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Dulcie Schwartz #6
Grey Dawn (A Dulcie Schwartz Mystery) by Clea Simon
When grad student Dulcie Schwartz thinks she hears a wolf late one night, on her way to pick up some forgotten papers from her departmental office, she tries to dismiss it – but it’s too late for her peace of mind. The noises, the dark building and an unnerving sighting of her adviser – looking strangely unhuman in the moonlight – all combine to thoroughly give her the creeps.But it is not until the next morning that Dulcie learns the disquieting she was right to be spooked. A woman worryingly close to the university was savagely attacked, that very night. A woman who looks like Dulcie.Aided by the cryptic advice from her kitten Esmé and the ghost of her late, great cat Mr Grey, Dulcie can’t stop herself from investigating, just a little . . .
Hardcover
First published June 1, 2013
About the author
Clea Simon
64 books411 followersBoston Globe-bestselling author Clea Simon is the author of
The Butterfly Trap,
a sinister slow-build "he said/she said" that will definitely surprise you.
This follows Bad Boy Beat a fast-paced amateur sleuth mystery featuring a novice crime reporter with a nose for news who is convinced a series of street-level killings are connected.
In a different mood, Clea's most recent cozy is The Cat's Eye Charm, the fifth in her "Witch Cats of Cambridge" series.
She is also the author of the psychological suspense novels, Hold Me Down and World Enough, both named "Must Reads" by the Massachusetts Book Awards, as well as the dystopian Blackie and Care black cat series (The Ninth Life), the Dulcie Schwartz feline/academic mysteries (Shades of Grey), the Pru Marlowe pet noir mysteries (Dogs Don't Lie), and the Theda Krakow cats & crime & rock & roll mysteries (Mew is for Murder), as well as three nonfiction books: Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings; Fatherless Women: How We Change After We Lose Our Dads; and The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats.
The recipient of multiple honors, including the Cat Writers Associations Presidents Award, she lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband, Jon Garelick, and their cat, Thisbe. Find her at Clea Simon.com
This follows Bad Boy Beat a fast-paced amateur sleuth mystery featuring a novice crime reporter with a nose for news who is convinced a series of street-level killings are connected.
In a different mood, Clea's most recent cozy is The Cat's Eye Charm, the fifth in her "Witch Cats of Cambridge" series.
She is also the author of the psychological suspense novels, Hold Me Down and World Enough, both named "Must Reads" by the Massachusetts Book Awards, as well as the dystopian Blackie and Care black cat series (The Ninth Life), the Dulcie Schwartz feline/academic mysteries (Shades of Grey), the Pru Marlowe pet noir mysteries (Dogs Don't Lie), and the Theda Krakow cats & crime & rock & roll mysteries (Mew is for Murder), as well as three nonfiction books: Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadow of Mentally Ill Siblings; Fatherless Women: How We Change After We Lose Our Dads; and The Feline Mystique: On the Mysterious Connection Between Women and Cats.
The recipient of multiple honors, including the Cat Writers Associations Presidents Award, she lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband, Jon Garelick, and their cat, Thisbe. Find her at Clea Simon.com
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 4, 2013
This novel is the 6th in a Dulcie Schwartz feline Mystery series. If you enjoy Gothic-Regency era novels you will get behind this series. It reminds me often of Georgette Heyer novels.
We have a Doctoral student, Dulcie Schwartz, who is working on her thesis, and finds herself at a new passage of discovery, which sets her mind, and outside settings to the spooky, dark, and gothic when the moon is almost full, and she sees persons in abnormal circumstances, and a woman is brutally attacked.
The series has taught us that Dulcie has a couple of gothic friends, her cats. There is Mr. Grey, now deceased but still guiding Dulcie through her life, and little Esme, her current cat. The cats are able to speak with Dulcie, but Dulcie has difficulty interpreting their warnings and messages. The two cats work as a team.
