DARING TO DREAM…THEN LIVING THE DREAM with CATHY ACE

 HALLIE EPHRON: Today I'm thrilled to welcome back a longtime friend of Jungle Red, Cathy Ace. We first hosted her back in (gulp) 2014 with her (was it her first??) Cait Morgan mystery set in **Vegas** -- a gutsy move for a Welsh(!) writer who was living in Canada. She's been on a roll ever since.

Today Cathy is back with fabulous news. The kind of news we mystery writers would kill for.

I'll let her tell you...

CATHY ACE: I wonder if you recall that song in the musical South Pacific which includes the lines: “...you gotta have a dream, if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true?”

It’s something I’ve been thinking about quite a lot recently, because the 14th Cait Morgan Mystery is set in Tahiti, in the south Pacific, where Cait can’t help but hum another song from the same musical while she’s in the shower washing her hair (I bet you know that song, right!?).

However, I think we have to admit that the extent to which our dreams become reality is often not something over which we have complete control. We can plan, we can do our best to make, and take, opportunities, we can act…but – sometimes – it seems as though Chance plays a part in our being able to take that final step and actually experience what was once no more than wishful thinking.

For example, as a bookish child growing up in a somewhat deprived area of a once-great Welsh port, I never thought I’d ever get to feel the sands of exotic Tahiti between my fingers, however much I dreamed and hoped I would.

But a chance to visit came along, and I took it…so I actually dipped my toes into the crystal waters of the south Pacific, and saw the stars in the southern skies. It was so much more than I had dreamed it would be…and that visit, and my subsequent ones, inspired me to write The Corpse with the Pearly Smile.

And now there’s another dream that’s starting to come to life for me.

I suspect that every author is asked the question: “Who would you choose to bring your characters to life on the screen?” It’s a question I know I’ve been asked ever since my first book was published in 2012…and this year it was announced that the talented Eve Myles (Keeping Faith, Torchwood, We Hunt Together) will be portraying Cait Morgan when Free@LastTV (Agatha Raisin) produces the TV adaptation of that first Cait Morgan Mystery, The Corpse with the Silver Tongue.

So how does it feel to live this dream?

Well, it hasn’t been a straightforward journey by any means: the books were optioned back in February 2020, and I think we all recall only too keenly what happened in March of that year. There were so many productions that had to be completed once TV shooting began again post-pandemic that our project was pushed back…and then there were a couple of strikes to contend with, so it wasn’t until May of 2024 that the official announcement about casting was made. I know everyone says that TV takes time, and now I understand what they mean.

This dream? Well, I’ve learned that getting excited about the prospect of something being “about to happen” can be draining…so I’m doing my best to only get excited when something has actually happened.

From the time of the initial discussions with the production company, I chose to be involved with the adaptation. I didn’t want to write the screenplay – it’s not something that’s within my realm of expertise, and I truly believed there’d be a better person to do the job. There was, and his name is Matthew Thomas (Marcella, Queens of Mystery, New Tricks). 

Now, obviously, this Welshwoman was delighted that a person with such a lovely, Welsh-sounding name was up for writing the screenplay, and you might imagine how thrilled I was to discover that Matthew is the son of the renowned Welsh author Leslie Thomas (The Virgin Soldiers, The Last Detective/Dangerous Davies) so the Welsh blood and the writing blood course through his veins. And I ADORE his screenplay – which excised all the right parts of the novel to create an adaptation that will run for two hours.

So we were off to a wonderful start. WOOT!

Then came the question of Cait. It was agreed that she’d be Welsh, because Cait is Welsh, and I am Welsh, and the casting of a Welshwoman was a hill upon which I was prepared to die…though I didn’t have to, because the wonderful producers completely agreed that Cait’s nationality would be honoured (with the extra vowel).

And Eve Myles is P.E.R.F.E.C.T. Not only is she an incredibly talented performer, but she’s also enthusiastic about the project. YAY! I’m thrilled, because there are relatively few working-class Welsh women portrayed on the screen (to be honest, almost none) and I wanted that to be the Cait that people “meet”, and Eve will do her proud.

