Code Grey

Dulcie Schwartz could have taken off with everyone else for spring break, but she’s stayed behind in Cambridge to work on her thesis (publish or perish). But she becomes distracted when a former student named Jeremy fallen on hard times is found wandering around, mumbling something to himself. He’s been injured and in one arm he clutches a book, a very valuable book that has been missing for years. Jeremy looks like a good suspect in a series of break-ins in the area, but Dulcie doesn’t believe the boy is guilty. She intends to clear his name, but while doing so, she discovers a link from the book Jeremy was holding to her own thesis about an anonymous Gothic author. And this connection will have deadly consequences.

A cozy academic mystery with a dash of the supernatural made this a one sitting read for me

Code Grey: A Dulcie Schwartz Feline Mystery By Clea Simon Severn House August 2015

Review by Cynthia Chow

It’s Spring Break at Harvard University, and ubiquitous graduate student Dulcie Schwartz is feeling abandoned. Her boyfriend Chris is visiting his family, her good friend is off doing post-grad work, and burst pipes in the campus buildings have most of the offices closed. A fifth year graduate student, Dulcie is determined to stay on campus in order to complete her dissertation on a gothic novelist and mysterious manuscript. While campus security and Chris are concerned about the spurt of burglaries plaguing the empty buildings, Dulcie has complete faith in the protective spirit of her beloved Mr. Grey. The ghost of her late cat companion continues to provide advice and warnings to Dulcie, and her living feline roommate Esme is more animal in nature but just as opinionated.

Also still on campus is Jeremy “Mumbles” Mumbleigh, a disturbed and shambling former scholar who somehow lost his way and remains broken. After failing to complete his dissertation, Mumbles apparently never left the university town and remains a troubled but harmless presence. Darcie finds that she has too much in common with the man, and she fears that she is one incomplete paper away from following in his footsteps. Perhaps that explains why, after Mumbles is injured and blamed by police for the burglaries, Dulcie becomes completely obsessed with proving Mumbles’ innocence.

The condemning evidence found on Mumbles was a book believed to have been part of a collection stolen from Harvard Library in 1989. As Dulcie seeks the aid of Thomas Griddlehaus, the librarian and director of the Mildon Rare Book Collection, she tests the patience of Chris and exasperates Detective Rogovoy. The two men, as well as Dulcie’s friends, all believe that Dulcie is engaging on a misguided quest to clear a man who is not Dulcie’s heroic protector of books.

By the Ninth installment of this series, Dulcie’s thesis advisor is not the only one who suspects that she may be using her investigations to distract her from completing her dissertation. Once Dulcie finishes her studies, she will be forced to defend her dissertation and eventually leave her comfortable academic world. This, combined with the fear that she could easily suffer the same breakdown as Mumbles, has Dulcie irrationally determined to serve as his advocate. Author Simon delightfully exposes the eccentricities prevalaent in the Ivy League institution and deftly plots out an academic mystery. Esme and Mr. Grey continue to prove to be stabilizing forces in Dulcie’s life, and Esme retains all of the feline qualities that cat lovers adore. Book lovers will also find much to appreciate in the descriptions that have scholars, who value books for their content, battling against thieves, who only appreciate their superficial price. Dulcie’s narrow focus may make her an irritant to the police, but her naïve belief in fellow academics may not be logical but it is charming. Mr. Grey and Esme are considerably more sensible than their human, but with their support Dulcie will no doubt prevail in solving these very literary crimes.

Code Grey is a riveting mystery that will appeal to bibliophiles and cat lovers alike. Like a fine wine, Code Grey is multifaceted and complex in flavor, certain to satisfy readers.

Dulcie Schwartz has chosen to remain in Cambridge over spring break to work on her thesis – the study of the works of an anonymous Gothic author. On her way home, she encounters Jeremy “Mumbles” near the library. Once a promising graduate student, Jeremy is a disturbed but harmless vagrant.

