Dulcie Schwartz Books in Order
Part ofClea Simon Books in OrderSee the Dulcie Schwartz books in order by Clea Simon, with summaries, series background, reading order, and simple where-to-start guidance.
Last updated: July 11, 2026
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Dulcie Schwartz books in publication order
10 books
Shades of Grey
by Clea Simon
2009
Harvard grad student Dulcie is grieving the loss of her cat Mr Grey when she finds her subletter murdered. A possible ghost, a hacking scandal, and a murder charge make her summer far worse.
Grey Matters
by Clea Simon
2010
Dulcie finds a fellow graduate student dead on her adviser's front steps just as her thesis problems are piling up. With her mother's ominous dreams and little help from her cats, she is forced into another dangerous investigation.
Grey Zone
by Clea Simon
2011
Midterms are bad enough before a student goes missing and a professor ends up dead. Dulcie's thesis, her mischievous kitten, and the ghost of Mr Grey all collide in a case full of campus secrets.
Grey Expectations
by Clea Simon
2012
A missing rare book kicks off a messy case involving murder, academic fraud, and bad timing for Dulcie. With even her feline allies distracted, she has to rely on her own wits more than ever.
True Grey
by Clea Simon
2012
Dulcie's academic rival is threatening her thesis, and then turns up dead soon after Dulcie joked about killing her. Nightmares, suspicion, and cryptic help from Mr Grey leave Dulcie fighting for both her work and her freedom.
Grey Dawn
by Clea Simon
2013
Late at night, Dulcie hears what sounds like a wolf and sees something deeply unsettling on campus. By morning a woman who looks like her has been brutally attacked, and the case turns eerier from there.
Grey Howl
by Clea Simon
2014
A major literature conference should be good for Dulcie's career, until a paper is sabotaged and a visiting professor vanishes. Academic egos, strange sightings, and a crowded field of rivals make this campus case especially knotty.
Stages of Grey
by Clea Simon
2014
A night at an experimental theater turns grim when an actress is found murdered after the show. Dulcie has to navigate backstage rivalries, money troubles, and performance tricks while a cat mascot prowls the edges of the mystery.
Code Grey
by Clea Simon
2015
Spring break leaves Cambridge quiet, but Dulcie cannot ignore an injured former student clutching a valuable missing book. As he becomes the prime suspect in local break-ins, her Gothic research starts pointing toward something far more dangerous.
Into the Grey
by Clea Simon
2016
After saying she could kill Professor Fenderby, Dulcie is horrified to find him dead in his office. With her scholarship under attack and suspicion closing in, she has to clear her name before the case wrecks her future.
Dulcie Schwartz books in chronological order
Shades of Grey
by Clea Simon
2009Dulcie Schwartz, Book 1
Grey Matters
by Clea Simon
2010Dulcie Schwartz, Book 2
Grey Zone
by Clea Simon
2011Dulcie Schwartz, Book 3
Grey Expectations
by Clea Simon
2012Dulcie Schwartz, Book 4
True Grey
by Clea Simon
2012Dulcie Schwartz, Book 5
Grey Dawn
by Clea Simon
2013Dulcie Schwartz, Book 6
Grey Howl
by Clea Simon
2014Dulcie Schwartz, Book 7
Stages of Grey
by Clea Simon
2014Dulcie Schwartz, Book 8
Code Grey
by Clea Simon
2015Dulcie Schwartz, Book 9
Into the Grey
by Clea Simon
2016Dulcie Schwartz, Book 10
Series background & context
Dulcie Schwartz is a Harvard graduate student whose chosen field, Gothic literature of the 1790s, tells you almost everything you need to know about this series. She is bookish, anxious, observant, and a little more open to the uncanny than she might admit out loud. When the books begin, she is grieving the loss of her cat Mr Grey. Then Mr Grey starts appearing to her, and the series settles into its signature blend of campus mystery and gentle paranormal unease.
The academic setting is not just decoration. Department offices, libraries, conferences, classrooms, theaters, and Cambridge streets all matter to the way these mysteries work. Simon clearly enjoys the politics of scholarship, the quiet feuds between advisers and students, and the strange pressure of trying to build a serious life while barely holding your own together. Dulcie's research life keeps moving forward even as bodies keep turning up around her.
Mr Grey is not the only feline presence for long. As the series continues, Dulcie also has to contend with kitten energy, cryptic warnings, and the fact that cats are not always interested in helping on a human timetable. That gives the books a soft supernatural layer without changing their basic shape. They are still whodunits. Dulcie has to notice patterns, sort through rivalries, and ask the awkward questions.
From Shades of Grey through Into the Grey, the crimes stay tied to Dulcie's world. Dead roommates, attacked colleagues, missing books, sabotaged conferences, vicious academic rivals, and unsettling late-night encounters all grow naturally from university life. Her boyfriend Chris, her mother, her advisers, and her fellow scholars recur often enough that the series develops a real sense of community. That is part of the pleasure. You are not just following cases. You are watching Dulcie's life take shape under pressure.
It is a cozy series, but it likes ideas.
Simon uses Gothic echoes, dreams, and ghostly hints to deepen the mood, not to overpower the plot. The tone stays humane, thoughtful, and sometimes funny, especially when academic vanity collides with everyday cat behavior. If you like mysteries that care about books and scholarship as much as clues, Dulcie is a very good guide.
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.
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