As for Bud Anderson, Cait’s partner in life and crime? Well, the character is Canadian, he’s in his fifties, and he’s the person who keeps Cait tethered when she gets dangerously wrapped up in her own head, trying to work everything out. So…solid, dependable, and procedural (he’s a cop who’s recently moved up from overseeing a large homicide squad to a command role within an international gang-busting task force when we meet him in the first book).

Do I know who’ll portray him? Yes. But I’m sworn to secrecy until the papers are signed and The Announcement is made by those who are allowed to make it (the humble novel writer is not that person).

Then there are the locations: the book is set mainly in Nice, in the south of France, with a critical sub-plot running in British Columbia, Canada, and some Welsh asides. All three areas will be used for shooting the production, which is wonderful – the authenticity of the locations is critical in the books, and it will be in the TV adaptation – and I’m hoping I can snag a Hitchcockian appearance in at least one of the Canadian bits (I fear it’s unlikely I’ll be wafted away in a private jet to sip a glass of rosé in the background of a scene on the Cours Saleya in Nice…boo-hoo).

So living the dreams is…well, it’s wonderful, and I’m excited, and it all seems to be coming together (at last). I am determined to hang on for the entire ride…and I shall continue to dream, and take whatever opportunities arise. Because that sand in Tahiti feels wonderful, and the idea that my ninety-year-old mother might, after all, see her daughter’s characters on the screen is still there…still a hope, a dream, but now – more than ever – within grasp.

HALLIE: So Cathy leaves us with this question: What dreams have you seen come to fruition…and did they live up to your hopes?

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS: Cathy Ace FB: https://www.facebook.com/Cathy-Ace-Author-318388861616661 Cathy Ace website: http://www.cathyace.com/ Cathy Ace Twitter: https://twitter.com/AceCathy Cathy Ace Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cathyace1/

A Tenth Anniversary Post by Cathy Ace

 RHYS BOWEN: Cathy Ace is one of the most huggable people you'll ever meet. Of course as a fellow Welshwoman I have to think she's special but a lot of other people do too. So today I'm happy to host her on a momentous occasion:  I'll let her tell you about it.

CATHY ACE: 

Hello folks! Thanks for inviting me along today to invite all your lovely followers – and the Reds too, of course – to help me celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first Cait Morgan Mystery being published…just days before the 12th book in the series finds its way into the world. I’m feeling very grateful at the moment.

I truly cannot believe that an entire decade has whizzed by since I was launching my debut novel. Back then, I couldn’t have foreseen how the world would react to a small Canadian publisher putting out the first in a “planned” series of books featuring an older, definitely overweight, absolutely bossy, Welsh Canadian, globe-trotting professor of criminal psychology…so I’m delighted that it’s all gone so well in so many ways…though it’s been a bit of a bumpy ride at times. However, they say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, so here I still am – and I’m a LOT stronger!

During ten years of ups and downs, I’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled to various conventions, where I believe I’m correct in saying I’ve met all the Reds. I’ll never forget the warmth shown to me by Rhys when we sat beside each other for a signing session at my very first convention (Bouchercon, in Albany): I signed none, because there weren’t any of my books there (long story, no need to whine here!) whereas she had a queue…and she was LOVELY. As was Hallie at the Surrey International Writers Conference, where we first shared a signing table (same thing as above, though maybe I signed one book?) and she was so kind to this new author. Hank, Rhys, and Hallie have all very kindly blurbed books for me over the years, too – thank you, ladies. (I don’t mean to leave out the other Reds, but will focus on what’s happened “so far”, LOL!)

