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WORK TITLE: Call Down the Hawk
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1941
WEBSITE: https://sites.google.com/site/sheilasimonson/
CITY: Vancouver
STATE: WA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1941, in MT; married; children: one son.
EDUCATION:Graduate of University of Washington; advanced degrees from University of Washington and Portland State University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Novelist; former faculty member, Clark College, Vancouver, WA.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
After a decades-long career as a teacher, Sheila Simonson retired to focus full time on writing. She is the author of several well-received regency and mystery novels, many of which are set in the author’s native Pacific Northwest.
"Conway" Series
Simonson’s “Conway” series established the author’s reputation as a talented author of Regency fiction. Bar Sinister recounts the many ups and downs in the developing romance between Emily Foster, a sharp-tongued recent widow with a four-year-old son, and the ill-tempered Captain Richard Falk, a widower. Needing playmates for her little boy, Emily agrees to take charge Falk’s children–a three-year-old daughter and an infant son–at her comfortable estate in Hampshire. Though she rarely sees the irritable and rude Falk, Emily is drawn to him through the stories he writes for his children. It turns out that Falk had been born into an aristocratic family, but has compelling reasons for having rejected them and deciding to live under an assumed name to evade their attention. But while Falk is away serving in the Peninsular War, his half-sister Sarah suddenly arrives in Hampshire to see his children. Emily is distraught, worried that news of their existence will place the children—and Falk—in danger. Fortunately, Emily and Falk are not without supporters, including Sarah’s wise husband and Falk’s dying friend, Conway. A writer for Kirkus Reviews hailed Bar Sinister as a “first-rate Regency novel, canny in craft and handsomely peopled with full-fledged characters.”
In Lady Elizabeth’s Comet the title character balances romance and intellectual pursuits in ways that offer excitement and intrigue. Lady Elizabeth Conway is the oldest daughter of the recently deceased Earl of Clanross. Interested in astronomy, she is happy to spend her time at her father’s house studying and making her own observations through her telescope. This quiet routine is interrupted, however, with the arrival of her father’s heir, as well as two of her teenage sisters. The new earl, a distant cousin, is recovering from a serious war wound and has brought along his friend, Lord Bevis, who happens to be Elizabeth’s rejected suitor. Under these new circumstances, Elizabeth must consider the complicated needs of other people as well as her own. And she must admit the truth about her own feelings.
Against the backdrop of the death of King George III and growing demands for social reforms, Love and Folly follows the romantic misadventures of a several characters. Lady Jean Conway, one of Elizabeth’s younger sisters, is in love with poet and political radical Owen Davies. Her twin, Lady Margaret, loves Lord Clanross’s private secretary, Johnny Dyott, who is also a radical and who is in love with Lady Jean. Elizabeth and her husband, the reformist Earl of Clanross, also appear in the story, as do Emily and Richard Falk, as the characters try to mitigate the worst of the riotous political dissent spreading throughout the country.
After a long hiatus, Simonson added The Young Pretender to the series in 2012. This novel focuses on Lady Jean Conway, who returns to her family’s estate after the death of her younger sister, Fanny. Jean soon catches the attention of Hugh Fremont, a wealthy and handsome neighbor. But she is also drawn to James Sholto, Lord Clanross’s steward, who had come to her aid during a flood.
"Lark Dodge" Series
Larkspur, the first volume in Simonson’s contemporary “Lark Dodge” series, introduces bookstore-owner Lark Dailey and her detective-lover, Jay Dodge, who are drawn into a murder investigation while vacationing a Fourth of July weekend at the idyllic cabin that Lark’s mother’s mentor, a poet, owns in the Sierras. In Publishers Weekly, a reviewer described the novel as a skillful combination of romance and suspense. Skylark, book two in the series, brings the action to London. Lark is attending a booksellers’ conference there and sharing a flat with Ann, an English teacher from Georgia. Both women befriend a hotel waiter, Milos, a Czech refugee who is stabbed on the Tube minutes after giving Ann a manuscript. To make matters worse, Lark’s landlady is murdered. Luckily, Jay–now Lark’s husband–is due in London any moment for a police conference, and he will help set matters straight after London police identify Lark and Ann as prime suspects in the landlady’s murder.
In Mudlark, Lark and Jay have settled down in coastal Washington state to start raising a family. But a quiet life evades them after the body of an anti-development activist washes up on the nearby beach. The next book in the series, Meadowlark, features the murder of a farm manager who works for Bianca Fiedler, the wealthy daughter of Hollywood royalty who has started an organic farming empire and has persuaded Lark to host a journalists’ workshop on the farm. In Malarkey, Lark travels to Ireland with her ailing father, hoping to gain perspective on her troubled marriage while he convalesces. But the murder of an unpopular American businessmen sets local tempers on edge; a second murder ratchets up the danger. Jay arrives to help, but his presence just makes matters worse between him and Lark.