The following day, Dulcie is shocked to discover that Jeremy has been arrested for the theft of a valuable missing book – one that disappeared from the library 20 years previously. Convinced that Jeremy would never steal from the library, much less commit the break-ins the police suspect him of being involved in, Dulcie steps in to set things to rights. Guided and protected by the spirit of her former feline pet, Mr Grey, Dulcie seeks to prove Jeremy's innocence and stop the thefts plaguing the University library.

Meanwhile, Dulcie wrestles with an older mystery. Fragments of another novel by the Gothic author she is studying, have been discovered. Why were these pages hidden in the binding of another novel? What is the significance of the silver cat?

Clea Simon's eloquent writing and the multilayered mystery kept me fixated throughout the novel. I enjoyed the literary excerpts, and how Dulcie progressed in her analysis. These passages play an important role in the novel and should not be skimmed over. While it was relatively easy to determine who the thieves were, this did not detract from the novel because there was so much more to the story.

Code Grey is sure to delight fans of the Dulcie Schwartz, as well as newcomers to the series.

I would highly recommend Code Grey to anyone who enjoys a well-written, multifaceted mystery where cats and books play a prominent role.

I received a copy of Code Grey: A Feline Filled Academic Mystery from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

Code Grey: A Feline Filled Academic Mystery is available for preorder and is scheduled to be released August 1, 2015.

--Crittermom

She's stayed behind at the college to work on her dissertation. She needs to get if finished up and she doesn't mind working on it. It's a bit lonely with everyone gone, but that gives her the precious time to work on it. Or it would if she didn't get caught up in a missing book mystery.

Severn House and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published August 1st, so make a note your TBR list.

Dulcie gets the feeling someone is watching her but she doesn't worry about it much. She has a ghostly cat friend that warns her about danger. No one is going to sneak up on her.

When she works late one day and it's raining, she decides to head into the library to warm up and dry off a bit before heading home. She runs into the man on campus who never finished his dissertation. She considers him a bad example of what can happen to you if you don't. She's also nice to him even if he doesn't make sense and seems a bit out of it. She believes he's harmless.

Finding out that he was found in the construction zone with a stolen book on him doesn't daunt her judgement. She's sure he's innocent. But no one else is.

As she tries to understand just what it is he had in his possession and starts asking questions about the past, she's getting in deeper than she needs to be in a police investigation. Her boyfriend is trying to get her to focus on her work and leave the investigation alone. It's to no avail. Even the Inspector trying to get her out of the case doesn't work. And what she finds has been going on a long time and is valuable enough to kill her to keep it.

This has a lot about rare books and gets a bit bogged down once in a while for the casual reader. The mystery is good and the relationships of the people involved kept my attention. Like usual, greed got involved long ago and the abuse of books kept going. Some people will do anything for money. It was nice to see justice come around.

Dulcie is a grad student who like to solve mysteries as she works on her thesis. She has a new cat Esme and still communicates with Mr. Grey from the great beyond. This is a well written cozy that will hold your interest with lots of potential bad guys. I like the interaction with the feline characters. A nice change from all the dog side kicks.

Staying back to work on her dissertation instead of accompanying her boyfriend to his mother's lands Dulcie smack in a mystery involving disgraced former academic Jeremy Mumbleigh. Jeremy has been accused of stealing a book, but there had also been an assault that left him in a coma and Dulcie is determined to get to the bottom of it.

There's a touch of the paranormal, feline intervention and a mystery that's about books - Code Grey itself reads like a love story to bibliophiles and cat lovers. Well-written, though bogged down with details at times, Code Grey shines best when its intelligent felines take centre stage.

I found this book to be very engaging as the mystery taunted me with clues that were presented in a manner that grabbed my attention and kept hold of it until the last page was turned. The author did a wonderful job in creating a drama that intensified as the story played out with some clever plot twists that had me asking more questions and delving into the pages as I had to know how it was all going to turn out. A good mystery with paranormal elements, good dialogue and non-stop action made this an enjoyable reading pleasure.

