The Cat’s Eye Charm: A Witch Cats of Cambridge Mystery by Clea Simon

Reviewed by Jeanne

 

Becca’s life seems a bit fraught right now.  Business has been slow at Charm and Cherish the magic shop where she works, and the owner is making noises about turning the place into a (sigh) craft shop.  Becca doesn’t seem to be making much progress in honing her own magical skills, which truth to tell seem to be pretty much non-existent. Well, except for that pillow she conjured, but that was a long time ago.  Even the coven seems to be slowly falling by the wayside.

So it seems like a good omen when Trina comes into the shop wanting to hire Becca in her other capacity as a witch detective. Maybe all Becca needs is a good focus, a challenge, to help her bring out her powers.  The cause is certainly a worthy one: Trina is desperate to find her beloved cat, Mr. Butters.  He was an indoor cat, but has gone missing.  Can Becca do a spell or something to bring him home?

Becca may not be able to wield a lot of magic but she still has help nearby.  Unbeknownst to her, her three cats do have some supernatural abilities.  That pillow Becca thinks she conjured?  That was luxury-loving Harriet who fancied a new bed.  Siamese Laurel can subtly influence human behaviors (usually to Laurel’s benefit) and sweet devoted Clara can become invisible. Clara adores Becca and often follows her to make sure she’s safe, but Clara is careful to remain unseen so Becca has no idea.

What seems like a relatively straightforward request soon turns out to be more complicated and more dangerous than Becca expected, involving kidnapping and a stolen gem.  Even worse, it’s becoming difficult for Becca to know who to trust.

This is the fifth book in the Witch Cats of Cambridge series, but it can be read as a standalone.  I have to say this is probably my favorite entry in the series. I loved seeing the magical cats’ world expand with the addition of a kitten who may be much wiser than they realize.  Kitten is an absolute peach-toed charmer even if she does have a penchant for knocking things off shelves. There’s also Mr. Butters, who has some surprises of his own.  All this makes for some delightful feline world-building.  On the human side of things, the mysterious Elizabeth takes on a somewhat bigger role.  And even though we’re told not to judge-- I adore the cover!

Cats, magic, gems—what’s not to love?

The Butterfly Trap by Clea Simon

Reviewed by Jeanne

 

Greg is an ambitious young doctor who should have it all.  He’s not like his friend Pete, who’s out for a good time and who changes girlfriends like he changes his shirts.  Greg wants a wife, the house, the kids, the whole domestic scene.  While acting as reluctant wingman for Peter, Greg meets Anya at a party and is instantly smitten.  When Anya cuts her foot on a broken bottle, Greg is able to come to her rescue and bandage her wound like the gallant knight he wants to be.  Soon they’re dating and Greg is determined to give Anya everything she could ever want, even if he has to change his life to make his butterfly happy.

Anya is an artist, working part time at a gallery while she paints.  She’s struggling, not only financially, but in seeking her own style and a breakthrough in the arts scene.  When she meets Greg, she likes that he seems sweet and more of a gentleman than some men she’s dated.  It’s obvious that he doesn’t understand her art (or really, any art) but he’s supportive in his own way.

Is this a romance for the ages—or a disaster waiting to happen?

The Butterfly Trap is one story, told from two different points of view.  The first half of the book is Greg’s story; the second half is Anya’s, and while they are describing the same events, their perceptions are quite different.  The reader may spot red flags that the characters are oblivious to, ratcheting up the tension as the story plays out.

This is a bit of a departure for Simon, who has written a number of cozy mystery series as well as some grittier standalone novels such as Bad Boy Beat.  I found it most readable, and was reluctant to put it down.  When the story comes to a climax just a few pages from the end, it’s both expected and shocking at the same time. 

While this isn’t my usual cozy or classic mystery, I certainly enjoyed it and found it memorable.  The characters are well-developed, and the setting is vivid, especially the peek inside the serious art scene of galleries and exhibitions.  It’s not a finger-pointing type of book:  one character isn’t totally right and the other totally wrong, but two people who misread each other.  Greg especially tends to project his ideals onto Anya, but Anya fails to see how deeply invested Greg is in the relationship.  The pacing is very good; the story never dragged for me.

Recommended for anyone who likes relationship suspense with strong characters and a good sense of place.

