The Corpse with the Emerald Thumb by Cathy Ace is the third book in the “Cait Morgan” mystery series. Publisher: TouchWood Editions, April 2014

Criminologist and foodie Cait Morgan was looking forward to her dream vacation in Mexico with her boyfriend Bud Anderson. She wasn’t anticipating a fresh corpse on the floor of a local florist’s shop, and she definitely wasn’t expecting Bud to become the prime suspect.

With Bud’s freedom, and maybe even his life, at stake, Cait has to fight the clock to work out which member of the small community living in the seemingly idyllic municipality of Punta de las Rocas might have killed the locally respected florist, and why. Needing to investigate under the watchful gaze of the local police, Cait has to keep her relationship with Bud a secret, and she soon discovers she’s not the only one with something to hide. Peeling back layers of deceit to reveal even more puzzles, Cait struggles with a creeping sense of unreality, desperate to save Bud . . . and, ultimately, herself.

In the third book in the beloved Cait Morgan Mysteries, The Corpse with the Emerald Thumb, travel to the idyllic Mexican countryside as Cait Morgan works against the clock to clear her wrongly accused partner of murder.

I like it. Cait is a strong and determined heroine who uses her surroundings and insights to pull all the pieces together to prove her boyfriend’s innocence and bring justice to a murdered woman, all while standing alone on a Mexico vacation. This fast-paced and adrenaline-rushed drama quickly became a page-turner and I could not put down this book until I knew how this intensifying adventure turned out. I liked how the story flowed from chapter to chapter giving us enough details in solving this puzzle. The author did a great job in providing an eclectic list of suspects with some twists and turns that caught me by surprise. The author’s narrative had me convinced that I was right there with Cait as she closed in on the killer in this wonderfully executed whodunit. This was very enjoyable and I look forward to the next adventure with Cait, which I know will be in Las Vegas.