A wonderful series that continues with a academia mystery about books. This book will delight the reader as do all of the authors books.. The felines continue to enthrall the readers with their antics and intelligence. The setting is satisfying and interesting. You do not have to read the others in the series to enjoy this wonderful book. For this reader it was a one sitting book from beginning to end. I enjoyed it immensely as both a reader, academic and cat lover. Well Done .

Princess Fuzzypants here: This is my very favourite book of the series so far. Yes, Dulcie still is vascillating about her dissertation but she has good reason this time.
She has remained in Boston to work on her paper but gets sidetracked when a former scholar, now homeless and unbalanced, is found injured shortly after encountering Dulcie. A book found in his possession has a link to her research and despite police suspicion that this man is involved in a theft ring, Dulcie is convinced he is innocent.
Both Mr. Grey and Esme try to help her focus but as we know from previous books, Dulcie is like a dog with a bone (if you will forgive the expression) when she thinks someone has been wronged.
We found we were really engrossed in the story and it was a page turner. The good news is Dulcie is getting somewhere with her thesis and there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, as in the tunnels in this book, the light might just be another tunnel.
I will find out when I interview Clea and Mr. Grey and Esme in FUZZY Thoughts next week.
I am already purring.

Though cozier than my usual bedtime stories, if you love books, cats and mysteries more cerebral than chilling, CodeCode Grey Grey belongs on your bookshelf. This novel ticked the first two boxes for me (books and cats… I would have liked more chill factor).

Simon is a prolific author specializing in cat-themed mysteries. This is the ninth installment of the Dulcie Schwartz series. Schwartz, a grad student working on her dissertation over spring break, gets caught in the middle of a book theft, a wrongful arrest and receives guidance from a deceased companion animal.

Dulcie Schwartz, a graduate student in Cambridge, Massachusetts, decides to spend her spring break alone working on her dissertation. You would think a deserted college would be a quiet place to do her studies, but not this spring break. When a former student, now homeless, Jeremy “Mumbles” Mumbleigh is injured and found holding a valuable missing book, Dulcie’s dissertation is put on hold. She’s convinced he’s innocent and intends to prove it, despite her boyfriend’s pleas for her to stay out of it.

Things take another dangerous turn when a series of break ins occur and “Mumbles” is accused of those crimes as well. Unfortunately, he is unconscious and can’t defend himself, but this doesn’t deter Dulcie. She will clear his name no matter what it takes.

With help from her “spirit animal”, Mr. Grey, the search is on for the real culprits.

This is the ninth book in the series. I do wish I had started reading this with book one. It’s not really necessary as the mystery is contained in this book, but it would have helped me know Dulcie better, as well as Mr. Grey. I am definitely going to start this series from the beginning as this book piqued my curiosity.

The story is a good, engrossing mystery with interesting characters. You can’t help but keep turning the pages to see what Dulcie does next. I think cat and mystery lovers will enjoy this book. It’s fast-paced and a quick read.

Clea Simon is one of my favorite cozy cat authors and I’ve read other series by her that I absolutely loved. I know the “Dulcie Schwartz” series will be another favorite of mine. It also helps that I have a grey cat that looks exactly like the one on the cover :) How can I possibly resist?

Although this is the ninth book in the series, it is only the third one I have read (I am slowly but surely working my way through the others, however). I discovered this series after having read all available books so far in the Pru Marlowe series by the same author.

I am disappointed that, unlike the first two books of the series, Mr. Grey (the spirit of her deceased cat) has a less prominent role. However, Esme, the new cat, shows promise for being a fun and interesting character.

This series provides a lot of academic and literary information, which I thoroughly enjoy. The Gothic author Dulcie is researching is a great touch, particularly reading the bits and pieces of her novel.

Ms. Simon writes a great story, with very interesting characters. The staff at the library, Dulcie's boyfriend, Dulcie's mother, and many others add color and depth to the story.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

A mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat.