“Once a reporter, always a reporter. Simon knows what’s she writing about.” So says book blogger Nancy Pate in her latest blog, “Past Crimes,” which rounds up books that look back in time. The longtime book critic for the Orlando Sun Sentinel, starts off with P.D. James’s latest, and then goes on to say:
Clea Simon immerses readers and her new series sleuth, music journalist Tara Winton, in the 1980s Boston club scene in the noir-tinged World Enough (Severn House, ARC). Tara once covered the city’s punk rock bands for fanzines that paid little but gave her needed access. Now working in a dull corporate communications job, Tara is drawn back to the heady, long-ago times when her former editor asks her to write a piece on Boston bands for his glossy city magazine. The assignment coincides with the accidental death of musician Frank Turcotte, although Tara wonders if her old friend, sober for 20 years, really just fell down the stairs. And could his death be connected to that of once rising star Chris Crack back in the day? She soon discovers that digging into the past can prove dangerous, but letting go just isn’t in her nature. Once a reporter, always a reporter. Simon knows what’s she writing about.
Needless to say, I am grateful!