"LaTouche County" Series
Rob Neill, a sheriff’s deputy in Klalo, Washington, and Meg McLean, who has just moved to Klalo to start a new job as director of the town library system, become unlikely crime-solving partners in Simonson’s “LaTouche County” series. In the first book in the series, Buffalo Bill’s Defunct, a dead body is found in Meg’s garage, and Rob deputizes her so that he can draw on her skills at research to help solve the crime. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly appreciated the theme about the looting of Native American artifacts, but found the book weakened by awkward plotting.
A fatal mud slide occurs in An Old Chaos, destroying costly homes in a new property development, and the fact that a report warning of possible landslide hazards had gone missing shortly before the event adds to Rob’s headaches as he starts his investigation. The suspicious death of a suspect in the cover-up of the missing report, together with unpleasant county and tribal politics, add further complications.
In Beyond Confusion, described in Publishers Weekly as a “taut” mystery, Meg is dealing with an aggressive subordinate, Marybeth, who is clearly after Meg’s job. Marybeth is also involved in an acrimonious property dispute between the nearby town of Two Falls and the Klalo tribe. When Marybeth dies after a suspicious fall, Meg becomes one of a large group of suspects that includes other library personnel as well as the victim’s own daughter. The Publishers Weekly contributor admired the author’s masterly handling of several themes in this book, including racism, greed, and thwarted romance.
Despite praising its “lively, diverse cast” of characters, which includes the members of two large extended families, a Publishers Weekly reviewer considered Call Down the Hawk less than satisfying. Alice Hough, a member of the Klalo tribe, is rattled by the unexpected death of her husband Bill, owner of Hawk Farm. His daughter Judith, an army vet with PTSD, and his estranged son Russell both return home after Bill’s death. When the body of Frank August, a retired banker and vineyard owner, is found at Hawk Farm, Rob must untangle the many threads that connect the characters in these families, including Frank’s flirtatious widow Libby and his artist daughter Jane, who becomes romantically involved with Russell.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2017, review of Call Down the Hawk.
Library Journal, February 1, 1997, Rex E. Klett, review of Malarkey, p. 111.
Publishers Weekly, April 13, 1990, review of Larkspur, p. 58; August 17, 1992, review of Skylark, p. 491; October 11, 1993, review of Mudlark, p. 71; January 8, 1996, reveiw of Meadowlark, p. 61; December 9, 1996, review of Malarkey, p. 63; July 21, 2008, review of Buffalo Bill’s Defunct, p. 146; July 20, 2009, review of An Old Chaos, p. 127; February 11, 2013, review of Beyond Confusion, p. 43; July 31, 2017, review of Call Down the Hawk, p. 65.
Reviewer’s Bookwatch, January, 2010, Gloria Feit, review of An Old Chaos.
ONLINE
All about Romance, https://allaboutromance.com/ (May 9, 2018), review of Lady Elizabeth’s Comet.
Dear Author, http://dearauthor.com/ (May 9, 2018), review of Lady Elizabeth’s Comet; review of Cousinly Connexion.
Kirkus Reviews Online, http://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (May 9, 2018), review of Bar Sinister.
Lesa’s Book Critiques, https://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/ (May 9, 2018), review of Call Down the Hawk.
Reviewing the Evidence, http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/ (May 9, 2018), review of An Old Chaos.
Series
Conway Trilogy
1. The Bar Sinister (1986)
2. Lady Elizabeth's Comet (1985)
3. Love and Folly (1988)
The Young Pretender (2012)
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Lark Dodge
1. Larkspur (1990)
2. Skylark (1992)
3. Mudlark (1993)
4. Meadowlark (1996)
5. Malarkey (1997)
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Latouche County Mystery
1. Buffalo Bill's Defunct (2008)
2. An Old Chaos (2009)
3. Beyond Confusion (2013)
4. Call Down the Hawk (2017)
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Novels
A Cousinly Connexion (1985)
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Collections
A Regency Valentine (1991) (with Jo Beverley, Carola Dunn, Ellen Fitzgerald (Florence Stevenson) and Kitty Grey)
Sheila Simonson, a native of the Pacific Northwest, is the author of fifteen novels, nine of them mysteries in two series. She is a retired English and history college teacher, and she lives in Vancouver, Washington.
I was born in Montana and raised in eastern Oregon, graduated from the University of Washington, and have advanced degrees (English and history) from the UW and Portland State. I taught at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, for more than thirty years before I retired to write full time. I've had five regencies and nine mysteries published. I've been happily married for more than forty years to a man who is not only terrific but a great photographer and a computer genius. I have a son whose company I enjoy and whose Rhodesian ridgeback, Mugabe, was the model for Towser in Buffalo Bill's Defunt. I enjoy cooking, traveling, and reading (all kinds of fiction, archaeology and history). I've taught fiction writing, science fiction, and Irish history, among other things, and I miss teaching mainly for the students, who were wonderful. It may be that growing up with four brothers and a sister has had a greater impact on my fiction than my other life experiences, but who knows? I enjoy their company, too.
