Clea Simon

Book Review: “Murder in the Dressing Room” — Enter: A Drag Queen Shamus

January 15, 2025
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The book marks a marvelous entrance by an important new heroine onto the mystery stage: a drag queen, who goes in and out of her drag character as she investigates the murder of a friend.

Book Review: “We Solve Murders” — A Slight Whodunit

September 19, 2024
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This novel is a fun, light read. But best-selling author Richard Osman needs to take more time to delve into his characters if he wants to equal his previous cozy mysteries.

Book Review: “Clete” — A Whodunit in Masquerade

June 10, 2024
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James Lee Burke’s “Clete” is Beat poetry, suffused with sadness and longing for all those sunsets now gone.

Author Interview: Caroline Leavitt on her Novel “Days of Wonder”

May 9, 2024
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“I wanted to explore the real nature of guilt and innocence, and why it isn’t easy for society to forgive.”

Music Commentary: New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest versus French Quarter Fest

April 25, 2024
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Which is the best fest? It’s up for grabs.

Book Review: “A Grave Robbery” — Adventures of a Kick-Ass Victorian Feminist

March 9, 2024
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As in her previous thrillers, Donna Raybourn’s dry wit serves double duty: defining our erudite heroine and presenting her view of a world that does not know what to make of her.

Book Review: “The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch” — Jane Austen, Bedeviled

November 9, 2023
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Melinda Taub’s thoroughly enjoyable new novel joins other notable pastiches of Jane Austen’s classic story.

Book Review: “The Secret Hours” — A Masterful New Book from Today’s Premier Espionage Author

September 9, 2023
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When “The Secret Hours” flares up ­­– notably on two separate, devastating occasions ­­­– the story delivers more emotional heft than Mick Herron’s previous books.

Book Review: “Milk Fed” — The Glory of the Zaftig

December 1, 2021
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For all the sensual lushness of Melissa Broder’s writing, that hard center remains, one where appetite invites awareness, bringing with it pain as well as satiety.

Book Review: It’s a Cat’s Life — “Penny”

April 27, 2021
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Penny, whose many moods are sensitively drawn in this softly colored volume, is, perhaps like all cats, a philosopher.

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