In the south of France where hatred simmers in the heat, a man seemingly admired, and certainly feared, drops dead at a dinner party. All of the guests fall under suspicion, including Welsh-Canadian professor Cait Morgan. A criminologist who specializes in profiling victims, Cait sets out to solve the murder–and clear her name. Add to this the disappearance of an ancient Celtic gold collar said … ancient Celtic gold collar said to be cursed and there you have the ingredients for a Nicoise salad of death, secrets, and lies. Will Cait find the killer before she too falls victim to a murderer driven by a surprising and disturbing motive?
The Corpse with the Silver Tongue is the first in the Cait Morgan mystery series, a classic whodunit series featuring the eccentric Professor Cait Morgan.
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GREAT start to a series, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest. I listened to the Audible version of the book and it was narrated by the author who did a fantastic job. The mystery was nicely written, the setting was beautiful (the south of France!), and there’s room for many more adventures for Cait. Loved it – 5 stars!
Welsh woman who lives in Canada goes traveling overseas and gets involved in a Sherlock Holmes type mystery and I like how she keeps her head during dangerous situations.
When I reviewed And the Mountains Echoed a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that author Khaled Hosseini was a headline speaker at a conference I was attending. I did not mention that the conference was a kind of heaven for bibliophiles and that the exhibit hall was populated with publishers eagerly offering complimentary copies of their latest titles (and in more than a few cases advance copies of books to be published later this year). The Corpse with the Silver Tongue is one of the complimentary titles I picked up, with a promise to the publisher that I would post a review to a website of my choosing.
So…
Somewhat in the style of Agatha Christie, our detective, Cait Morgan – who is really a criminologist rather than a pure detective – happens to be in the south of France when an old acquaintance (a smooth talking former ad man whom Cait used to work for and now loathes) drops dead at the dinner table. As with many good mysteries, and this is a fine one, one death is never enough. Cait is then plunged headlong into the mystery surrounding an ancient Roman necklace that disappears almost exactly at the moment its owner meets his maker. Thus the crimes, suspense, and story all build.
The strongest aspect of this novel is the plot. At its height, it’s a gripping page turner, the outcome of which will not wait to be known. (I read more than one chapter from the backseat of a rush hour cab…and I’m normally prone to motion sickness!) In this way, it’s similar to Once We Were Brothers (the two mysteries also share a connection to World War II history) or Bury Your Dead. On the whole, however, I enjoyed Corpse less than either of those books. The reason is Cait Morgan. I found our criminologist/detective to be overly present, to the point of distracting from the story. This is especially true where the reader is privy to her private thoughts (such as the incessant refrain that she must lose weight or quit smoking – but probably won’t). Worse is Ace’s over-reliance on italics to emphasize a word a point. On certain pages I couldn’t help but count the number of italicized words, to the point of needing to go back and re-read the page to focus on what I’d missed with all my counting!
Worse than either of these faults – and the first one, especially, is not so different from some of the faults I identified with Once We Were Brothers – is Cait’s naivete, nay recklessness, at a key moment in the story. At that moment, she lost all credibility with me as either a criminologist or a detective and my patience – and interest – waned.
The Corpse with the Silver Tongue is author Cathy Ace’s debut novel. The actual mystery, as I said, was good. Perhaps like a fine wine, Ace will also grow better with age.
(This review was originally published at https://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2013/07/the-corpse-with-silver-tongue.html)
Cait Morgan has traveled to Nice to present a paper for a sick colleague when she runs into her former boss, Alistair Townsend. Unable to say no, she finds herself at a birthday party for Alistair’s wife that night. Dinner is ruined when Alistair drops dead at the table and the other guests start feeling sick. With the police looking at Cait, she needs to figure out what is really happening.
Cait is an interesting character because she has an excellent memory but a habit of judging others quickly. I did find myself annoyed by her at times, but that never lasted for long. The suspects make a strong cast as they have layers to them that Cait has to peal back before she can solve the crime. And the plot heads into some areas I wasn’t expecting that I found interesting. I had a couple of niggles with the climax, but they were minor.