Simonson, Sheila: CALL DOWN THE HAWK
Kirkus Reviews. (Aug. 1, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Simonson, Sheila CALL DOWN THE HAWK Perseverance Press (Adult Fiction) $15.95 9, 8 ISBN: 978-1-56474-597-2
Two dysfunctional families in Washington state are sunk in a morass of murder and suicide.Judith Hough is a war hero who suffers from PTSD. Her father, another war hero, was also a mean drunk and a bully who recently committed suicide. After his death, his son, Russ, returned home to get the family farm in the fictional Latouche County up and running for his hapless mother. Russ, whose mother is a member of the Klalos tribe, which owns land and businesses near the Columbia River Gorge, had left home after he graduated high school and hasn't been seen since. Not even Jack Redfern, the uncle who pretty much raised him, knew that he went to college, earned several degrees, and landed an excellent job with a major wine company. Next to the Hough farm is the land of wealthy, canny, nasty Frank August, who's getting into the wine business. Frank turned over his bank to his son, Francis Jr., then took all his money out before it went bottom up, leaving Junior holding the bag. Jane, the daughter from Frank's first marriage, an artist with enough money of her own to do what she pleases, is staying with her father and his fifth wife, 30-year-old Libby, while looking for a place to live nearby. Jane meets Russ, who already has one artificial leg, when she helps him after an accident in his cherry orchard. When Frank vanishes and his SUV turns up buried deep in brush near the river, Judith would probably be a suspect or a witness were she not in the hospital in a coma after trying to kill herself. Jane and Russ' burgeoning romantic relationship is stressed by the investigation that follows the discovery of Frank's body buried in the orchard. Realizing that she and Russ will never have a solid relationship until the mystery is solved, Jane reluctantly investigates. The forth in Simonson's Latouche County series (Beyond Confusion, 2013, etc.) marries a story that draws you in with some fascinating characters worth being drawn to. The ending, alas, is a letdown.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Simonson, Sheila: CALL DOWN THE HAWK." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A499572819/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f29bb37c. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A499572819
Call Down the Hawk: A Latouche County Mystery
Publishers Weekly. 264.31 (July 31, 2017): p65.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Call Down the Hawk: A Latouche County Mystery
Sheila Simonson. Perseverance, $15.95 trade
paper (248p) ISBN 978-1-56474-597-2
A lively, diverse cast--mainly the members of the Hough and August families--makes up only partly for the creaky plot of Simonson's fourth mystery set in Washington's Latouche County (after 2013 's Beyond Confusion). Patriarch Bill Hough's recent suicide leaves Alice, a member of the Klalo tribe, unprepared for widowhood. Bill's daughter, Judith, an army vet, suffers from PTSD, and his alienated son, Russell, returns home after Bill's death. When often-married Frank August, a retired banker who owns a vineyard--and who, along with his current wife, windsurfer Libby, shares a homestead with Frank's two grown children, banker son Gus and artist daughter Jane--disappears and his body later turns up in a cherry orchard at the Hough clan's Hawk Farm, undersheriff Rob Neill investigates. Libby's flirtations and affairs, as well as a romance between Russell and Jane, generate some heat, but the contrived resolution of Frank's murder will leave readers dissatisfied. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Call Down the Hawk: A Latouche County Mystery." Publishers Weekly, 31 July 2017, p. 65. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A499863416/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=138d1834. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A499863416
Malarkey
Publishers Weekly. 243.50 (Dec. 9, 1996): p63.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1996 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Sheila Simonson. St, Martin's/Dunne, $22.95 (288p) ISBN 0-312-15168-3
Armchair detectives will share a seat with armchair tourists in Simonson's fifth in the series (after Meadowlark) as Pacific-Northwest resident Lark Dodge and her father, a university professor, travel to Ireland. The change of scenery turns dangerous when Lark stumbles across the body of an American who was addicted to war games and recruited local high-school boys to participate. Lark learns that Slade Wheeler had been the business manager of her landlord's software company and had a local girlfriend who was pregnant. The police suspect his killer is a teenager who argued with Wheeler and is now missing, along with his father. Complicating Lark's life is the arrival of her husband, Jay, a college instructor and former cop. Since she went to Ireland to think about their relationship, she is annoyed when he turns up to protect her. But then Wheeler's nearest relative, a sister, is murdered, proving the teen innocent, and Jay is kidnapped after a newspaper article says he is helping with the investigation. Lark realizes she must act or lose her husband altogether. While Simonson's approach to Irish history and current politics is heavy-handed, her descriptions of the countryside and monuments, particularly as they relate to the old religions, lend a pleasantly spooky atmosphere to her tale. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Malarkey." Publishers Weekly, 9 Dec. 1996, p. 63. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A18930255/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1b417a7b. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A18930255
Meadowlark
Publishers Weekly. 243.2 (Jan. 8, 1996): p61+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1996 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Sheila Simonson. St. Martin's/Dunne, $21.95 (256p) ISBN 0-312-14013-4
Opening Larkspur Books after relocating from California to the quaint coastal Washington town of Kayport, Lark Dodge, seen last in Mudlark, is pressed by Bianca Fiedler into helping to run a writers' conference on environmental issues at organic Meadowlark Farm. When Hugo Groth, one of the farm's managers, rents an apartment above the bookstore, Lark begins to get a better picture of the eclectic folk who run, and work at, the farm. She learns that the group is an outgrowth of a commune that Bianca, Bianca's husband and Hugo lived on years before. And she starts to sense the discord at Meadowlark. Hugo, says one Meadowlarker, "is a prick." "He's a fanatic," says another. "The interns all hate his guts." Then, 10 days before the conference, Hugo goes missing--later to be found dead in the icehouse. Rather than abandon the seminar, Bianca, believing that Hugo's murder has "nothing to do with my staff" decides that it will go on as planned. Lark disagrees and sets out to prove her theory. Six-foot Lark and her cop-turned-teacher husband, Jay, make an adept team as Simonson gracefully exposes the base passions that can animate even the most sensitive environmental do-gooders. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Meadowlark." Publishers Weekly, 8 Jan. 1996, p. 61+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A17984346/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e34ba8ad. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A17984346
Mudlark
Publishers Weekly. 240.41 (Oct. 11, 1993): p71+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1993 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Sheila Simonson. St. Martin's/Dunne, $18.95 (240p) ISBN 0-312-09874-X An enthusiastic welcome back to lark Dodge, the former bookstore owner, who, in her third appearance (after Skylark), lives on the coast of Washington State with her husband Jay, who runs a police training program. Lark first meets Bonnie Bell, a neighbor recently moved from Santa Monica, Calif., after the aspiring writer finds a carpetbag of dead seagulls on her porch with a note saying, "California Carpetbagger Go Home." Bonnie's next unwelcome discovery is a corpse on the beach. The victim, Cleo Cabot Hagan, had been working to bring a locally unpopular resort complex into the ecologically sensitive region. The day before she was killed, Cleo had visited another neighbor, her ex-husband, novelist Tom Linquist. After his house is firebombed, Tom stays with Lark and Jay. While Lark finds him friendly enough, she is worried that her new friend Bonnie is falling for a murder suspect. Sharp characterization--particularly of the marvelously wry Lark--and a mystery that is skillfully intertwined with Lark and Jay's life as they try to start a family grip the reader's interest up to a resolution that puts an intriguing twist on the standard sleuth-in-danger finale. (Dec.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Mudlark." Publishers Weekly, 11 Oct. 1993, p. 71+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A14515937/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a428fa50. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A14515937
Beyond Confusion: A Latouche County Library Mystery
Publishers Weekly. 260.6 (Feb. 11, 2013): p43+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Beyond Confusion: A Latouche County Library Mystery
Sheila Simonson. Perseverance (SCB, dist.), $15.95 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-1-56474-519-4
In Simonson's taut third Latouche County library mystery (after 2009's An Old Chaos), librarian Margaret "Meg" McLean has her hands full with vindictive Marybeth Jackman, her second-in-command who openly covets Meg's job. Yet Marybeth's aggressive behavior isn't limited to the library or its employees, extending into nearby Two Falls, Wash., where a nasty property dispute with the local Klalos--the county's most numerous Native American tribe--has reached the boiling point. When Marybeth falls to her death, there's no shortage of suspects--including the victim's troubled daughter, several colleagues, a number of Klalos, and even Meg. Complicating the case is an attack on the library's bookmobile, putting its popular librarian/driver Annie Baldwin in the hospital. Simonson's ambitious plot casts a wide net--from treating themes of racism and religious intolerance to thwarted love and good old-fashioned greed--but she pulls it off with a sure hand. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Beyond Confusion: A Latouche County Library Mystery." Publishers Weekly, 11 Feb. 2013, p. 43+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A318901627/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5b3e1b66. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A318901627
An Old Chaos: A Latouche County Mystery
Publishers Weekly. 256.29 (July 20, 2009): p127.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
An Old Chaos: A Latouche County Mystery
Sheila Simonson. Perseverance (SCB, dist.), $14.95 paper (280p) ISBN 978-1-880284-99-5
A missing landslide hazard area report followed by a fatal mud slide that wipes out expensive new homes in Washington's (fictional) Latouche County saddles sheriff's investigator Rob Neill with multiple problems in Simonson's pedestrian sequel to Buffalo Bill's Defunct (2008). Rob has to deal with the slide's after-effects and injuries he receives helping with rescue efforts, as well as a murder case after one possible suspect in the LHA coverup is found dead and another disappears. County politics from Sheriff Mack McCormick's office to Madeline Thomas, principal chief of the (fictional) Klalos tribe, intricately tangled with liaisons financial and sexual, offer plenty of motives for the crime. Rob's love interest, librarian Meg McLean, lends support. The author does a good job evoking the beauty of the Washington-Oregon border area between Mount Saint Helens and Mount Hood, but despite a satisfactory resolution to the murder investigation, the epilogue is much too pat. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"An Old Chaos: A Latouche County Mystery." Publishers Weekly, 20 July 2009, p. 127. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A204319152/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=871f5bdc. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A204319152
