Cathy Ace is doing a Prelease Tour of the latest in the Cait Morgan Series, THE CORPSE WITH THE PLATINUM HAIR, with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. I am very pleased she is kicking the tour off here, today, and has a guest post for us (be sure and check for the giveaway below)… Take it away Cathy.
It’s great to have the chance to visit again, but I’m very aware that, this time, I don’t have Kate “holding my hand”! That’s what being interviewed feels like, to me—the structure is set by the interviewer, so I am free to chat around a theme, so to speak. This time, it’s a “Guest Post” which, to this author, are two words that strike terror in my heart. You see, to be perfectly honest, I’m not convinced that either I or my life are terribly interesting, so coming up with a topic is always a challenge.
So I’ve picked a topic I’m familiar with, and which I hope will interest others: Vegas, baby, Vegas! Okay, it’s not a stretch—THE CORPSE WITH THE PLATINUM HAIR is the fourth Cait Morgan Mystery and it’s pre-ordering now (ready to hit your bookshelf in October) and, yes, it’s set in Vegas. Now, there are a lot of books set in Sin City—hardly surprising given its reputation for criminal activity (and a particularly popular CSI team!)—so I admit I was in two minds about walking along this well-trod path with Cait. But I admit I have a bit of a thing for Vegas, so I decided to risk it, but to try to “Do It My Way” (first of the obligatory Frank Sinatra references!). You know what I mean—like those houses they have in real-estate “shopping” shows where the innocent potential purchasers are told that by having to repaint the whole place and knock down a few walls they can “put their own stamp on it”? Yes, that’s what I mean.
So I’ll ‘fess-up: my husband and I visit Vegas about half a dozen times a year. Yes, I know it sounds like a lot, and it probably is, but we only go for weekends, and it’s just over a two-hour flight away from Vancouver, so it’s very d-able and, when I get there—nothing! I don’t have to think, or even function much. The shows are exceptional, and my OH and I are great fans of stand-up comedy, so we take the opportunity to see some of the best in the world, up-close and personal, on the wonderful, intimate, Vegas stages. But it’s the food that calls to us! Vegas used to be about the gambling, now it’s about the food. Many of the world’s top restaurants are on The Strip in Vegas. Many of the world’s top chefs work there, have restaurants there, and train tomorrow’s top chefs there too. Ingredients are flown in from around the world, and there seems to be NOTHING you cannot have, if your pockets are deep enough, and your desires wide enough. But we don’t live like that, and you don’t have to to enjoy the Vegas we enjoy. A lazy Saturday poolside, followed by a wash and brush up for pre-show drinks, then the mind boggling spectacle we’ve chosen, then, inevitably, a late dinner. Followed by a few more drinks, to allow dinner to be digested, of course. Yes, they turn into late nights, but that’s not the end of the world, because we can start the next day slowly, revitalize at the pool again, then…well, okay, repeat, sans show.
Two days together of indulgence in the sun. Two days together lying at the pool hearing “music”, where every word is unintelligible, and which we know we’re at least three decades too old to attempt to “shake a leg” to. Two days of sipping a martini, or a glass of champagne (maybe both?) beneath the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, watching the fountains dance to the sound of Catherine Zeta Jones (another Swansea girl, like me) belting out “All That Jazz”, then savoring duck confit, skate wing, and white chocolate bread pudding. Two days of giggling at the mini-Elvis chatting up a girl in a “Hello Kitty” outfit, as Darth Vader wanders by, his giant helmet under his arm as he prepares to catch the bus back home after his on-Strip shift. Two days wondering if the young man with the drink shaped like an electric guitar (so big it requires a strap to attach it to its drinker) managed to make it back to his hotel at all, and puzzling over why the girls bother to wear heels so high they have to take then off and carry them after about ten minutes.
My favourite hobby in life is “Watching the world go by”. I promise you there is nowhere better to do this than in Vegas. And, oh my, what a world it is! Of course, if you want to find out what’s below that skin, if you want to understand what it’s like to live your life in a city that never, ever sleeps, then you might want to join Cait Morgan and Bud Anderson for Bud’s birthday celebrations in Vegas, when he gets to eat at an exclusive, private dining room…and when Cait gets to work out which person locked into that restaurant with her and Bud killed the casino owner. THE CORPSE WITH THE PLATINUM HAIR will peel back the rhinestone-encrusted velour, but it might reveal a different Vegas than the one you expect. It’s the Vegas I have spent ten years coming to know, a Vegas where people earn a living honestly…but then, well, it is a murder mystery, so I won’t say too much!
GIVEAWAY
Cathy is giving away two print copies of THE CORPSE WITH THE PLATINUM HAIR. For a chance to win, leave a comment for Cathy, below, then go HERE.
BLURB
“Look! Somebody’s skewered Miss Shirley to her seat with a silver saber.”
When Cait Morgan arrives in Las Vegas, her only plans are to celebrate a birthday with Bud, her significant other. But then Miss Shirley—a casino owner better known as the “Queen of the Vegas Strip”—is murdered during Bud’s birthday feast. A security lockdown seals Cait and Bud in a private dining room with a corpse, an unidentified murderer, and a group of nervous, potential victims.
As the bodies pile up and tensions mount, Cait’s list of suspects dwindles. Fearing for her life and for Bud’s, Cait knows she must
solve the mystery. But can she reveal the killer before she, too, is mercilessly murdered?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Originally from Wales, now-Canadian Cathy Ace writes the Cait Morgan Mysteries. In The Corpse with the Silver Tongue her foodie criminologist sleuthed in the south of France. The Corpse with the Golden Nose found Cait sniffing out a killer in BC’s vineyards. The Corpse with the Emerald Thumb met her when she was meddling in murders in Mexico. This time Cait is caught up in a true closed-room mystery in a classy casino restaurant in Las Vegas. When not helping Cait solve traditional, closed-circle mysteries, Cathy’s a keen gardener, ably assisted by her green-pawed chocolate Labradors.
Website: www.cathyace.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathy-Ace-Author/318388861616661
Twitter: @AceCathy
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3913679.Cathy_Ace
MY REVIEW
What can I say? Ms. Ace clearly cannot write a bad book. I loved it. I enjoyed the deeper look at the “process” Cait uses with her eidetic memory – I LOL at the humming, especially in the toilet (for no particular reason, know no one who does that). And I just plain enjoy Cait – a woman of a certain age who likes good food, a cup of tea, a good drink, smoking, carries a few extra pounds (once again, no particular reason LOL). And in this visit with Cait we have a true locked room mystery. The victim, the murderer as well as all the suspects, are all locked in a room along with Cait and Bud – for quite a while. Go preorder this one because you are really going to love it too. ♥♥♥♥♥
TOUR PARTICIPANTS
September 1 – rantin’ ravin’ and reading – Review, Guest Post
September 2 – MysteriesEtc – Review
September 3 – Kelly P’s Blog – Interview
September 4 – Queen of All She Reads – Review
September 5 – Shelley’s Book Case – Review
September 6 – Community Bookstop – Review
September 7 – Cozy Up With Kathy – Interview
September 7 – Brooke Blogs – Review
September 8 – Melina’s Book Blog – Guest Post
September 9 – Dalene’s Book Reviews – Review,
September 10 – dru’s book musing – Guest Post
Kate Eileen Shannon 