Hello there, pleased to meet you. The name’s John Silver and. . .ha, ha, I haven’t heard that one before. I am, indeed, quite tall. . .so, yes, you might think of me as “Long John Silver”. Very amusing.

Anyway, welcome to my home here in Pimlico, on the delightful Chelsea Embankment in London. Excuse the mess – I’m in a bit of a tizzy at the moment, because I have a couple of chums from Canada coming to visit, and the chaps who live in the house at the end of the terrace – Vinnie and Vaseem – are just putting the finishing touches on decorating the guest room, so things are a little higgledy-piggledy. But I have no doubt it’ll all be ship-shape by the time they arrive.

Who’s coming? A sometime-colleague, and his wife. Bud Anderson’s a wonderful chap – retired now, properly speaking, but I’ve worked with him on a few occasions over the years. Used to be a homicide detective in Vancouver, then headed up an international gang task force.

What do I do? Hmm. . .it’s best I just say that I act as a liaison between, well, let’s call them “international intelligence-gathering agencies” shall we? Any more would be – well, you know what they say…if I told you, I’d have to kill you. Pardon? No, not literally, of course. One would never. . .well, not unless one was in extremis. Thank you. I’m glad you understand.

Bud’s wife? She’s a professor of criminal psychology. Welshwoman, name of Cait Morgan. Oh, you’ve heard of her, have you? Yes, she’s known for it. No, not sticking her nose in. . .investigating puzzling crimes which seem to – well, alright then, let’s just admit death seems to follow her wherever she goes. But not this time. This time Bud and Cait are coming to London to meet my fiancée, Bella Quiller. I can’t wait for them to get to know her. Lovely girl. Well, woman, of course, She’s not quite as long in the tooth as I am – there’s a decent gap of five years between us, so she’s only in her mid-fifties, and a damned attractive woman. Accomplished, too. She’s a goldsmith, you know. Her background? Comes from a family that’s well known here in the UK. Her brother is Charles A – you know, hairdresser to the stars – and her sister’s made quite a name for herself in the sort of public relations work that does a lot of lobbying of government. Both quite influential, in their own ways.

What Cait and Bud don’t know is that Bella and I have set a date for our wedding – we’re going to ask them to be our witnesses. But first they’ll have to meet the blushing bride, of course. Big family dinner at Bella and her sister’s house the evening Bud and Cait arrive, in fact. A big event? No, just a small soiree where we can all get to know each other better. I don’t expect there to be much of a fuss made. After all, I know Cait prefers a quiet time, and she’s got lots of visits to art galleries and some of her favorite restaurants planned during their time here, Bud tells me. So, no, she won’t have to do any investigating while she’s here in London; I am quite sure there won’t be any puzzling deaths during our time together.

Find out just how wrong – about so many things – John Silver is in The Corpse with the Granite Heart.

The Corpse with the Granite Heart, A Cait Morgan Mystery #11
Genre: Traditional
Release: November 2021
Purchase Link

Welsh Canadian criminal psychologist Cait Morgan, and her retired-cop husband Bud Anderson, are in London, England, to meet their friend John Silver’s freshly minted fiancée, the daughter of a recently deceased Shakespeare aficionado, and captain of industry. The trip is supposed to be filled with art galleries, good food, and Christmas spirit. However, an untimely death at a posh dinner party threatens to send shock waves through the upper strata of London society.

Cait and Bud’s desire to seek out the truth is blocked by a shadowy figure who’s been tasked with keeping the incident hush-hush, but – as the body-count rises – the investigation develops a dreadful momentum.

This is the eleventh Cait Morgan Mystery, and it finds our usually unstoppable duo running up against the immoveable machinery of power. . .with tragic consequences.

About the author
Cathy Ace is the author of the Cait Morgan Mysteries, the WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries, and the #1 amazon bestselling psychological suspense novel The Wrong Boy, Cathy was born and raised in Wales, but now lives in Canada. A Bony Blithe and IPPY Award winner, she’s also been shortlisted for an Arthur Ellis Award.

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