Buffalo Bill's Defunct: A Latouche County Mystery
Publishers Weekly. 255.29 (July 21, 2008): p146.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2008 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Buffalo Bill's Defunct: A Latouche County Mystery
Sheila Simonson. Perseverance (SCB, dist.), $14.95 paper (280p) ISBN 978-1-880284-96-4
This middling first of a new series from Simonson (Larkspur) features a familiar mystery-solving duo of police professional and amateur sleuth: sheriff's deputy Rob Neill, who's inherited his grandmother's house in the town of Klalo, Wash., and his new next-door neighbor, Meg McLean, freshly arrived from Southern California to head up the town's library system. When a dead body is found buried in Meg's garage, their friendship moves from budding romance to investigative partners, as Rob deputizes Meg so he can take advantage of her research skills. A strong narrative line focused on the looting of Native American artifacts isn't enough, alas, to carry an otherwise bland and awkwardly plotted story. The novel is set in one of the country's most visually stunning areas, yet almost no attention is given to the landscape. The book's title, from an e.e. cummings poem, is the book's most original aspect. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Buffalo Bill's Defunct: A Latouche County Mystery." Publishers Weekly, 21 July 2008, p. 146. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A181855833/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b5b87ec1. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A181855833
Malarkey
Rex E. Klett
Library Journal. 122.2 (Feb. 1, 1997): p111.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1997 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Simonson, Sheila. Thomas Dunne Bk: St. Martin's. Feb. 1997. c.288p. ISBN 0-312-15168-3. $22.95. M
Series heroine Lark Dodge visits Ireland in order to drive for her recently ill father, a retired history professor researching Quaker life there. No sooner have they arrived at their quaint cottage on the estate owned by former students of Lark's father' than Lark finds a dead body. After Lark's former-cop husband joins them, another murder occurs. Suspects include a wargames group and Lark's hosts, while a visiting archaeologist, a pregnant slattern, and an ambitious local cop complicate matters. A deceptively stately pace, accompanied by interesting subplots and vivid jaunts in the country. For larger collections.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Klett, Rex E. "Malarkey." Library Journal, 1 Feb. 1997, p. 111. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A19123751/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ecc6f59d. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A19123751
Skylark
Publishers Weekly. 239.37 (Aug. 17, 1992): p491.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1992 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Sheila Simonson. St. Martin's/Dunne, $18.95 (272p) ISBN 0-312-08294-0
No small model from Detroit despite the suggestion of her name, ex--basketball star Lark Dodge (introduced in Larkspur) hits the mark again in this mix of international intrigue and suspense. Californian Lark is in London attending a bookseller's convention with Ann Veryan, a Georgia divorcee. One evening in the crowded Underground, their new Czech friend Milos is stabbed and a green plastic Harrods' bag is stolen from another passenger. Milos is seriously injured and Lark and Ann are shaken--Ann was carrying a similar bag for Milos, holding a manuscript written in Czech. Before turning the manuscript over to the police, Lark makes a copy, which she sends to her professor father in upstate New York. After their flat is ransacked, the women decide to confront Milos but find he has been taken from the hospital in a private ambulance. Lark's husband Jay, a police instructor, arrives to help locate Milos and determine the manuscript's significance, which proves considerable. Self-aware and intelligent, the clearly drawn Lark is a promising new presence on the mystery scene. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Skylark." Publishers Weekly, 17 Aug. 1992, p. 491. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A12533548/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=17c2c561. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A12533548
Larkspur
Sybil Steinberg
Publishers Weekly. 237.15 (Apr. 13, 1990): p58.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1990 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
LARDSPUR This lively and appealing first mystery pits bookstore owner Lark Daily (the Monte, Calif., store is called Larkspur Books) and her policeman lover Jay Dodge against the murderer of elderly Dai Llewellyn, a rich, homosexual and renowned American poet. Because she's the daughter of a well-known poetess, Lark and Jay are invited for a Fourth of July weekend to Dai's luxurious fishing lodge. The house party is rudely disrupted when Dai is poisoned with larkspur. The guests are all suspects, of course, but immediate suspicion falls on Migiel, Dai's houseboy and lover, who disappears. While Jay, who is acting head of the local CID, investigates, Lark does a little probing of her own, particularly when Dai's will names as his heir the son of one of the guests, a former dancer; the young man is now revealed as Dai's offspring. The arrival of Lark's mother, designated Dai's literary executor, precipitates more violence. Simonson, previously the author of Regency romances (Love and Folly), makes a promising debut in the mystery field, deftly juggling a cozy modern suspense story with an up-to-date romance. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Steinberg, Sybil. "Larkspur." Publishers Weekly, 13 Apr. 1990, p. 58. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A8920801/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f30a703a. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A8920801
An Old Chaos
Gloria Feit
Reviewer's Bookwatch. (Jan. 2010):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
An Old Chaos
Sheila Simonson
Perseverance Press/John Daniel & Co.