I’ll be celebrating this week with pink champagne and chocolate cake (baked by my Paul Hollywood-inspired husband – thank you Mr. Hollywood!). If you fancy raising a glass, or a forkful of something indulgent, let me provide you with this excuse! Oh, and the other thing I’m celebrating? The script for the pilot of the Cait Morgan TV series has turned out brilliantly! Originally planned as a 90-minute format, it’s been bumped up to two hours, which is fantastic. I’m not allowed to say much more, but can tell you it’s fascinating to see how a seasoned screenwriter is able to distill the essence of a novel’s story into a much shorter format – and they’ve done so without losing any of Cait’s personality, for which I’m most grateful. The casting is “in hand” (but I’m absolutely sworn to secrecy on that front) and I can confirm the settings will be authentic (Nice, France and Vancouver, Canada). It’s all so thrilling…and I’m making the most of every new experience.

When my debut novel was published, I didn’t realize it would be just as nerve-wracking every time a new book comes out, but it turns out it is…and I’m currently in knots about The Corpse with the Turquoise Toes. I plan to continue writing about Cait’s adventures; I really think there’s a place in the world for true closed circle mysteries being untangled by a not-so-amateur sleuth, and hope folks continue to enjoy reading them…and watching them, when they finally reach the screen.

Thanks for having me drop by today. I’m off to pop a cork now, and will invite you all to join me in a virtual toast: here’s to communities like JRW where – in a world that sometimes defies comprehension – we’re all able to celebrate the fact we know there are people out there like us…who enjoy a good murder mystery with clues, red herrings, denouements, and appropriate comeuppances! Cheers, Folks!

What will you be celebrating this week? And how will you do it?

 

About the book:

THE CORPSE WITH THE TURQUOISE TOES

Guests of honor at the opening of a swish new restaurant in Arizona, Welsh Canadian criminal psychologist sleuth Cait Morgan, and her retired-cop husband Bud Anderson, are looking forward to living in the lap of luxury for a week.

But an unexpected death at the desert retreat puts more than a wrinkle in their plans. Is the Faceting for Life movement, of which their host is a devotee, just a harmless framework for life-affirming activities, or a façade for a cult where no one is quite who they appear to be?

In the twelfth Cait Morgan Mystery, Cait and Bud arrive at their remote destination keen to relax and indulge, only to discover that Cait might have – for the first time in her life – truly met her match. And her adversary’s agenda? Well, it’s anything but restful…indeed, it’s both wicked, and deadly.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09RH4ZYNP

 

About Cathy Ace: Cathy Ace’s Cait Morgan Mysteries feature a criminal psychologist sleuth encountering traditional whodunits around the world; her WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries feature a quartet of soft-boiled female PIs solving cozy cases from a Welsh stately home. Her Welsh suspense novel, The Wrong Boy, has also been optioned for TV. Shortlisted for Canada’s Bony Blithe Award three times, winning once, she’s also won IPPY and IBA Awards; her work’s also been shortlisted for a Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence, and the Crime Fiction Lover Best Indie Novel. She migrated from Wales aged 40, and now lives in Canada.

http://www.cathyace.com/

 

RHYS: We are raising a glass, dear Cathy. Long may you and Cait Morgan thrive!

Cathy Ace: Steps away from the light and comes up aces...

HALLIE EPHRON: I recently had the great pleasure of reading an advance copy of Cathy Ace's THE WRONG BOY. I was bowled over. Engrossing characters, perfectly rendered Welsh setting, a stunning ending, and as with the best books, the title takes on a new meaning when you're done reading.

Today we welcome Cathy today to talk about her amazing new book.

CATHY ACE: A recent review of my latest book The Wrong Boy (by the well-respected Kristopher Zgorski at BOLO Books) began thus:

“With two successful series and a few collections of novellas, some may view Cathy Ace’s decision to release a stand-alone psychological suspense novel as a strange – and potentially risky – move…”

Kristopher was right – I was leaping into the unknown, stepping into the dark…
My Cait Morgan Mysteries have their place firmly in the “traditional” camp; they are contemporary, closed-circle whodunits, with a not-so-amateur professor of criminal psychology as a sleuth. I have never viewed them as “cozy” though they were marketed as such by the publisher, there being “no distinctive way to market them as traditional”; each is set in a different country, with an ever-changing cast of characters save the two main protagonists. My other series, the WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries, is truly “cozy”, featuring a recurring cast, a Welsh village and stately home, and several quirky, and quintessentially British, cases for my four female professional PIs to investigate in each book.

