I need a holiday. A vacation. I use both words. Being Welsh Canadian, I’m allowed.
In any case—I need a break. Fortunately, on Sunday morning Bud and I will be flying to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. YAY! We’re spending a week at an apartment about an hour from the airport, that’s being loaned to us by a colleague from Bud’s time as a homicide cop in Vancouver. I can hardly wait.
But first, I have to get through today, and it’s not going to be pleasant. I’ll explain. I’m a professor specializing in criminal psychology at the University of Vancouver, and I’ve just finished teaching an inter-sessional semester—which has all the work of a full-length semester squashed into half the time. I had a particularly tough group for the “Deviant criminal behavior: background and insights” course. Real criminals some of them. I kid you not.
I’ve never made it publicly known, but I have an eidetic memory, and I’m also very adept at reading people. I’ve used these abilities to help solve some puzzling murder cases in the past, but this semester, I’d noticed that one particular group dynamic in my class was “off” from the start—all popular, but lazy, kids working with one bright, diligent girl, who’s very much a loner. Not normal. For those of you who never went, or have chosen to forget, university is just like high school on steroids. Students categorize themselves, then don’t mix. It makes me smile sometimes—they think they’re being terribly independent in their style of dress, speech, and so forth, yet they’re all wearing “uniforms” that clearly mark them as a member of one group or another. Rebelliousness as tribal membership.
Back to today. I see plagiarism as theft. A crime. And no-one who’s as interested in justice as I am wants to see theft run rampant in their class. So I set a final report challenge that could only be be responded to in an original form, not pinched from the internet. I wondered how my target group would tackle it. I suspected they’d get their one bright member to do all the work, then copy her paper in such a way that they’d hide their theft. To be fair, given that there were eighty seven people taking the course, they could reasonably hope that I wouldn’t note any similarities. But that’s because they don’t know the real me, they just see a professor who’s there to be manipulated.
To cut a long story short, they bit. Two of them had done a pretty good job of covering their tracks, three hadn’t bothered much at all, and the poor girl who’d done all the work hadn’t written it up very well. Today they get their comeuppance.
They’ll be here any minute. They must have guessed what’s going to happen, and I dare say they’ll be developing their cover stories. But they won’t work. Not on me. The bright girl will be their weak link—I’ve already deduced that she’s been dragged into this situation against her will. I had a casual chat with her in the hall the other day and her body language was screaming at me that she wanted to tell me something, but didn’t dare. Her micro-expressions, her picked and nibbled fingers, the cold-sore she kept licking—they all spoke volumes about the stress she was under.
She was gripping her phone at the time. The screen saver behind the keypad showed a smoke-colored, long haired cat. I’ve spotted similar cat hairs on the clothing of one of the group members, and a couple of scratches on the neck of another. But the bright girl hasn’t had a single cat hair on her for weeks. I suspect the slackers are holding her cat, to make her do what they want. Cat-nappers, and thieves. Criminals.
Yes, grades matter that much, especially when parental pressure is applied, but no oversight provided. It should be an open and shut case. The bright girl will pass the course, the others will fail. I’ll make sure they return the cat. And if they want to duke it out with me in front of the departmental head, so be it. But not today. Nor next week.
Next week, I’ll be lying beside the pool at the Rocas Hermosas Resort near Punta de las Rocas, sipping something cold, with a little umbrella in it. Bud will be beside me, and we’ll be chatting about almost nothing, in the most wonderful way. At least, that’s the plan. I really hope nothing happens to spoil it—like I said, I need a break.
This is the first stop on the The Corpse with The Emerald Thumb Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour. For other stops on this tour, click HERE
You can find out how Cait’s break in Mexico works out in The Corpse with The Emerald Thumb, the third Cait Morgan Mystery, published by TouchWood Editions. The first book in the series is The Corpse with the Silver Tongue. Books are available at retail and online booksellers.
GIVEAWAY: Comment on this post by 6 p.m. EST on April 25, and you will be entered for a chance to win a copy of THE CORPSE WITH THE EMERALD THUMB. One winner will be chosen at random. Open to U.S. and Canadian residents only.
Meet the author
Welsh Canadian mystery author Cathy Ace is the creator of the Cait Morgan Mysteries, which include The Corpse with the Silver Tongue, The Corpse with the Golden Nose, and The Corpse with the Emerald Thumb. 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. Cathy’s website can be found at www.cathyace.com. Follow her on Twitter, or on Facebook.
Follow dru’s book musing on Facebook for book giveaways, contests, posting about discounted books and some of my reading musings.
I enjoyed Silver Tongue. I look foreword to Cait’s Adventures.
This book sounds great, can’t wait to read it
Sounds like a series to put on my list! Thanks
This looks fantastic. Just sent info to my CSI cousin who’d love it
Enjoyed Cait’s post and her careful observations! Thanks for the chance to win a new to me read!
This sounds like a great beginning. Thanks for the chance to win.
This book sounds really good.
A new to me series. Sounds intriguing!
Oh, I really need to know what happens with the students and the cat!
Thanks for all the great comments. I am so glad you guys seem to be intrigued by Cait and her methods. Here’s hoping you enjoy the books in which she appears! 🙂 Good luck with the draw!
What an amazing introduction – and the premise is perfect. The competition for grades can be brutal.
I really enjoyed Golden Nose. Mystery novels aren’t my usual cup of tea but I found myself enjoying the process of reading it. Cannot wait to get my hands on this one 🙂
I’ve enjoyed discovering Canadian mystery writers. All of them great and I have a feeling this is another winner. Thanks for the giveaway, Dru.
This is a fun and active blog comment thread! Thanks for showing up here and taking time to read this little mini-mystery for Cait Morgan!
THE CORPSE WITH THE EMERALD THUMB looks like my kind of read. Thanks for having this giveaway.
I have been checking into Cathy’s books and sure would love to read one of them. With spending so much time recovering now, reading is a definite blessing. This book sounds phenomenal. Thank you for the giveaway.
This is a new to me author and the book sounds wonderful. Just my cup of tea. Thanks for the chance to win.
I’d love to win this book and start on a new series.
sulefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
It sounds like a really great read. I would love to read it. Thanks for having the giveaway.
Dru’s clearly given me a great opportunity to connect with people who haven;t found my work yet. Thanks, Dru! Here’s hoping you all get to know Cait Morgan very soon! 🙂
I love the cover on this book! I’ve never read this series and would love to start with this book! Thank yuo!
Really enjoyed the first two and meeting Cathy in Monterey last monthly. Can’t wait to read this one and the next…..three!
Thanks, I love the covers, too, Carol. Hey, KSue – fancy meeting you here as well! So glad you enjoyed the first two…here we go with the next one!
I want to go to Mexico with you.
I would love to win.
kaye.killgore@comcast.net
another new to me series/author!!!
thank you!!
The Corpse with the Emerald Thumb sounds great. Thank you for the giveaway.
Sounds like a winner, would love to read it.
It’s great to meet so many of Dru Ann’s blog followers here, and to see so many names I am familiar with from my own Facebook pages…thanks for all the support, and here’s hoping that, even if you don;t win the free copy, you’ll consider joining Cait Morgan (and me!) in Mexico via the pages of this book 🙂
thanks Cathy for sharing Cait’s story with me and my readers.
contest is closed.