3 June 2021.
ISBN: 978-1-9992230-7-6 (PB)Criminal Psychologist Cait Morgan and her husband, Bud, are very content in their new home in British Columbia. They love the isolation of the beautiful mountain and are happy to assist their only near neighbour, ninety-three year old Gordy Krantz, who has recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. The story opens early one morning, when Bud goes across to check on Gordy and finds him dead. Cait is desperately sad to lose a person who has become a dear friend, and she knows that she will miss the lively debates she and Gordy shared, and even miss the way he teased her about her Welsh accent. Also, both she and Bud, a retired cop, are concerned about the manner of Gordy’s death; although he was frail, nobody had expected him to die so soon.
Gordy’s solicitors ask Cait and Bud to attend the reading of his will and they find themselves in a large room with an eclectic group of fellow local residents, all of whom have had some connection with Gordy. Some of the people present knew him long ago and others have interacted with him more recently. Instead of reading a single official will, the solicitors give each of the attendees an individual letter, written by Gordy, which gives them advice and asks them to perform a task. Bud is asked to clear out and then burn the old abandoned cabin that Gordy had once lived in. Cait is requested to write and deliver the eulogy at his memorial. As she considers how to approach this duty, she realises that Gordy wants her to use her investigative skills to uncover the secrets of his long and eventful life. She recognises that this will also give her an excuse to probe further into Gordy’s sudden death. To write the eulogy, Cait has to talk to the other people who have received letters and she is surprised by the differing viewpoints of Gordy that she is offered.
As Cait struggles to make sense of Gordy’s past and the contradictory accounts of his character that she has received, she and Bud also have to deal with some odd happenings, including surreptitious attempts to enter Gordy’s property; a very strange theft; and above all the suspicion surrounding Gordy’s death. Discovering the truth requires all of their combined expertise and challenges many of the facts they thought they knew about Gordy and some other local inhabitants.
The Corpse with The Iron Will is the tenth in the series featuring globe-trotting sleuth Cait
Morgan but it works well as a stand-alone story, with the necessary backstory
skilfully inserted. The plot is cleverly constructed and the characters are
engaging and vividly portrayed, especially Cait who, despite her academic
achievements, still reaches back to her Welsh heritage and the comfort of a
nice cup of tea. This is a very enjoyable read, which I recommend.
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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 (TouchWood Editions) and The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries (Severn House Publishers)
Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher. Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times. Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 5 further mysteries. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. To read the interview click on the link below.
https://promotingcrime.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/carol-westron.html www.carolwestron.com
http://carolwestron.blogspot.co.uk/
To read a review of Carol latest book This Game of Ghosts click on the
title.