Then along came 2017, when I was faced with two publishers who no longer wanted to do business with me the way they had (a new direction for one, a new owner for the other) so it was clear I had a Big Decision to make – what to write next. Oh, and I should probably mention I also fired my agent. So, I completed my contractual obligations, then plotted my next move…

As a psychology graduate I have always been drawn to the “why” more than merely the “who” or the “how”; Cait Morgan is a professor of criminal psychology who applies her significant understanding of the human condition to the cases she encounters on her travels, and while the four women of the WISE Enquiries Agency aren’t psychologists, they always use their breadth of life-experience and insights to interpret the information they gather through their professional investigating.

So why not run with that? The “why” as the driver for an entire book. But how, exactly?

I began where I always tell those wanting to write to begin – by reading. I read dozens of psychological suspense novels, from the bestsellers to those by authors I’d never heard of before. I met flocks of unreliable narrators (often “girls”!), and became wary of anyone who’d ever sipped so much as a small glass of sherry or sustained even the slightest bump on the head at any point in their life because – you know…blackouts and amnesia, right? I suspect I over-read, because I ended up convinced the “shape” of these books wasn’t right for me as an author.

You see, I had a plot, with the key twists all lined up, but it didn’t feel right; the three main female characters in my head lived their worrying lives in a Welsh location I knew well, but still I couldn’t orchestrate the right rhythm for the tale.

Then I got it!

I’d written a collection of short, and long, stories, as well as a collection of novellas; three of those novellas featured characters from the original collection of short stories, and two of those sets of characters had grown to live their lives in their own series of books. Yes, Cait Morgan and Bud Anderson as well as the four women of the Wise Enquiries Agency were all “born” in the same collection

The real location of THE WRONG BOY: Rhossili, South Wales

of short stories. The only character who’d recurred in my novellas who hadn’t been featured in a novel was a lovely chap by the name of Detective Inspector Evan Glover of the West Glamorgan Police Service in South Wales, who lived an unremarkable, but hard-working and happily-settled life with his psychotherapist wife Betty.

I decided to introduce a police detective element into the shape of the new book to be able to change the rhythm – without allowing it to become a police procedural, which I knew I didn’t want to write. I’d left DI Glover pondering his future as a policeman at the end of the novella I’d written about him in Murder Knows No Season – so decided to give his wife a significant financial windfall, which would allow him to take early retirement.

That meant was I was then able to tell my dark, twisting tale not through the eyes of one unreliable narrator, but through several – each of whom knew a part of what was going on, but none of whom could see the whole picture. I gave each their own point of view, each their own voice – and allowed the reader to see the world in which they lived through their individual lenses, never certain about what was true, or what was assumed or imagined.

Now that the book is written, the characters’ voices aren’t talking in my head anymore – which I’m sure is a good thing. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the process of revealing more and more layers of the psyches of the characters – from Evan and Betty Glover struggling

Village of Rhossili, South Wales

as a couple to come to terms with his retirement, to the many ways in which secrets kept within and between families can be psychologically destructive, and even deadly.

It’s been a journey down a darker, twisting path for me. A risk? Certainly, but the review I mentioned earlier concluded with “The Wrong Boy is a first-class narrative journey and readers should seek it out immediately” which is uplifting, and the book recently hit #1 on the amazon psychological suspense best seller list, which tells me readers like the sound of it enough to take that journey with me. And – especially when we leave our usual paths and take a chance – I believe that’s the best an author can hope for.

Do you choose to follow authors whose work you enjoy when they take a different path?
Does it always work for you? Or them?

