Sheila Simonson Books In Order

Publication Order of Clanross Books

Publication Order of Lark Dodge Books

Publication Order of Latouche County Mystery Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Sheila Simonson is a noteworthy author from America, who is famous for writing mystery, thriller, and romance authors. She has written around 15 novels in her career so far, of which 9 are mysteries and are divided into two series. Author hails from the Pacific Northwest and now resides in Vancouver, Washington. Prior to the start of the her writing career, author Simonson used to work as a history and English teacher, teaching college level students. Simonson was born in the year 1941 in Montana and was brought up in eastern Oregon. She completed her graduation from the Washington University and obtained her advanced degrees in the subjects of English and history from the Portland State and UW. Immediately after her graduation, she took a job as a teacher in at the Clark College located in Vancouver, Washington. Author Simonson has spent more than 30 years of her life in teaching, following which she retired and began writing full time. She has been married for over 40 years. Simonson sees her husband has a terrific man. She thinks that he is a great computer genius and photographer, and always looks to keep her happy. Author Simonson loves to be in the company of her son. He has a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Mugabe, whom author Simonson used as a model for developing the character of Towser in her book titled Buffalo Bill’s Defunct. Whenever author Simonson is not busy with her writing work or trying to beat the deadlines, she is seen getting indulged in traveling, reading, and cooking. Her tastes in book reading include all kinds of history, fiction, and archaeology. After establishing herself as a successful author, Simonson had a short stint in teaching science fiction, Irish history, fiction writing and a few other things. Author Simonson says that she misses the time when she was teaching mainly because of her students as she thinks that they were wonderful. As a child, Simonson grew up with 5 siblings, including 1 sister and 4 brothers. This had a greater impact on her fiction writing than her life experiences. She says that she enjoys the company of her siblings too and never misses a chance to meet them and spend some quality time with them.

Author Sheila Simonson has written a total of 3 novel series in her literary career. One of those is called as the Lark Dodge series. This series is comprised of 5 books in total, which were released between the years 1990 and 1997. All the books of this series feature the chief protagonist in the role of Lark Dodge, who is described by author Simonson as a bookseller living in Shoalwater, Washington. The debut book of the series is entitled ‘Larkspur’. It was released by the Worldwide Library publishers in the year 1990. The main characters of this book include Dark Lodge, Jay, Dai Llewellyn, Mark Dailey, etc. At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that Lark is about to spend a weekend at the lodge of poet Dai Llewellyn located in the mountains for the 4th July celebrations. Even though Dai is the mentor of Lark’s mother, she does not feel any enthusiasm about the upcoming event. Her detective boyfriend named Jay thinks that the proximity of pot farming is much more interesting. He selects the setting in a remote location in Sierra Lake for windsurfing and canoeing. None of them had expected that the celebrations would end in a murder

Dai Llewellyn collapses and dies during the event. The list of suspects in his murder includes ex-lovers, old friends, devoted servants, and a few enemies, all of whom were present at Dai’ party. It turns out that Dai was poisoned by larkspur. Jay is given the task of investigating the murder case and finding out the murderer. But, the investigation becomes complicated when a couple of witnesses get killed, followed by some bizarre embellishments. The circumstances indicate the killer is being driven by greed and madness. Later, Jay adds the names of a weekend guest and Lark’s charming clerk in the list of suspects. The thing that worries Lark more is that the life of her mother might be in danger, who has just arrived in town after the funeral in San Francisco. Lark suspects that the killer hates poet, which makes her mother a possible next target of the killer as she is the literary executor of Llewellyn. Mary Dailey wonders why her co-executor wants to control the relics of the past of Dai Llewellyn. Later, the survivors gather to honor Mary Dailey, which Lark crashes in time and prevents another poisoning. But, she is still not sure who the killer is and this is why the danger to her mother’s life still exists. In order to make sure that no more murders happen around them, Jay and Lark need to catch the killer as soon as possible.

The second installment of the series is called ‘Skylark’. It was published in 2000 by the St Martin’s Press, after its first release in 1992. Author Simonson has set this book’s story in London and has depicted the main characters in this book as Ann Veryn, Jay, Milos Vlacek, and Lark Dodge. At the beginning of the story of the book, it is depicted that Lark visits London to attend a conference of booksellers. There, she shares a tiny flat with an English teacher named Ann Veryn. As Ann is from Georgia and has come to London first time in her life, she indulges herself in exploring the city, while Lark keeps herself busy in collectible books. The two ladies become friends with a Czech refugee named Milos Vlacek, who works as a waiter in the conference hotel. While returning from work, Milos gets stabbed near the Underground metro and suffers grave injuries. A few minutes before his murder, he had handed over a manuscript to Ann Veryn. As Lark is in a foreign country, she could not take part in the investigation. Therefore, she sends for Jay, who has now become her husband, to look into the matter as he was also in London for attending a police conference. In the meantime, Lark sends a copy of Milos’ manuscript to her dad, who helps her in getting it translated from one of his colleagues. Lark hopes that Milos recovers quickly and tells her more about the manuscript and his stabbing. Shortly after, the landlady of Lark gets killed. This makes the London police suspects that Ann and Lark have something to do with it. Jay arrives and begins investigating privately. The case intensifies when Jay learns that Milos has disappeared. He was still in a critical condition. Ann, Jay, and Lark decide to venture into the countryside of England to look for Milos and get the answers to all their questions from him. But, they fear that there might be explosive consequences as they are in a foreign country.

One Response to “Sheila Simonson”

1. Nicholas Manwell: 2 years ago

   I love your books ! I need to buy some soon….
   ……also thank you for your wonderful teaching at Clark College many years ago!
   I hope you are enjoying the sunshine!

   Reply