Bad Boy Beat by Clea Simon

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Emily Kelton is a journalist, currently working for the Boston Standard on three months’ probation before becoming a full-fledged employee.  She has the crime beat, working anything of interest that comes in over the scanner, desperate to get copy in—especially a story that would rate a byline.  She’s no rookie; she’s jaded enough to know that some crimes won’t rate space in the paper or police investigation time.  She knows a lot of the small time operators in the city, and she is good at spotting patterns.  When dead bodies start turning up in alleys, she thinks there may be a connection but handsome detective Jack Harcourt disagrees.

That isn’t going to stop Em.  She’s a real reporter and and she knows a story when she sees one.  One way or another, she’s going to uncover what is really going on in the streets and alleys of Boston.

This is a standalone novel from Simon, who is also the author of several series. It’s a bit darker and grittier than some of her other offerings but just as well written. Em is no wide-eyed innocent, for all her rookie status. She comes off as more an old-time journalist, eschewing databases for pounding the streets and interviewing witnesses.  She is cynical and a bit of a loner though she is loyal to friends like Roz, a reporter who is working on stories out of city hall. Em is tough; she’s cautious in the streets but not cowed. She’s well able to stand up for herself against editors, bouncers, or cops and can hold her own at a bar.  She is   As a reader, I enjoyed the peek behind the scenes at a newspaper, even as subscriptions dwindle and content goes online.  Simon also does a good job of conveying the atmosphere of the seamier side of Boston. Good mystery, strong characterization, some fast-paced action and a few twists and turns make for a most enjoyable read.

Other standalone novels by Simon are World Enough and Hold Me Down; her most recent series is Witch Cats of Cambridge.

To Conjure a Killer by Clea Simon

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Becca Colwin, witch detective, is walking home from her job at the New Age shop Charm and Cherish when she sees a kitten darting into the street.  Becca springs into action, chasing the kitten into an alley to rescue it—and finding a dead body in the process.  It’s not just any dead body either:  the deceased is Becca’s former boyfriend, Jeff. 

Of course, that’s when the police show up.

While Becca isn’t arrested, she is a person of interest in the slaying. After all, she was found standing over the body.  In order to clear her name, Becca is going to have to use all her powers, supernatural or otherwise, in order to solve the case.  This means she’s going to have to find out about the people in Jeff’s life and about the software program he was working on—one that people are saying could have been an electronic game changer.

Fortunately for Becca, she’s not the only one on the case.  Her three cats also have a vested interest in keeping her out of jail—and her cats are the ones with actual supernatural powers.

Nowadays, there are many mystery series with some otherworldly touches, but this series stands alone in that, unbeknownst to her, Becca’s cats are the ones with magic.  In fact, Becca’s belief that she has powers is due to luxury loving Harriet deciding to conjure up a more comfy pillow.  Harriet and Laurel, the two older cats, are more concerned that Becca bring home the cat food and attend to their every need, while Clara is devoted to Becca as her person and tries to help in every way she can.  The new kitten adds a layer of intrigue to the story as well:  is she just an ordinary cat or is she a witch cat as well?

The characters are well drawn.  Becca is an appealing protagonist, with her kind heart and empathetic nature. There are some intriguing supporting characters as well, especially the enigmatic Elizabeth, whose sister owns Charm and Cherish. The suspect gallery in this one is quite good.  But I have to say that the cats steal the show—as well they should.

Hold Me Down by Clea Simon

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

It’s been awhile, but Gal was a star. Not in a girl band, but a genuine rock band and she’s quick to correct anyone who says otherwise. They called her fearless as she ground out her songs onstage, backed by a changing roster of female musicians, and she felt powerful and free. She worked the crowd, controlling them, bending them to her will.

She feels a bit of that tonight as she plays to a crowd once again.  The trouble is that it’s a benefit concert to raise money for one of her former bandmates, Aimee. They were like sisters, tearing up the music scene and indulging in the sometimes questionable benefits of being rock star stars; only Aimee got out.  She married, had a daughter, and got divorced.

And then she died.

Cancer leaves a lot of bills to pay; and there’s Camille, Aimee’s daughter, who is in college. The concert will help.  Also on hand is Walter, Aimee’s ex-husband whose grief is palpable. Walter was one of their roadies, back in the day.  It all brings back so many memories.

The concert has brought not only the surviving band members back together, but also the fans and friends from that long ago era. Gal catches a glimpse of a half-remembered face in that crowd and suddenly freezes, losing her place not only in the song but in time. A moment, and it’s gone.

It isn’t until the next day that Gal hears that the man was murdered—and that Walter has confessed. But why?

