Midweek Mystery: The Corpse with the Iron Will by Cathy Ace

Welsh criminal psychologist and globetrotting sleuth, Cait Morgan, and her retired-cop husband Bud Anderson, are enjoying some well-deserved peace and quiet at home, in moody, mountainous British Columbia. The sudden death of a neighbor is a significant loss for them both, so Cait’s honored when Gordy Krantz’s “unusual” will requests that she eulogize him at his memorial.

However, delving into the dead man’s background becomes a pressing priority when a puzzling theft, and some surprising discoveries, put our favourite sleuths on high alert. Might someone living in their seemingly tight-knit – and certainly off-beat – rural community have wanted their neighbor dead? And if so, are more people they know at risk?

The tenth Cait Morgan Mystery from Bony Blithe Award-winning author Cathy Ace, The Corpse with the Iron Will, forces Cait and Bud to use the skills they’ve honed tackling cases around the world to unmask a killer who’s too close to home for comfort!

About the Author

Cathy Ace

Cathy Ace

The Cait Morgan Mysteries

Born and raised in Wales, now-Canadian Cathy Ace is the author of the Cait Morgan Mysteries, featuring her Welsh Canadian criminology professor sleuth who travels the world tripping over corpses, and The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries, featuring a quartet of female PIs, working from a Welsh stately home. Both series are traditional, entertaining, and have been well reviewed.
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New from Cathy Ace: The Wrong Boy

The Bard, 1774, by Welsh artist Thomas Jones. Oil on Canvas, now belonging to the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff

Perched on a Welsh clifftop, the ancient, picturesque hamlet of Rhosddraig has its peaceful façade ripped apart when human remains are discovered under a pile of stones. The village pub, The Dragon’s Head, run by three generations of women, becomes the focal point for those interested in the grisly find, and it’s where layers of deceit are peeled away to expose old secrets, and deep wounds. The police need to establish who died, how, and why, but DI Evan Glover knows he can’t be involved in the investigation, because he’s just two days away from retirement. However, as the case develops in unexpected ways, it becomes irrevocably woven into his life, and the lives of local families, leading to disturbing revelations – and deadly consequences . . .

Enter to win a print copy of The Wrong Boy.
 


About The Author  

Born and raised in Wales, now-Canadian Cathy Ace is the author of the Cait Morgan Mysteries, featuring her Welsh Canadian criminology professor sleuth who travels the world tripping over corpses, and The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries, featuring a quartet of female PIs, working from a Welsh stately home. Both series are traditional, entertaining, and have been well reviewed.

Website | Facebook  | Twitter | GoodReads|  Amazon | Kobo

Featured image: The Bard, 1774, by Welsh artist Thomas Jones. 

Guest Post and #Giveaway: Cathy Ace, author of The Corpse with the Ruby Lips, talks travel

>>>Enter to win one of two signed paperback copies of The Corpse with the Ruby Lips<<<

AROUND THE WORLD WITH CAIT MORGAN

Thanks for having me along today – it’s good to be here, and to have the chance to talk about something that’s close to my heart…travel!
For those who don’t know my Cait Morgan Mysteries, they might be unaware that each book takes place in a different country. The eighth book in the series is just due to be published, and, in THE CORPSE WITH THE RUBY LIPS, our indefatigable (if somewhat quirky) professor of criminal psychology Cait Morgan finds herself teaching a semester of special courses at the Hungarian University of Budapest. Budapest is a city that calls to many people, not least because of the fabulous way it’s featured in all those breathtaking shots we see of the locations to which Viking River Cruises can take us as we settle down to watch Masterpiece Mystery each week (you do do that, don’t you?).
For me it’s more than a series of picture postcards – I worked in Budapest for a couple of weeks, three or four times each year for about half a dozen years, and grew to love the place. It’s got a lot going on below the surface splendor of spectacular architecture, the magnificence of the Danube rippling through its heart and the almost-constantly-present sound of music wafting from concert halls, bars and restaurants. As – to be fair – most places do. But, in Budapest, all that beauty hides a dark past…a theme I develop in this book.
As for Cait’s other trips, she’s always followed in my footsteps: I used to live in the south of France, so Cait’s first book, THE CORPSE WITH THE SILVER TONGUE, was set in Nice…with the murder of the titular corpse taking place in the apartment of a couple of friends of mine (with their permission, I “borrowed” it!). Then I brought her closer to my current home and used my many jaunts to British Columbia’s wine country – just a few hours from my house – as inspiration for THE CORPSE WITH THE GOLDEN NOSE, which featured the suicided (or was it?) of a world-famous vintner. Then I sent Cait to the Pacific coast of Mexico in THE CORPSE WITH THE EMERALD THUMB, where I enjoyed dreaming up a make-believe resort near one of my favorite Places, Puerto Vallarta, followed by a trip to Vegas in THE CORPSE WITH THE PLATINUM HAIR, where I had even more fun “building” my very own casino and hotel. Trust me, if anyone in Nevada wants to truly create the Tsar! Casino, I’m all in. After that, I took Cait back to her – and my – Homeland….Wales in THE CORPSE WITH THE SAPPHIRE EYES, where she enjoyed (?) a long weekend in a spooky castle set on top of a cliff, in a storm. It was a delight to introduce readers to the place where I, and my leading lady, are from. Following that, I packed Cait and Bud off on a cruise around the Hawai’ian Islands in THE CORPSE WITH THE DIAMOND HAND…from which they returned having solved a puzzling murder mystery, and with a love of the Islands they “inherited” from me (I was married at the home of a good friend in Honolulu, and I’m very much looking forward to returning in March 2017 when I’ll be attending the Left Coast Crime convention). Recently Cait’s been in Europe – first of all in Amsterdam, in THE CORPSE WITH THE GARNET FACE, which is another city where I’ve worked for months on end in the past (and, incidentally, where I got engaged), And now she’s in Hungary.
Cait’s racked up quite a few air miles, as have I, over the years, and all I can do for now is wonder where she’ll go next. Maybe she’ll be happy to stay at home for a while…but once that travel bug bites, it’s hard to resist.



