From today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch:

“Back-stabbing, jealousy and gamesmanship. Is it corporate America? Or could it be academia? In Grey Matters (232 pages, Severn House, $28.95), the second installment in Clea Simon’s series featuring Harvard grad student Dulcie Schwartz, it’s definitely the latter.

This time out, Dulcie is continuing to research her thesis, a study of an obscure Gothic novel of the 18th century whose author is unknown — and whose identity Dulcie is trying to discover. But after a meeting with the professor who’s her faculty adviser, she stumbles over the body of a fellow grad student outside the adviser’s posh house.

Dulcie soon realizes that something is wrong inside that house, and it may be connected to her adviser, or two of his assistants, one of whom also serves as a semi-housekeeper, or a dealer and repairer of old books. Meanwhile, Dulcie believes she’s getting hints and warnings from her late, beloved cat, Mr. Grey, and she’s having a hard time bonding with her new kitten.

With skill and style, Simon fashions a true whodunit, a look inside the cutthroat academic world and an homage to the pets we’ve lost but who remain forever in our hearts. It’s a tricky trifecta, but Simon makes the leap with catlike grace.”