does come to a jarringly sudden and improbable ending at the book's climax, but things go smoothly enough up to that point.

The best thing going for Simon's story is the character of Theda, a pleasant, intelligent woman who easily gains the reader's interest and empathy. It's always refreshing to read about a female character who doesn't constantly make bad decisions and stupid choices, as so often they do in mystery novels.

As for the cats themselves, while it's true that quite a few of them pop up throughout the story, at least none of them talk, nor do they actively participate in the solving of the crime.

Although it's a likable story, “Mew Is for Murder” is unlikely to convince the unconverted of the potential of the feline mystery. For those who are already fans of this type of book, though, Simon's debut is a solid start to what will probably be a successful series.

David J. Montgomery is a freelance book reviewer and the editor of Mystery Ink (www.mysteryinkonline.com).

© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company