I am so excited to have Clea Simon here at Paranormal and Romantic Suspense Reviews with a Spotlight.
Thanks Clea and Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours for allowing me to join The Ninth Life Blog Tour!
Please take it away, Clea!
Guest Post
When the cat isn’t cozy
Blackie isn’t your usual mystery cat. For starters, he’s not at all cozy. When we meet Blackie, the midnight-furred narrator of my new “The Ninth Life” (Severn House), he is not only a feral – a street cat – he’s also almost done for. He’s drowning in the powerful current of a storm drain after a rainstorm. The girl who rescues him, Care, isn’t your typical heroine, either. She’s a pink-haired waif, a homeless girl who can barely take care of herself, but she does pull one very unhappy cat out of the water just as he goes under for what he thinks will be the last time. In return for that favor – and for other reasons that will become clear over time – Blackie vows to protect and serve Care, starting the pair on an adventure that will bring them both face to face with greater dangers than even life on the street can explain.
Blackie (and Care) are new for me. Although I’ve always had cats in my books, starting with the Theda Krakow cats & crime & rock & roll series, and I even have a ghost cat who makes a regular appearance in the Dulcie Schwartz academic mysteries, I’ve tended to write cozier – lighter – mysteries, which focus more on fun than danger. Even my pet noir series, with the tough-talking Pru Marlowe, tend to be silly rather than scary, as Pru’s tabby Wallis proves to be tougher than even Pru herself. But Blackie is a serious cat, with serious concerns. He understands hunger and abuse. He knows the world is divided into predator and prey, and he’s determined to keep himself and Care on the right side of that divide.
I should take a moment to reassure readers here: I think “The Ninth Life” is a darker and scarier mystery than any of my previous books, but it is a cat-lover’s mystery (and also the first in a proposed series, which means I will never ever kill or seriously injure a cat. In fact, neither Blackie nor Care will meet up with anything they can’t handle, even if it is touch and go for a while.
As to why Blackie feels so bonded to Care – and how he plans to keep her safe – I’ll just leave it to him to explain. After all, he may be a black cat, and a scary one at that, but he’s also smart enough so that he can take care of Care – and of himself.
The Ninth Life: A new cat mystery series
(A Blackie and Care Cat Mystery)
Mystery
Severn House Publishers (March 1, 2016)
Hardcover: 224 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0727885715
Synopsis
Introducing Blackie, an unusual feline hero, and his companion Care in the first of this dark new mystery series.
Three figures, shadowy against the light. That’s all I remember from my past life, as I am dragged, dripping and half-drowned, from the flood. My saviour, a strange, pink-haired girl, is little help. She can barely care for herself, let alone the boy she loves. And although she has sworn to avenge the murder of her mentor, she must first escape the clutches of drug dealers, murderers and thieves. I would repay her kindness if I could. But we are alone in this blighted city – and I am a cat.
The past is an enigma to Blackie, the voice of Clea Simon’s dark new mystery. Combining elements of feline fantasy and cozy whodunit, The Ninth Life introduces this unusual hero and his companion, Care: two small creatures in a nightmarish urban landscape, fighting for their lives, and for the lives and memories of those they love.
Advance praise for The Ninth Life:
Forget everything you think you know about ‘cat mysteries.’ The Ninth Life is a dark and gritty story of life on the streets, told from the unique point of view of a narrator who sees things humans can’t. Clea Simon has given us a window into a world of constant and surprising dangers, frustrations and almost unbearable tension, and it’s one I won’t soon forget.
–Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of The Fixer and Suspicion
A tour de force of point of view – the talented Clea Simon flawlessly portrays a main character the likes of which we’ve never encountered! With skill and style and profound understanding, she entertains readers with an exciting, compelling, and utterly unique adventure.
–Hank Phillippi Ryan, Agatha, Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark Award winning author
The Ninth Life is a tour through a criminal wilderness of alleys and gutters, guided by a hunter as canny and fierce as they come. While Care is a smart, tough, and vulnerable young protagonist, narrator Blackie steals the limelight, showing us these dark places through his sharp feline eyes. A good noir tale will reveal a shadowy existence that parallels our own; Clea Simon goes many steps beyond, creating a terrific story that draws us in and makes us relate to a narrator whose life is a world away from our own.
–Agatha, Anthony and Macavity Award winner Dana Cameron
About The Author
Clea Simon is the author of 19 cozies in the Theda Krakow, Dulcie Schwartz, and Pru Marlowe pet noir series. The latter two are ongoing and include her most recent books, Code Grey (Severn House) and When Bunnies Go Bad (Poisoned Pen Press). The Ninth Life, the first book in her Blackie & Care mysteries, a darker series, will be published by Severn House on March 1. A former journalist and nonfiction author, she lives in Somerville, Mass., with her husband, the writer Jon Garelick, and their cat Musetta. She can be reached at http://www.cleasimon.com
Author Links:
http://www.cleasimon.com home page
http://cleasimon.blogspot.com blog
https://www.facebook.com/clea.simon.author Facebook
@Clea_Simon Twitter
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/49559.Clea_Simon Goodreads
Purchase Links:
Amazon
Indie Bound Severn HousePlease follow the rest of the tour here, thanks:
http://www.escapewithdollycas.com/great-escapes-virtual-book-tours/upcoming-great-escapes-book-tours/the-ninth-life-by-clea-simon
1 comment:
Thanks for having me here today!
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