Details, Details

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I keep trying to think of a way to open his blog with music. Like--the opening of Purple Haze? Or of Piece of My Heart? Or Satisfaction? Some piece that we all know and can recognize in one note. So imagine that, okay? Or imagine a crowd at a rock concert, giving a standing ovation.

Because today we are giving the ovation to our wonderful Clea Simon, a dear friend of the Reds, who has had experiences in the rock scene that none of the rest of us ever have or will.

And today, to celebrate her new book HOLD ME DOWN, Clea takes us...backstage.

 

How one detail can unlock your story…
by Clea Simon

Thanks, Hank and the Reds, for having me back to celebrate Hold Me Down, my new psychological suspense. Hold Me Down follows Gal, a musician of a certain age, as she returns to her old haunts to figure out what caused the death of a former club colleague. A departure from my usual cat cozies, Hold Me Down gets dark at times – but, like so many of us, Gal muddles through and, just maybe, finds her rhythm again by the end. For me to get there with her, however, I had to do my research.

I came to Hold Me Down with a lot of familiarity with the music scene. As a rock critic from the ‘80s into the ‘90s, I spent many nights in the clubs and theaters, watching baby bands mature into headliners and – sometimes – flame out. With a backstage pass or laminate hanging around my neck giving me insider access, I hung out backstage after the gigs and accompanied touring bands to promotional events at record stores and radio stations.

This wasn’t just work, of course. I loved – still love – the music, and made lifelong friends among the musicians, fellow journalists, and club and radio personnel. These were the people I turned to when I realized that “Hold Me Down” needed to center on the persona of Gal, a Boston rocker who – for a hot minute – makes it big, becoming an almost rock star before the excesses of the era, the dysfunction of the music industry, and her own personal history drag her back to earth.

Catching up was fun. Meeting for lunch pre-pandemic and over long phone calls and Zoom, my friends confirmed much of what I remembered. The craziness and, yeah, the drugs. They also gave me details I hadn’t been aware of – like the fact that so many of the drivers were armed. But it was an offhand comment by an old friend who used to sing with the Boston band Vision Thing that really unlocked Gal’s story for me.

“I could see everything from up there,” my buddy Lisa told me. “I don’t think people realized.”

I sure didn’t! I’d played bass in bands before realizing that I was much more comfortable writing about the scene. But during this brief inglorious period, my always-lurking stage fright blinded me to such things. I was lucky to remember the chord changes! (Yeah, I used this in Hold Me Down too.)


But when I started thinking about what Lisa had said, I realized how useful such a detail could be in a mystery. What might Gal see from up there? Adoring fans, sure, but also audience hijinks – and maybe something darker, going down in those shadowy back corners. Then again, when a woman has demons, can she be sure what she sees? These are the questions that raced through my mind as I crafted Hold Me Down, the catchy refrain that kept me writing.

Readers: Have you ever found one little fact that has led you into a bigger story? Would you share it? I’ll give away a signed copy of Hold Me Down to someone who leaves a comment.

HANK: Oh, Clea, you are my rockstar idol. I love that question! And I'd also love to know the rock music tastes of our reds and readers, wouldn't you?

What "record" changed your life? (;-)) Or--do YOU play an instrument? If front of other people? 

A former journalist, Clea Simon is the Boston Globe-bestselling author of three nonfiction books and more than two dozen mysteries. While most of these (like her recent, A Cat on the Case) are cat cozies/amateur sleuth mysteries, she also writes darker crime fiction, like the rock and roll suspense novel World Enough, which was named a “must read” by the Massachusetts Book Awards. Her upcoming psychological suspense Hold Me Down returns to the music world, focusing on PTSD and recovery, as well as love in all its forms. New York Times bestselling thriller queen Lisa Unger calls Hold Me Down “provocative, moving, and suspenseful,” while New York Times bestseller Caroline Leavitt says “this devastatingly powerful mystery hits you like a punch in the heart.” Clea can be reached at www.cleasimon.com or @Clea_Simon on Twitter.