Find Cathy at:
http://www.cathyace.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cathy.ace.author
Twitter: @AceCathy

Cathy Ace's Welsh traditions

HALLIE EPHRON: Today it gives me great pleasure to welcome Cathy Ace, Bony Blithe Award-winning author of The Cait Morgan Mysteries & The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries, and chair of Crime Writers of Canada. Cathy and I cross paths at the wonderful Surrey Writers Conference.

Talk to Cathy and you hear pure Wales. And yet, she's living in Canada... and sometimes writes about Las Vegas. But she'll always have Wales in her bones...

CATHY ACE: I’m a transplant; born and raised in Wales, I didn’t migrate to Canada until I was forty years old. I will always be Welsh (as will my accent), while my new growth will be here, in my new home. I’ve chosen, within my two series of books, to use the fact I’m Welsh to write about Wales and being Welsh with a veracity I hope is clear on the page. What I’ve learned from readers is they like to find out about old Welsh traditions, and that’s made me look at traditions I miss, and try to continue, with fresh eyes.

I feel terribly “homesick” for Wales; I don’t mean the sort of “homesick” a person feels (as discussed here a few weeks ago) when on an extended trip, but the sort of “homesick” one feels for a place and culture that’s “you” - with which you are totally connected, but which isn’t a part of your daily reality anymore - that makes you feel physically and emotionally bereft. The Welsh even have a word for this feeling; hiraeth doesn’t have a direct translation into English (or any other language, as far as I know) but it’s used to refer to the longing for your homeland and culture that screams within every fiber of your body all the time, even though you, yourself, are a representation of the very culture you’re missing. And it’s so tempting to think the grass really was greener there, back then.

The Welsh have a host of “traditions”, many of which have become arcane within even my own lifetime: about fifty years ago at New Year’s Eve parties, in order to ensure good luck for the year ahead, a young, dark-haired men was sought out, handed a lump of coal – which everyone had handy for their coal fires – and shut out on the street, having to knock to gain entry and thus become the first person to enter the house in the year…“first-footing” as it was known; chimney sweeps (necessary due to the aforementioned coal fires) were invited to many weddings at which I sang in the church choir, to ensure good fortune for the couple…and so on.


The coal fires have gone now, as have the lumps of readily-available coal, and the idea of becoming a chimney sweep doesn’t occur to any pimply youths considering a career plan…but some traditions continue, and are even seeing a revival. Many of these are connected with romance and weddings, a subject at the center of The Case of the Missing Morris Dancer, the second in my WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries.


For example, living myrtle is still a part of many Welsh bridal bouquets and is planted in the garden of the couple’s new home for good fortune and fertility, and many Welsh engagements take place on January 25th, St Dynwyn’s Day…a tragic female saint whose story makes her the patron saint of lovers in Wales, in place of St Valentine.

Fortunately, the tradition of the bride being chased around the village by the groom, who then has the right to enter the house where she’s being “hidden” and take her off to be married has gone by the wayside…though even this tradition is discussed as a “possibility” in my book.

All cultures have ancient traditions, such as those listed above, that have passed into lore maybe over the past few decades, or during the centuries before. I’ll be honest, I don’t miss those traditions very much – though I do write about them – and I haven’t brought them with me to my new country.

No, what makes me feel hiraeth are the traditions I developed for myself, with my family, over decades of my life, and are not things I can possibly bring with me.

I miss being able to walk through Swansea market and smell the Welshcakes baking, see the glistening mounds of stewed seaweed known as laverbread, or treating myself to a little cup of pepper and vinegar-seasoned cockles.

I long for the wind that whips across the magnificent rock formation known as Worm’s Head in Rhossili, the smell of the sea in the air as I walk out of Swansea’s main library which is all but on the beach, or the chance to indulge in a chocolate sundae at Joe’s ice cream parlor in The Mumbles – a small “village” on the coast – whenever I want.