P.O. Box 2790, McKinleyville, CA 95519
9781880284995 $14.95 800-662-8351 danielpublishing.com
The protagonists of Sheila Simonson's Latouche County series, following the excellent "Buffalo Bill's Defunct," taking place about three months after the conclusion of that book, are back: the county's chief investigator, Rob Neill, and his girlfriend, head librarian Meg McLean. As the book opens, Rob's mentor, Sheriff Mack McCormick is contemplating retirement. He and his wife, Beth, have moved out of their long-time home in Klalo, in western Washington State, and into a new McMansion several miles out of town, in Prune Hill, a gorgeous development of six new homes, only partially inhabited as yet, within sight of Mount St. Helens.
When Rob's cousin, Charlie, a geologist, turns up in town, two things happen in quick succession: Rob finds out that the Prune Hill development is on a site Charlie had classified as Class II, meaning a Landslide Hazard Area, and apparently reclassified as a Class III, meaning approved for residential development, but before Rob can act on the information and investigate further, there is a major landslide, and that entire portion of the mountain falls, destroying anything and anyone in its path.
There are intimations of graft, corruption, and bribery, and there's no telling where the investigation may lead. The county commissioners, the developer and his investors, and even the county clerk may have been involved; there is even the possibility that Mack himself, a father figure to Rob, may have had something to do with it; how else to explain the fantastic deal he got from the developer on the purchase price of the house?
Although there are a few deaths [whether or not they are murders must be determined], this is primarily a character-driven book. From Rob and Meg, Beth and Mack, Maddie Thomas, principal chief of the Klalos, and her husband, Jack, to the various other inhabitants of the small town, civilian and politicos alike, they are deftly brought to life by Ms. Simonson, who lives in Vancouver, WA. Her love for and appreciation of the beauty of the Pacific NW is made clear to the reader, and some arguments for and against its development are cogently set forth. The book was a fast and a good read.
Feit, Gloria
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Feit, Gloria. "An Old Chaos." Reviewer's Bookwatch, Jan. 2010. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A216347091/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ecdf69ab. Accessed 19 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A216347091
April 30, 2008
REVIEW: Lady Elizabeth’s Comet by Sheila Simonson
JayneA REVIEW CATEGORY / BOOK REVIEWSBluestocking / Regency England22 Comments
Dear Mrs Simonson,
I first read “Lady Elizabeth’s Comet” a few years ago when I was lucky enough to score a copy of it through a used bookstore. Ever since then, I’ve touted its merits to those looking for intelligent heroines, beta heroes and wonderful storytelling. I’m delighted that Uncial Press has brought it out in eform and I can talk it up some more.
Did I say intelligent heroines? Lady Elizabeth Conway is one of my favorites. Her passion is astronomy yet you don’t use it as a prop to get her into silly situations from which the hero must rescue her nor to force her to act up in public in order to Make a Point. It also plays a pivotal role in whom she marries by making her open her eyes to the truth of her convenient betrothal. Ah, I never said she doesn’t make mistakes and I thank you for hers. They make her well rounded and believable with nary a hint of Mary Sue-ness. She commits some blunders, has to suffer for them and grows from the experience.
Tom Conway is a delight. He’s a man who could easily hold a grudge against Elizabeth’s father. As the man’s less than appreciated heir, he was basically forced into the Army while the Earl tried without success to father a son. And now that the man’s dead and Tom has succeeded to the Earldom, he has to deal with all the weighty problems attendant on the position as well as taking up the title of Head of the Family. Yet he never shirks his Duty or Position, dealing with it all with a wry smile on his face and even devising the perfect birthday presents for two of Elizabeth’s younger sisters. He’s man who’s not had the easiest of lives yet he never moans or acts less than a gentleman. Quiet strength is what I think of when he comes to mind.
I love the witty, dry humor of this quiet, gentle regency. You don’t rush us from Event to Event but allow the story to slowly spool out as these two fall in love. There are areas where cliches could have been introduced or used yet thankfully were not. Characters who could have been two dimensional stereotypes, bullies or idiots who instead were well done in their own right and who advanced the story without taking it over.
It’s been a few years since I last read it and it was with a little trepidation that I flicked on my ereader. Would it hold up to my rosy memories? Was it still the wonderful book I remember? Yeessss, it does and it is. A
~Jayne
AN OLD CHAOS
by Sheila Simonson
Perseverance Press, October 2009
280 pages
$14.95
ISBN: 1880284995
Buy from Amazon.com
Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada
There's this thing called "sophomore slump" where folks suppose that someone's second work can't stand up to their first one. It can happen. Sometimes an author is rushed to turn in that second manuscript. Some believe that it's easier the second time (you want to hear maniacal laughter? Ask any established author about the whole "it gets easier" thing. They'll tell you. It never gets easier).
But there is nothing sophomoric, in any way, about this second book in Sheila Simonson's new series set in a small town in Washington state. Librarian Meg McLean is back as is Rob Neill, an investigator with the sheriff's office.
Simonson is a keen talent. She's underappreciated and underrated. Her characterization is clean and effective. Like most of the best authors out there, she uses "show, don't tell" to give you an image of a person. The arrogant cold woman who offers to buy priceless tribal items because she wants them without understanding or appreciating what is coming out of her mouth. The woman who relies on her looks to get by, and knows it. The laid-back doctoral student who knows what to say and what not to say.