As I've written before, these novellas, novels are sometimes above my educational level. Yet, I feel challenged by them and stretch myself to understand the content and get the feeling that I'm often in the same quandary (interpreting,) as Dulcie. I like to learn and Ms. Simon makes certain I will. I learned a great deal about the changing viewpoints of the academic English department. I'm still digesting that and am not sure which viewpoint I support. Had I not read this novella, I would not have had some excellent and enriching discussions with friends about it.
So, I enjoyed the book. Yes, I did figure out the culprit but was interested in the 'why?' more than the 'who?' this time. I learned a lot. This book is a sound four stars to me.
We have a Doctoral student, Dulcie Schwartz, who is working on her thesis, and finds herself at a new passage of discovery, which sets her mind, and outside settings to the spooky, dark, and gothic when the moon is almost full, and she sees persons in abnormal circumstances, and a woman is brutally attacked.
The series has taught us that Dulcie has a couple of gothic friends, her cats. There is Mr. Grey, now deceased but still guiding Dulcie through her life, and little Esme, her current cat. The cats are able to speak with Dulcie, but Dulcie has difficulty interpreting their warnings and messages. The two cats work as a team.
As I've written before, these novellas, novels are sometimes above my educational level. Yet, I feel challenged by them and stretch myself to understand the content and get the feeling that I'm often in the same quandary (interpreting,) as Dulcie. I like to learn and Ms. Simon makes certain I will. I learned a great deal about the changing viewpoints of the academic English department. I'm still digesting that and am not sure which viewpoint I support. Had I not read this novella, I would not have had some excellent and enriching discussions with friends about it.
So, I enjoyed the book. Yes, I did figure out the culprit but was interested in the 'why?' more than the 'who?' this time. I learned a lot. This book is a sound four stars to me.
April 21, 2013
This is the first I've read in the series and the best thing that I can say for it is it was short. The combination of academics and cats is what caught my attention, but it wasn't enough to pull off a lame plot with an annoying protagonist. The heroine is a graduate student who spouts academese without any meaning or relevance. She works up stupid fantasies about monsters and killers in her head and causes trouble for the police who are quietly solving the crime without her help. She is bumbling without being charming, and paranoid without any evidence. By the end of the book I wanted to slap her silly. The author throws in all sorts of hints (from the heroines ghost/spirit animal cat and Tarot reading mother no less) even though the ending is so predictable I wanted to yell, "Oh get on with it already!" Not going to bother with any of the others in this series.
August 8, 2013
Not one of Clea Simon's better books. It was tedious at best. I did stick it out to the end, but I may not read another one. Each book seems to be getting less interesting. Dulcie's character is becoming very muddled. She always seems to be thinking too much at once and not paying attention to what is going on around her. The series is billed as a Feline Mystery. There wasn't much feline this time. Esme' and Mr Grey barely communicated with Dulcie. When they did it was so vague that Dulcie wasn't sure if they had. I'd like to see Dulcie finish her thesis, grow up, and move on.
May 23, 2017
I'm very glad that Dulcie is finally making progress on her obsession, but boy, this was a very fragmented book. Her habit of getting distracted at the worst times was extremely distracting to me, and she has this obsession with things and ideas, to the point of completely jumping to the wrong conclusions and clinging to them unreasonably. In scholarly pursuits, I suppose she is allowed this sort of thinking, but life is not just about investigation, and she really needs to stop hurting people. I felt so bad for Mr. Thorpe.
July 21, 2013
Negatives outweighed the positives for me on this book. The plot was murky, and Dulcie was just too clueless and flightly this time around.
February 7, 2019
I liked the first Dulcie Schwartz book a lot better than this one.
This one relied far too much on repeating ancient prose and Dulcie's dithering.
When women are attacked after dark near Harvard where she teaches and researches, she so full of herself she thinks she can figure this out.
When she decides her thesis advisor must be a werewolf when he's clearly kind to this abandoned little kitten he named "Tigger" and Dulcie takes the kitten away, I want to smack her silly.