Cathy Ace’s latest Cait Morgan mystery is The Corpse with the Ruby Lips.
Quirky criminology professor Cait Morgan is invited to be a guest lecturer at a Budapest university, and although she’s hesitant to go without her husband and trusted sidekick, Bud, who must stay home to care for his aging parents, she decides to make the month-long trip on her own.
Soon after arriving, one of her new students, Zsofia, pleads with Cait to help her uncover any clues about her grandmother’s unsolved murder, which happened decades ago on the campus of Cait’s own home university in Canada. Cait agrees, but when she is repeatedly hassled by an creepy colleague, and as bizarre details about Zsofia’s family members come to light, Cait is beset by uncertainty.
As she gets closer to the truth, Cait’s investigation puts the powers-that-be on high alert, and her instincts tell her she’s in grave danger. Bud races to Budapest to come to Cait’s side, but will it be too late?


 
About The Author  
Cathy Ace
Originally from Wales, now-Canadian Cathy Ace writes the Cait Morgan Mysteries. Her series has found her criminal psychologist, foodie sleuth stumbling upon Corpses with a Silver Tongue, a Golden Nose, an Emerald Thumb, Platinum Hair, Sapphire Eyes and, now, a Diamond Hand during her globetrotting. The winner of The Bony Blithe Award for Best Light Mystery in 2015, when not helping Cait solve traditional, closed-circle mysteries, Cathy’s a keen gardener, ably assisted by her green-pawed chocolate Labradors.
Keep up with Cathy


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No joke: We have a guest post from Cathy Ace today!

APRIL FOOL? NOT MY FRIEND!

Knowing I’m going to be visiting this site on April 1st has made me think of retirement. You might wonder why this would be the case…a good friend of mine thought it would be the best possible day to retire, so today she’ll turn up at her office for the last time, and celebrate the end of her working life with friends and family at a big party this evening. It’s the sort of pattern many of us have grown up expecting: I have vivid memories of the first day of my own father’s retirement – my sister, mother and I all enjoyed breakfast with him at the Savoy in London – a perfect way to start life as a retired person.

It’s made me wonder if I’ll ever “retire” from writing – and, if I do, how I would mark that decision. Writing is, as all writers would acknowledge, a solitary job. I am sitting here right now at my desk with my keyboard in front of me and my two chocolate Labradors at my side. They wouldn’t notice if I didn’t write any more – well, they might get a few more walks with “mum”, but that would be the only change in their daily lives. So there’d be no one to party with, no one to pat me on the back and thank me for a job well done, and my books would still be out there – with (hopefully) new readers discovering them all the time, regardless of whether I am still writing them or not.

The other thing about “retiring” from writing is that it’s hard to do. I often wonder if I only exist insofar as I write. Certainly my characters only exist because I keep inventing their daily lives, but me? Of course I could work harder in the garden, enjoy more time with my spouse (so long as he’s retired too, of course) or develop a hobby or two – but why? It might be that writing is a solitary job, but I’m doing it at home without the necessity for a commute, and I can work it around other responsibilities and duties. So why stop? Nope – I have to admit, I don’t see “retirement” on my horizon – but I am looking forward to celebrating the end of an illustrious career with a good friend tonight. April Fool’s Day? Not her – she’s made a decision to take a huge step, and I’ll be wishing her well as she takes it. Do you hope your favorite writers never retire.



Cathy Ace’s latest Cait Morgan mystery is The Corpse with the Garnet Face.
Cait’s husband Bud gets word that his elderly uncle has died–which wouldn’t be so unusual, except that Bud had always believed his mother was an only child. Cait and Bud travel to Amsterdam to settle Uncle Jonas’s affairs. Naturally, Jonas’s existence is only the first of many secrets remaining to be discovered.
Amsterdam comes alive on the pages of The Corpse with the Garnet Face, a bustling, colorful tourist destination that for Bud and Cait is layered with mystery, past loss, and present danger. Cait is an entertaining first-person narrator, stubborn and opinionated but likably self-aware. Bud is an amiable foil for her strong personality. The Corpse with the Garnet Face is one of those wonderful “just one more chapter before I go to sleep” books–it pulled me in and kept me hooked until the end.


 
About The Author  
Cathy Ace
Originally from Wales, now-Canadian Cathy Ace writes the Cait Morgan Mysteries. Her series has found her criminal psychologist, foodie sleuth stumbling upon Corpses with a Silver Tongue, a Golden Nose, an Emerald Thumb, Platinum Hair, Sapphire Eyes and, now, a Diamond Hand during her globetrotting. The winner of The Bony Blithe Award for Best Light Mystery in 2015, when not helping Cait solve traditional, closed-circle mysteries, Cathy’s a keen gardener, ably assisted by her green-pawed chocolate Labradors.
Keep up with Cathy


KEEP UP WITH PROMOTIONS, EVENTS, AND NEW RELEASES:

Blog  | Facebook  | GoodReads | LinkedIn | Twitter | Mailing List