In AN OLD CHAOS, there are a couple characters I really cottoned to - when Beth's husband, the sheriff, dies, she takes over his job and takes it on well. She does not allow herself to be bullied or condescended to. Another character, who we met in book one comes back restored, surviving her abusive husband and retaking her place in the community.
Do read AN OLD CHAOS. Simonson is what I think of as a "quiet" author. No international conspiracies, no menacing serial murders, no psychological creeps around dark corners. Instead she writes about real people doing real things in real places. But don't worry, it's never boring. You'll be hard pressed to find a better way to spend a few hours. You'll learn about the environment of the Pacific Northwest, you'll learn about native American causes, about architecture and design, but the heck with all that. You will, simply, read a well-written mystery with several characters you want to spend time with. What could be bad?
Reviewed by Andi Shechter, November 2009
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2017
Call Down the Hawk by Sheila Simonson
After a four year absence, Sheila Simonson returns to the Columbia River Gorge area for her latest Latouche County mystery, Call Down the Hawk. It's a reflective story, told from multiple viewpoints, about the tragic deaths of two domineering men who happened to be neighbors.
Jane August was visiting her father, Frank August, and his fifth wife when the news came about the financial collapse of the bank he had turned over to his son, Gus. And, soon after, Frank disappears. Was he escaping the notoriety? Running away from his wife? Or was it something worse? Over on the Hough (pronounced Hawk) farm, someone may have seen something.
Bill Hough committed suicide, leaving a cowed wife, an estranged son, Russell, who hadn't been home since he left at eighteen, and a daughter, Judith, who was a military hero, but suffers from PTSD. The night Frank August disappeared, Judith may have seen something as she patrolled the farm. But, she tried to kill herself that night, saved only by Russell. She's in a coma, unaware that she may have witnessed a murder because Frank August's body is uncovered by a bulldozer on the Hough farm.
Yes, Call Down the Hawk is the story of a murder investigation, led by Undersheriff Rob Neill. But, even more, it's the story of two adult children, Russell Hough and Jane August, trying to pick up the pieces of shattered lives that were broken by their fathers. Jane escaped most of her father's turmoil, until she learns the terms of the will.
Thoughtful. Reflective. Call Down the Hawk is a leisurely paced story, seen through multiple eyes. But, Jane August, the artist, is the one who sees the land and the people with an artist's perspective. And, Frank August and Bill Hough left destruction in their wake, brutalizing the people they left behind.
Sheila Simonson's website is http://sheila.simonson.googlepages.com
Call Down the Hawk by Sheila Simonson. Perseverance Press. 2017. ISBN 9781564745972 (paperback), 248p.
Desert Isle Keeper
Lady Elizabeth's Comet
Shelia Simonson
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Heroines with a scientific bent seem a dime a dozen in historical romance at the moment; some of them are credible, others less so. One of the earliest and most convincing heroines of this kind that I know of is Lady Elizabeth Conway in Sheila Simonson’s Lady Elizabeth’s Comet, which was first published in 1986. It’s one of my favorite Regency romances.
Lady Elizabeth Conway, the eldest daughter of an earl, lives in peace and comfort in the Dower House of her recently deceased father’s principal seat and devotes most of her time and energy to astronomical studies, using the telescope her father permitted her to set up. Not even the arrival of two teenage sisters (she has eight sisters all in all) really disturbs her. When the novel starts, she has just discovered what may well be a new comet.
Very soon, there is a second interruption: Her father’s heir arrives. The new Earl of Clanross is a very distant cousin, whose branch of the family was heartily despised by the old earl, and whom Elizabeth has never met. Clanross used to be a soldier, and he is still suffering very much from a severe wound. Elizabeth is at first inclined to to make fun of his stiff bearing, and she is astonished to find out that Clanross’s best friend, who comes to stay for a while, is none other that Lord Bevis, whose offer of marriage she refused some years earlier.
The story is told in the first person; thus the reader identifies automatically with Elizabeth. She is clever, witty when she wants to be, mostly honest with herself, self-sufficient, and very capable in moments of crisis. At the same time, she has settled in a comfortable kind of selfishness, devoting lots of energy to her studies but very little to anyone or anything else. When her sisters, Clanross, and Bevis arrive, she must reconsider her priorities – at least to some extent, as astronomy still remains of the utmost importance to her.
The novel’s hero is an utter delight. Elizabeth first regards him with mixed feelings, and so it takes a while for the reader to get his true measure. But then! For anyone who loves strong men who don’t make a fuss about themselves, here’s the perfect hero. He knows his heart far earlier than Elizabeth does, which leads to some funny scenes during which she wonders at his actions and the reader just melts into a puddle. Well, I do.
The novel’s quality attains further heights when Elizabeth finally discovers the truth about her own emotions. She finds it impossible to deal with them, and the account of her reactions is both very painful and very true, making for a deeply intense read.
