‘The Corpse with the Steely Gaze’ by Cathy Ace

Published by Four Tails Publishing,
6 July 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-990550-66-9 (PB)

It is the summer term at the University of Vancouver, which means that there are less students than usual on the university campus. Professor of Criminal Psychology Cait Morgan is looking forward to teaching her course on victim advocacy and the judicial system, but she feels extremely grumpy when she arrives at the campus and discovers that she is unable to park anywhere near her office building. That part of the car park has been taken over by the large trailers used by a film company, which is using the university to make a new film. After making her way across the hot car park, Cait travels up in the lift and as she steps out, she encounters Sami, a member of the cleaning staff, who is in tears and close to hysteria. Sami declares that Cait must not go along the corridor to her office because it isn’t safe. Of course, Cait ignores Sami’s words and goes to investigate. Her attention is drawn to the office next to her own, which belongs to a senior member of the university staff who is away for the summer. When Cait enters the office, she finds Parm, a young member of the security staff, and on the floor is a dead man, dressed in what appears to be silver jogging trousers, although he is naked from the waist up. The man is an actor, known to his admiring public as Jayson Flyntt, who had originally been Jason Flynn, a name that is still used by his family and close friends. As Jayson he had achieved stardom in a long-running soap called The Harding Life, in which he had won legions of female admirers who were captivated by his remarkable eyes and his trick of looking up with a steely gaze. 

After his character in the soap was killed off, Jason had invested some of his money in helping to produce a science fiction film, in which he stars, part of which is being filmed at the university. At first Jason’s death seems incomprehensible. Although he had an alcohol abuse problem as a young man, he cleaned up his act and is believed to have been sober for many years. When the post-mortem reveals that Jason died of an overdose most people assume that the drugs found in his system were self-administered, however, nobody can work out how he took them within the relevant time-scale, or why he should have done so when he had so much to live for, because Jason’s life appears to have been a ‘fairytale’ success story. He and Stevie, an actor friend who had been at school with Jason, had both achieved stardom: Jason in the television series, while Stevie became a film star. However, Stevie had not handled fame well. He sunk into wild excess and died young, but Jason has married happily and has children. 

As a criminal psychologist, Cait is intrigued by the case and asks her husband, Bud, a retired detective, to ask his police colleagues about the background of Jason, his wife, Marsha, and several of the filmmakers who have been working with Jason. Soon Cait and Bud are probing through Jason’s relationship with his film colleagues and his wife, as well as exploring Jason’s past and what happened following Stevie’s death. 

As Cait digs deeper, she discovers several different layers of reality viewed through the perspectives of the people she interacts with. There is the cleverly constructed pretence of the film and filmmakers, which impresses Cait with its skill. Alongside this is the image that Jason and his advisors had created to appeal to his fans, which includes his generous charity donations. Within these layers there are deeper, stranger ones that Cait finds uncomfortable to cope with. Sami believes that she can sense that Jason’s spirit is unquiet and wishes to consult the shaman in her uncle’s village, and Marsha also claims that Jason is trying to communicate with her after death and even holds two seances to try to reach him. This psychic element unsettles Cait and leads her to attempt unconventional and potentially risky tactics in her determination to uncover the truth. 

The Corpse With the Steely Gaze is the sixteenth book featuring Cait Morgan and Bud Anderson and it combines Cait’s familiar working life as a lecturer and Criminal Psychologist with the unfamiliar background of the world of film making, which is described in fascinating detail. Cait and Bud are engaging protagonists, and Cait is a delightful narrator, never belittling the seriousness of the crime and warmly protective of the more vulnerable suspects, but also determined to discover the truth and describing her experiences with her customary wry humour. This is an interesting and enjoyable book which I recommend.
--------
Reviewer: Carol Westron  

Cathy Ace was born and raised in Swansea, South Wales. With a successful career in marketing having given her the chance to write training courses and textbooks, Cathy has now finally turned her attention to her real passion: crime fiction. Her short stories have appeared in multiple anthologies. Two of her works, Dear George and Domestic Violence, have also been produced by Jarvis & Ayres Productions as ‘Afternoon Reading’ broadcasts for BBC Radio 4. Cathy now writes two series of traditional mysteries: The Cait Morgan Mysteries and The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries. She is a Past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada.

http://cathyace.com  

Carol Westron is a Golden Age expert who has written many articles on the subject and given papers at several conferences. She is the author of several series: contemporary detective stories and police procedurals, comedy crime and Victorian Murder Mysteries. Her most recent publications are Paddling in the Dead Sea and Delivering Lazarus, books 2 and 3 of the Galmouth Mysteries, the series which began with The Fragility of Poppies. Her most recent books is The Apples of Sodom.  

www.carolwestron.com