Clea Simon Books in Order
Clea Simon has written 34 books, published between 1997 and 2025. The first book is Mad House (1997) and the newest is The Butterfly Trap (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 34
- Published
- 1997–2025
- Pages on record
- 5,359 in 23 of 34 books
- Reading time
- 89–134 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 5,359 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 23 of 34 titles with a page count on record.
Cats run through most of Clea Simon's mysteries. 34 catalogued books span Mad House (1997) to The Butterfly Trap (2025), and the sleuths recur: Dulcie Schwartz in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pru Marlowe, Theda Krakow, and the Blackie & Care and Witch Cats of Cambridge lines. Mew Is for Murder (2005), Cattery Row (2006), Cries & Whiskers (2007) and Probable Claws (2009) are among the titles. Murder, investigation and psychics fill the subjects, and Simon remains actively publishing.
How many Clea Simon books are there?
Clea Simon has 34 books, released between 1997 and 2025. They include 5 series and 7 titles listed outside any series.
Clea Simon Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 34 Clea Simon books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1Mad House1997 · 224 pages · confirmed 2/419972242/4
- 2Fatherless Women2001 · 256 pages · confirmed 2/420012562/4
- 3The Feline Mystique2002 · 237 pages · confirmed 2/420022372/4
- 420052242/4
- 520062402/4
- 620072512/4
- 720092162/4
- 820092642/4
- 92010–2/4
- 102010–2/4
- 1120112162/4
- 1220122502/4
- 132012–2/4
- 142012–2/4
- 152013–2/4
- 1620132132/4
- 1720142432/4
- 1820142082/4
- 1920142242/4
- 20201512/4
- 2120152162/4
- 2220162242/4
- 232016–2/4
- 242016–2/4
- 25World Enough2017 · confirmed 2/42017–2/4
- 2620172082/4
- 2720183202/4
- 2820182242/4
- 2920182602/4
- 3020203202/4
- 31Hold Me Down2021 · 320 pages · confirmed 2/420213202/4
- 322023–2/4
- 33Bad Boy Beat2024 · confirmed 2/42024–2/4
- 34The Butterfly Trap2025 · confirmed 2/42025–2/4
Clea Simon books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Dulcie Schwartz in order
10 books- 1. Shades of Grey
- 2. Grey Matters
- 3. Grey Zone
- 4. Grey Expectations
- 5. True Grey
- 6. Grey Dawn
- 7. Grey Howl
- 8. Stages of Grey
- 9. Code Grey
- 10. Into the Grey
Pru Marlowe in order
7 booksTheda Krakow in order
4 booksBlackie & Care Mysteries in order
3 booksWitch Cats of Cambridge Mystery in order
3 booksStandalone books
7 books7 Clea Simon titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Clea Simon books in order?
You only need to read Clea Simon books in order within each series: the books listed here span 5 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with Clea Simon
Start with Mad House (1997), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Clea Simon book?
The Butterfly Trap (2025) is the newest Clea Simon book released so far.
Is there a new Clea Simon book coming?
No next Clea Simon book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Clea Simon at a glance
- Still publishing
- Clea Simon published a book as recently as 2025.
- Release pace
- Clea Simon books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 5,359 pages across the 23 of 34 books with a recorded length, a median of 224 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Clea Simon books, 21 of 34, were published in the 2010s.
What the Clea Simon books are about
27 of the 34 Clea Simon books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: mystery & detective is tagged on 19 of 27. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Mystery & detective 19 of 27 books
- Crime 10 of 27 books
- Cats 9 of 27 books
- Mystery & detective, women sleuths 7 of 27 books
- Dulcie Schwartz (Fictitious character) 6 of 27 books
- Murder 6 of 27 books
- Investigation 5 of 27 books
- Psychics 4 of 27 books
- Boston (Mass.) 3 of 27 books
- Cambridge (mass.) 3 of 27 books
- Women journalists 3 of 27 books
- Animal ghosts 2 of 27 books