I miss the people; the conversations overheard in the bus, on the street, in the pub. The pulse of Welsh life.
Nowadays I bake Welshcakes for the grandchildren, and, when they’re old enough, I’ll get them to read the Welsh mythological Mabinogion tales and the English-language poetry of Dylan Thomas. I’ll show them photos of stone circles that have been in place for thousands of years in Welsh meadows, and the more recent ones erected wherever a National Eisteddfod is held. I’ll tell them about naughty sprites called bwcas, that Roald Dahl was born in Wales, and that no parent ever wanted their child to work in a coal mine. Traditions can be ancient, or those we make for ourselves…

You can find out more about Cathy Ace and both her Cait Morgan Mysteries and WISE Enquiries here: http://cathyace.com/

HALLIE:  So here's Cathy question to you: whether you’re a transplanted person or not, what will you pass to the next generations from your own cultural heritage…and why? Seems particularly appropriate as we head into the holidays.

Cathy Ace on Vegas: Where it's all right to fake it

HALLIE EPHRON: Our guest Cathy Ace hails from Wales, which you know the minute she opens her mouth and you hear her wonderful accent. Irrepressibly warm and funny, she now lives in more buttoned-down Canada. Where else would she set her latest Cait Morgan mystery novel but Las Vegas!

She explains why.

CATHY ACE: Las Vegas is what many would call the world capital of fakery. And I’m okay with that. In fact, I adore it. I embrace the falseness of it all, and thrown myself into its rhinestone encrusted arms as often as I can.

I know that Vegas is one of those places that has the ability to polarize opinion, but, ever since I first visited it about a dozen years ago, I have always felt “at home” there. I’ve been thinking about why that might be.

I was a pretty solitary child, not one to have friends come to the house to play with me, I was just as happy to live in my own little world with my imaginary friend and pretend. I would put on plays and recite poems for my toys, I’d involve the grown-ups as stage hands. My world was populated by fictional characters from books, (Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and Secret Seven, or Nancy Drew, of course) and my own invention.

As the years passed I spent a good deal of my time performing in choirs (being Welsh means that’s pretty much a given) or on stage in amateur dramatic or operatic productions. Both my mum and dad performed too, and even my little sister was involved. I was always surrounded by costumes, scenery, props, scripts, librettos, and rehearsal schedules. Pretending and dressing up was the norm for our whole family, and for those we mixed with.

Maybe that’s why I feel so comfortable in Vegas. It’s one huge piece of theater. Every casino is a stage setting, every server wears a costume, and each visitor arrives ready to be swept up in the performance art of the place. 

Having visited on dozens of occasions over the years, I have come to know some of the folks who live and work there. It’s that idea, sharing the drama and the normalcy of the place, that I tried to convey in this latest book. It’s something that visitors to Vegas often miss—the human stories behind the costumes, and the make-up. 

 
Set in an invented casino themed on Tsarist Russia, with an opera diva, a dead casino owner with a Rat Pack background, and a collection of the sort of people one frequently meets in Vegas—so, eclectic—I wanted to bring some of the tales from “backstage” to the audience’s attention. You see, the place might be fake, but the people aren’t—they are real people, living what they view as normal lives. 

Growing up in a world where dress-up and pretend was just fine, and where I was happy to perform in front of the scenery, or stand in the wings and watch, means I’m right at home in Vegas.

What about you? Is Vegas just too much for you to take? Are you uncomfortable at the thought of being pulled onstage to become a part of the performance, or would you be one of those throwing their hand into the air to volunteer to “help with the trick”?

If you’re reading this I am guessing you’re a fan of fiction. So how far does that love of make-believe go? Happy to have it between the pages, but not to participate when it’s “real”? Or is the “faking it” of Vegas just fine by you?

HALLIE: Great questions! So, does spending time in Las Vegas feel like submersing yourself in a great fiction? Or not...