The answers lie in the past, and Gal is going to have to search her memories and question old friends in order to discover the truth.

For me, this was as much character study as mystery, but a study fixed in a particular time and place.  It’s the Boston rock scene, where bands can make it to the big time or crash and burn in obscurity.  It’s also a very masculine scene, where the women have to have swagger and a thick skin in order to try to be taken seriously.  Gal and her bandmates are young and hungry, and not just for success.  There are drugs aplenty, groupies, and any number of people only too willing to use, abuse, and discard young musicians.  Gal soon finds that some of her memories may not be quite as she recalled.

Simon does a wonderful job of evoking a time and place.  Readers who know the places described will be enthralled, but even those of us who have never been to Boston will feel as if we have. You don’t even have to be a rock fan.  Simon takes you to the back alleys, the stages, and hotel rooms where musicians hang out. There may not be glamor, but there is energy and power, not to mention sweat and vomit. It’s easy to see how musicians get caught up in it all, sometimes to their detriment.  I enjoyed the atmosphere as much as I did the puzzle. (Well, maybe not the vomit. But you know what I mean.) And by the way, the solution did not disappoint.

This was a darker book than most of Simon’s, but I didn’t find that to be a deterrent.  Gal is an especially well done character, someone we can relate to or else she reminds us of someone we know, but best of all, she grows during the book.  She faces her truths and comes out stronger.

I think this is Simon’s best book to date. 

           When your model doesn't understand that you don't hide the author's name...

A Cat on the Case by Clea Simon

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

 

Becca Corwin, aspiring witch, has a day job at the Charm and Cherish, a New Age shop in Cambridge.  Becca has offered her services as a detective, but so far there have been no takers even though she has had some success in the past. 

But, unbeknownst to Becca, those successes were actually due to her three cats who—unlike Becca—actually do have powers.  In fact, it was due to fluffy orange Harriet that Becca came to believe she had power after the luxury-loving feline conjured a pillow. Haughty Siamese Laurel believes that Becca should just spend her days looking after her cats, and possibly find a boyfriend.  Our protagonist, loving calico Clara, is the one who worries about her person and tries to help out despite the snippy comments from her sisters. Clara has taken to surreptitiously following Becca to work, using her power to (mostly) hide her presence.

This day, a young woman comes into the shop asking about a “witch detective.” She leaves before Becca can get the full story out of her, but leaves behind a violin in a case.  It seems like an old instrument, possibly valuable, so Becca is determined to find the owner.  Along the way, she encounters theft, lies, and murder—and maybe a case too big for Clara’s paws to handle. But Becca is determined to solve the mysteries and Clara is just as determined that Becca isn’t going to tackle a murderer alone.

This is the third in the Witch Cats of Cambridge series which started with A Spell of Murder and An Incantation of Cats.  You don’t have to have read the first two to enjoy this one, though I have to say I prefer to read in order because I like to see how the characters develop.  In this one, Clara learns more about her heritage and the mystic charge laid on her from ancient times.  Clara is a sweet, caring soul who loves Becca with all of her heart.  She is very young, though, and not as worldly as her sisters—as they keep reminding her.  The dynamics between the feline sisters is entertaining; each is a strong personality and, just as in human families, there’s a certain amount of competition and bossiness between the siblings.

Becca is oblivious to all of this, believing her cats are just her pets.  She has her own human circle of friends and a few foes to contend with, from the wise and sympathetic Elizabeth to a new, irate neighbor.  She also has concerns that the cats can’t comprehend:  earning money, for one thing, and the lease on her apartment for another.

Simon is no stranger to series work, having four previous ones to her credit including the Pru Marlow books which featured a pet psychic as the lead character (well, human character as I expect Wallis the crabby tabby would believe she deserved top billing) and the Dulcie Schwartz series in which a grad student solves mysteries with the help of her ghostly cat, Mr. Grey. Simon well knows the ways of cats and one thing I have appreciated in all her series is that the felines—actually, any animals—who appear are distinct personalities in their own right, not just furry props. 

I also love that Simon likes to pull in history along with her stories, though I will admit I sometimes get more caught up in the history part than the current case! That’s just me—and probably why I like reading series in order so much.  I get invested in the characters and am as avid to discover backstory as I am to go forward with the current action.  It’s not just character and plot; there’s a bit of world-building going on as well.

So if 2020 has left you feeling a bit burned out, put a little magic back into your life with a visit with the Witch Cats of Cambridge.