Not only does she get most things wrong throughout, she then subjects the kitten to being carried around in a little box while she goes meandering around rather than bringing it home to take proper care of it.
Time for her to hang up her "detective hat". I could see who the perpetrator was with the clues I could weed out from the endless deciphering of old text .. "is that an 'f'? No it's an 's'" ad nauseum.
Girl needs to focus on her work and stop interfering with others.
This one relied far too much on repeating ancient prose and Dulcie's dithering.
When women are attacked after dark near Harvard where she teaches and researches, she so full of herself she thinks she can figure this out.
When she decides her thesis advisor must be a werewolf when he's clearly kind to this abandoned little kitten he named "Tigger" and Dulcie takes the kitten away, I want to smack her silly.
Not only does she get most things wrong throughout, she then subjects the kitten to being carried around in a little box while she goes meandering around rather than bringing it home to take proper care of it.
Time for her to hang up her "detective hat". I could see who the perpetrator was with the clues I could weed out from the endless deciphering of old text .. "is that an 'f'? No it's an 's'" ad nauseum.
Girl needs to focus on her work and stop interfering with others.
March 27, 2017
On campus, a young woman is attacked on a moonlit night. Shortly before, Dulcie sees her advisor and acting department head wandering the streets looking unkempt.
As Dulcie continues to piece together fragments of the unknown manuscript, a series of lectures begin, hosted to present candidates to take over as department head for English. Other attacks occur, and Dulcie fixated on the thought that Thorpe may be a werewolf.
Manipulative roommates, sleazy seeming scholars, and more fragments captivate in this volume in the series.
As Dulcie continues to piece together fragments of the unknown manuscript, a series of lectures begin, hosted to present candidates to take over as department head for English. Other attacks occur, and Dulcie fixated on the thought that Thorpe may be a werewolf.
Manipulative roommates, sleazy seeming scholars, and more fragments captivate in this volume in the series.
May 17, 2021
#6 in Clea Simon’s Dulcie Schwartz cozy cat mystery series.
I love this series but unfortunately I read book six before book three. Since all titles in this series include the word Grey I picked up the wrong one. Even though each book could be read as a stand alone I prefer to read them in order. My bad.
I love this series but unfortunately I read book six before book three. Since all titles in this series include the word Grey I picked up the wrong one. Even though each book could be read as a stand alone I prefer to read them in order. My bad.
September 7, 2017
Not my kind of book.
August 7, 2021
The moon is out and there are strange attacks at her university. What can one curious grad student do?
Who will be next?
Who will be next?
August 9, 2026
Only if there is nothing else to read....
December 5, 2013
did not finish it. main character talks to her dead cat...
September 23, 2014
I suspect this was about a cat.
Merged review:
Don't know what it is, but I just don't like the Clea Simon books -- I ended up kind of skimming this one. Perhaps too much supernatural?
Merged review:
Don't know what it is, but I just don't like the Clea Simon books -- I ended up kind of skimming this one. Perhaps too much supernatural?
July 28, 2015
This was irredeemably awful.
Read
September 1, 2015Miniseries: A Dulcie Schwartz Feline Mystery
February 15, 2014
slow and very slow moving with all that novel transcription.
April 5, 2017
Dense Dulcie
For being a literature student working on her thesis Dulcie missed the obvious and jumped to conclusions with no thought to more than one idea. The writing wasn't bad and I enjoyed the little kittens and Mr. Gray but Dulcie was annoying and I ended up skimming a lot of her internal dialog. I may read another one to see if others in the series are better.
For being a literature student working on her thesis Dulcie missed the obvious and jumped to conclusions with no thought to more than one idea. The writing wasn't bad and I enjoyed the little kittens and Mr. Gray but Dulcie was annoying and I ended up skimming a lot of her internal dialog. I may read another one to see if others in the series are better.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews