NEW ENGLAND LITERARY NEWS | NINA MACLAUGHLIN
A Boston story that rocks
Clea Simon’s new noir, “World Enough,’’ is steeped in the 1980s Boston rock scene, with its sticky-floored clubs, radio stations dusted in coke, stars and hangers-on, seedy barbacks, and all the attendant sin and debauch that emerges after midnight when you can still hear the show ringing in your ears. Simon’s protagonist, Tara Winton covered punk bands back then and remains on the periphery of the scene. Now in her 40s and divorced, Tara works as a corporate communications drone, and in revisiting her rock-critic career via a writing assignment, she stumbles into a deadly mystery involving an old friend, an overdose, love gone wrong, and a web of relationships that tangle in twist. Simon, a journalist and novelist, was a local music critic in a former life, and her new book will resonate with mystery readers and former habitués of now-shuttered nightspots like the Rat. – Nina MacLaughlin