The Corpse with the Golden Nose by Cathy Ace

goldennoseThe Corpse with the Golden Nose by Cathy Ace
Genre: Traditional/Cozy Mystery
Published by: Touchwood Editions
Release Date: (March 12, 2013)
Number of Pages: 233
2nd in Series

A heartfelt plea to look into the death of a world-famous vintner goes hand in hand with the opportunity to attend an exclusive gourmet event in British Columbia’s stunning wine country. How can overindulgent foodie and criminologist Cait Morgan resist?

Sure that the award-winning owner of a family-run vineyard was murdered, Cait shares her findings with Bud Anderson, a retired homicide cop. But he is convinced that the woman took her own life, whatever her grief-stricken sister might say. That is, until death strikes once again, in the neat rows of grapevines that clamber up the banks of magnificent Lake Okanagan.

Uncovering obsessions that might have fuelled murderous thoughts among the victim’s wacky neighbours is a start, but as Cait unravels the clues, she realizes that more lives are at stake. Can she think, and act, quickly enough to thwart the killer?

The Corpse with the Golden Nose is the second book in the Cait Morgan Mysteries, a classic whodunit series featuring the eccentric Professor Cait Morgan.

My Review

After reading book 1 (check out my review HERE), I immediately dove into book 2. Cathy has a way of making Professor Cait Morgan extremely likeable and fun. Yet we can clearly see how smart she is. The mystery and the people and relationships are awesome. I loved the intrigue of going to a place full of vineyards to help solve a mystery. Really, if you love your cozy mysteries with a hint of action, this is it!

Guest Post

I am lucky enough to be hosting Cathy Ace here today. Thank you for dropping by, Cathy. Loved the books!

Cait Morgan Guest blog for Brooke Blogs – by Cathy Ace, July 2013
Cathy, on Cait . . . for a change!

I don’t write many blogs as “myself”, I usually write them as my character, Cait Morgan, professor of criminal psychology, foodie and sleuth. I suppose this might be because I believe she’s much more interesting than I am . . . which, when you think about it, is quite an odd way to feel about a character I’ve created. Or is it?

I’m frequently asked about the degree to which Cait “is” me. Well, she’s similar to me in terms of background—we were brought up on the same street, we’ve attended the same schools and university (we even both graduated in psychology), we’ve both worked in a marketing communications agency in London’s Soho, and we’ve both migrated from Wales to just outside Vancouver, in Canada. But we’re different too: when I started my own business, Cait took herself off to Cambridge to gain her Masters degree in criminology; she moved to British Columbia to become a professor of criminology at the fictitious University of Vancouver, whereas I moved here to teach marketing on the MBA course at the University of British Columbia, then at Simon Fraser University; her parents are both dead, I’m lucky enough to still have my Mum around; she’s always focused on her career to allow her to ignore the gaping hole that is her personal life, while I’m happily married.

So where’s the line between us? How does it get drawn?
Writing is a very solitary profession—this is a truism with which we are all familiar. Selling books is not. As an author, these days more than ever before—and whether one is self-published, or, as I am, traditionally published—you have to be prepared to reach out to readers to try to bring your characters and your tales to their attention. By writing guest blogs mainly from the point of view of my character, I’m taking as many chances as I can to fill out her personalityeven more for readers, with little insights that can’t appear in her books, because they would be tangential to the plot and would slow the story to a snail’s pace. My editor would jump all over me for that! Also, I tend to shy away from writing about me, because I don’t feel as though I am the important person in the relationship with the reader . . . I believe that my characters, and my plots, are why people read my books—readers want to spend time with Cait, not Cathy.

But then there comes a chance to speak as myself, and I take itbecause, sometimes, I need the opportunity to say “we’re similar, but not one and the same”. I think Cait is weaker than me, and stronger than me; she’s less experienced in some regards, but much more in others; she suffers some of my faults, and I’ve given her some that are all her own; she understands what it is to be a sharp, opinionated, short, round Welshwoman no longer living in Wales . . . where she’d be camouflaged amongst a host of other similar Welshwomen; I make sure that everything that Cait eats or drinks is something I can write about from personal experience (a sometimes yummy, sometimes yucky responsibility); I try to make her human, but don’t want to expose my own humanity too much.

Everything I write about Cait is weighed—I know she’ll grow and develop from book to book, but, because the wonderful world of fiction allows for one or two books a year to appear, but for Cait to have aged just a couple of months, if that, between her adventures, she can’t change too much, because people just don’t change that quickly. You know what I mean: we’ve all said “That’ll teach me!” about an experience, and we’ve vowed to have learned our lesson, but we rarely do . . . not straight away, in any case.

Cait’s like that—she has to be like that because I know her, and see her, as a living, breathing human being. She’s brilliant, but flawed; she’s doomed to make mistakes, the way we all do. But she’s also warm, and fragile—at least, she is to me. I see through her bombast and certainty, and I understand her burning desire for justice, even if it comes in an unusual guise. I just hope that those who read about Cait get to know the same person I do. She’s not everyone’s cup of tea—but then, who is? I know I’m not. So, yes, we’re alike in that sense too. Ultimately we’re alike in the one way that matters, I think—we both have a positive, optimistic outlook, and we try to have a “can do” attitude . . . oh yes . . . did I mention that we both once belonged to the Girl Guides?

About the Author

2cathyWelsh Canadian mystery author Cathy Ace is the creator of the Cait Morgan Mysteries, which include The Corpse with the Silver Tongue and The Corpse with the Golden Nose. Born, raised, and educated in Wales, Cathy enjoyed a successful career in marketing and training across Europe, before immigrating to Vancouver, Canada, where she taught on MBA and undergraduate marketing programs at various universities. Her eclectic tastes in art, music, food, and drink have been developed during her decades of extensive travel, which she continues whenever possible. Now a full-time author, Cathy’s short stories have appeared in multiple anthologies, as well as on BBC Radio 4. She and her husband are keen gardeners, who enjoy being helped out around their acreage by their green-pawed Labradors.

Links
Website: cathyace.com

Cathy Reads From Corpse With The Golden Nose.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cathy.ace.author?fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AceCathy

GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3913679.Cathy_Ace

The Corpse with the Silver Tongue (Cait Morgan Mystery) (Cait Morgan Mysteries)http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=dollycsthoug-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1927129095

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  1. Thanks for your kind words, Brooke. Thanks too for the chance to write about the line I draw between me and my protagonist.

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