There are some great minor characters as well, some which make an appearance in two other novels: The Bar Sinister, which is mostly a prequel to Lady Elizabeth’s Comet, and Love and Folly, which is its sequel. All of these novels are delightful, but Lady Elizabeth’s Comet is, in my eyes, the best among them. This is one book that I own in both paper and e-copies, and I am truly glad it’s available again as I can recommend it most highly to anyone who likes Regencies with a flavor of the period as well as fascinating characters.
August 30, 2007
REVIEW: Cousinly Connexion by Sheila Simonson
JayneB REVIEWS / B REVIEWS CATEGORY / BOOK REVIEWS / EBOOKSHistorical Romances / Regency England / Waterloo5 Comments
Dear Mrs. Simonson,
simonson-cconnexion.jpgYou’ve only written a few Regencies yet all have been ones I’ve enjoyed. As I’ve not heard of anything new from you in years, I guess I need to look into trying some of your mysteries. For readers unfamiliar with your books, I’m glad that this one has been reissued in ebook form and hope it will inspire a new readers to try you out.
When Lady Meriden’s eldest stepson and husband die within days of each other, the estate passes to the second stepson. No one has seen him in years, yet he inherits everything, including his father’s gambling debts and guardianship of his seven siblings. Jane Ash rushes to her aunt’s aid. Months go by before the new baron comes, and Jane is left to cope with her ailing, self-dramatizing aunt and bewildered cousins, all of whom have problems. Lady Meriden alternately spoils and neglects them. Julian, the heir, has his own problems and wants nothing less than to play the heavy parent to his unknown siblings. When he does come, will he and Jane form an unexpected alliance that leads to romance?
This is a perfectly unexceptionable Regency and I loved the take off beginning on Austen’s “Persuasion.” All etiquette and rules obeyed and it has delightful characters who act responsibly, do not fling themselves into love and poo-poo attempts made to be flung by others. There are lots of characters yet I felt I got to know most of them (except for the twins and even their own relations viewed them as twin terrors). I was delighted that some cliched standard Regency characters are turned on their heads such as the younger brother Vincent who turns out not to really want to be ton Tulip and who’s perfectly happy learning estate management. And at least Jane’s father isn’t a typical absent Regency father — no he’s not in book much but he asks about Jane, writes to her often, wants her to come home and eventually fetches her and puts his foot down about her being a reclusive old maid waiting attendance on his Drama Diva sister.
I loved how Ju masterfully manages the almost overwhelming cares he’s so unexpectedly inherited. He slowly and carefully helped his siblings without taking over, making them feel too bad or resentful. And how like men not to talk and tell each other what they really feel (Vincent that he doesn’t mind not being on the town and Ju that he is grateful for his brother’s seemingly trivial help in dealing with all the estates). Sobering moments are provided
when Will Tarrant and Julian reflect on the horror of Waterloo, how badly Ju was injured and how many friends (4 out of 5, on average) they lost there. The casualty lists printed after the battle must have made even strong men weep. General Peggy Tarrant is a wonder and I’m glad Will knows how lucky he is to have her as his wife.
I truly am sorry you haven’t written more Regencies. This one is a small gem and perhaps will lead to your others being reissued in ebook form. B for “Cousinly Connexion.”
~Jayne
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KIRKUS REVIEW
By the author of Lady Elizabeth's Comet (1985) and A Cousinly Connexion (1985), a first-rate Regency novel, canny in craft and handsomely peopled with full-fledged characters. Here, the undeclared lovers (who see one another a total, of 12 days from 1812 to 1815) are a tart-tongued widow and a nasty-tempered illegitimate son of a duchess, who's the widower father of two children and whose friends and kin--both loyal and murderous--impinge on his strenuous and danger-dogged life. Recently widowed Emily Foster, determined to find nursery playmates for her four-year-old son, agrees to take on, sight unseen, three-year-old Amy and baby Tommy in her handsome Hampshire home. The children's father is the decidedly rude and charmless Captain Richard Falk, soldier in the Peninsular War and, as it turns out, an anonymous writer of satirical novels. Falk had changed his name in order to forever cut himself off from the family of the late Duke of Newsham--the one who had tried to kill Richard when he discovered that Richard was a result of the Duchess' early indiscretion. Now devoted to the children, Emily finds herself unaccountably in love with the ever-absent Falk via his stories written for the children, and is deeply disturbed when Lady Sarah, Richard's half-sister whom he's not seen in 20 years, arrives to view the children. Now that the present unpleasant Duke could know of their existence, the children as well as Falk could be in danger, since the Duke is not convinced that Richard poses no threat to his estate. Sarah's husband, wise and clever Sir Robert, and Richard's dying friend Conway intervene at different times. There are acrimonious confrontations, assaults, plots, Falk's near-fatal wound, honors, a naughty Duchess corning around, and explosive arrivals and departures before Emily, throwing caution to the winds, does her own proposing. A well-tempered tale, with bright and solid folk and an amusingly edgy brace of lovers. A blue-ribbon entry in Walker's generous and appealing list.