About Cathy Ace's latest Cait Morgan mystery, The Corpse with the Platinum Hair: Welsh Canadian foodie and criminologist Cait Morgan takes off on a short break to the fabulous Tsar! Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas with her significant other, retired cop Bud Anderson. But before they can start celebrating Bud’s birthday in style at the casino owners’ exclusive private dining room, the death of Miss Shirley — a woman with a colorful background and the acknowledged Queen of the Strip — results in a security lockdown. Cait, Bud, a corpse, and ten possible murderers are trapped in the luxurious restaurant for twelve deadly hours. The bodies pile up, the tension mounts, the list of suspects dwindles — and Cait knows she has to work out who within the group is an audacious killer because there’s no telling who might be next to die.

Cathy Ace on location, location, location!

HALLIE EPHRON: It was my pleasure to find myself sitting next to Cathy Ace at the Surrey Writers Conference in British Columbia. We got to chitchatting as we longingly watched the lines of readers snaking their way up to get books signed by Diana Gabaldon and Anne Perry.

With a brand new book just out (The Corpse with the Emerald Thumb), I invited Cathy to talk about Cait Morgan, her "Welsh Canadian foodie criminologist sleuth" who definitely gets around. She travels, she eats, and one can only hope that Cathy writes that aspect of her adventures from firsthand experience.

CATHY ACE: I’ll tell you a secret—I’ve been everywhere she’s been, eaten everything she’s eaten, and drunk  everything she’s drunk. Who? My protagonist, Cait Morgan, my Welsh Canadian foodie criminologist sleuth. Luckily for her, I’ve travelled a lot. And luckily for me, she manages to find a dead body, or two, wherever she goes.

If I’m honest—and I understand the Reds like that—the real reason I move Cait about so much, and have her eat and drink her way through her books, is because it gives me the chance to revisit places, and flavors, I miss. I truly believe a location can become a character in a book, and I try to make sure that the story I am writing could only have happened in the specific locale I have selected.

My first Cait Morgan Mystery, The Corpse with the Silver Tongue, is set in Nice where I lived for several months each year for almost a decade. Good friends of mine owned an apartment in the block that was Gestapo Headquarters during WWII, and whenever I visited for dinner, or l'apéro, I couldn’t help but want to set a murder mystery there. Wherever you walk in Cimiez, you’re constantly treading upon thousands of years of human history. So a tale which involved a “Collar of Death” which had travelled from Wales to the south of France, and had a history reaching back millennia, nibbled at the fringes of my mind, even as I nibbled at the foie gras.

I couldn’t ignore the Province of British Columbia, where I live and have  a great fondness for the Okanagan Valley and the vineyards around the lake. Yes, my research for The Corpse with the Golden Nose involved exhaustive wine tasting, but I applied myself, and spent a good deal of time in and around Kelowna observing, nibbling, and sipping. But I didn’t want my fictitious ageing rock-star vintner to be confused with any of the real ones who live there, and I think I managed it. (No law suits yet!)

Mexico attracts a great deal of press coverage about the crime which, sadly, is all too real there. A rich cultural heritage lies beyond the inevitable stalls laden with tourist crafts, and bars selling cheap beer-and-shots combos. In The Corpse with the Emerald Thumb I wanted to use the Pacific coastal towns around Puerto Vallarta as a backdrop for a cast of mixed ethnicity and, only because the book needed it, duplicitousness. The book is set on a tequila-producing agave plantation, so once again I had to carry out some onerous research. Believe me when I tell you that the recuperative abilities I possessed when researching Cait first mystery are not what they once were!

In September 2014, Cait, who usually grapples with closed circle mysteries, takes on a closed room mystery in The Corpse with the Platinum Hair.

Luckily for her she’s trapped in one of the most exclusive restaurants in Las Vegas. Yes—Vegas, Baby…but maybe not the one you think you know.

Am I the only person who visits a place, and immediately starts to work out how it can become a great location for a murder? Please tell me I’m not alone?

HALLIE: I confess I read Donna Leon for a trip to Venice, Rhys and Susan for a trip back in time to England, Debs to London, Lucy to Key West. Where do you like to travels take you in your mystery reading?