Bad Boy Beat
by Clea Simon

A page-turning journalistic thriller starring a rookie female reporter for the Boston Standard who’s determined to chase down a big story . . . with potentially deadly consequences.

Boston Standard journalist Emily – Em – Kelton is desperate for a big story. As a new reporter Em covers the police beat, which has her responding to every crime that comes across the newsroom scanner. Despite the drudgery and the largely nocturnal hours, it’s a beat that suits her – especially with her affinity for the low-level criminals she regularly interacts with and what she considers a healthy scepticism for the rules.

But she’s sick of filing short news briefs about random street murders that barely merit a byline, and when she sets out to cover yet another shooting of a low-level dealer, she begins to wonder if these crimes are somehow connected.

With not much to go on but her instincts, Em sets out to uncover the truth behind these sordid crimes. But the more she investigates and uncovers a pattern, the more she digs herself into a hole from which she might not come out of alive . . .

Drawing on her career as a journalist, Clea Simon delivers a fast-paced, intricate plot that brings the city of Boston to life. Mystery fans who love a strong female protagonist, such as SUE GRAFTON’s Kinsey Millhone, GILLIAN FLYNN’s Camille Preaker and DENISE MINA’s Paddy Meehan won’t want to miss Bad Boy Beat!

Reviews

Fast-paced and deeply satisfying . . . Simon is at the height of her considerable powers . . .
The prose here is propulsive, stylish, and pleasingly spare, with narrating crime reporter Emily Kelton’s voice sliding often into noir territory. Bad Boy Beat is a top-notch read, securing Simon’s position as one of the sharpest voices working in crime fiction today

Linda L. Richards, award-winning author of the Endings series

“Simon’s staccato prose sets a tense mood that keeps readers on the edge . . . New territory for Simon that’s definitely worth another chapter”

Kirkus Reviews

“Readers will quickly find that the twists and turns of the plot more than satisfy – with a particularly stellar final act that is guaranteed to please even the harshest critic of crime fiction”

BOLO Books

“If you want a swift mystery with plenty of clues, you’ll enjoy this”

Kings River Life

“The plot is tightly written with several twists and turns to keep it interesting”

Gumshoe Review

“Simon draws on her career as a journalist, in particular her reporting on Boston’s music scene in the 1990s, for the setting, concert scenes, and flashbacks, bringing a gritty reality to this dark suspense tale”

Booklist on Hold Me Down

“For Fans of Alexander McCall and Janet Evanovich”

Library Journal on Hold Me Down

“Simon, a former Bostonian who once wrote for magazines covering the music scene, kicks off her Boston Noir series with a fascinating reminiscence of sex, drugs, and rock and roll”

Kirkus Reviews on World Enough

“Vibrant descriptions . . . Readers with a taste for noir are sure to want to see more”

Publishers Weekly on World Enough

“Simon expertly casts suspicion on one member of her tiny human cast after another”

Kirkus Reviews on An Incantation of Cats

Clea Simon

Clea Simon grew up in New York before moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to attend Harvard. She fell in love with the area and lives in nearby Somerville with her husband and their cat, Thisbe. She is the author most recently of the “newspaper noir” amateur sleuth Bad Boy Beat and the Dulcie Schwartz, Theda Krakow, Pru Marlowe, Blackie and Care, and Witch Cats of Cambridge mystery series as well as a number of grittier standalone novels of psychological suspense.

View author page

Editions

Bad Boy Beat by Clea Simon is available in the following formats

Hardback97814483130447th May 2024145 X 224mm224$29.99
Hardback97814483130447th May 2024145 X 224mm224£21.99
Ebook97814483130517th May 2024N/A224£12.99
Ebook97814483130517th May 2024N/A224£12.99
Paperback978144831574128th January 2025138 X 216mm224$18.99
Paperback978144831574121st November 2024138 X 216mm224£13.99
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