Book ~ "The Corpse with the Silver Tongue" (2012) Cathy Ace

From Goodreads ~ 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 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?

Cait is a criminologist from Vancouver, BC, in the south of France to present a paper for a colleague.  She runs into a former boss, Alistair, who invites her to his birthday party that evening.  Despite the fact that she hates him, she can't say no.

That night at the party, everyone falls ill (it's discovered they have been poisoned) and Alistair dies, and an expensive historical necklace Alistair was going to give his wife disappears.  Those at the party are under suspicion ... Alistair's young flaky wife, the novelist who lists upstairs, a couple of elderly neighbours, an museum director and even Cait.  It gets more suspicious when another attendee of the party is found dead.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I liked it.  It is written in first person perspective in Cait's voice.  I liked that Cait wasn't perfect ... she was 48-years-old, shorter than average, overweight with greying hair who usually wears "black bouncy, draper layers that suits most occasions and which never ever creases".  She wears horizontal stripes because though they say they make you look wider, jokingly believes that people will think it's the stripes that making her look twenty pounds heavier.  She enjoys her own company and isn't a joiner.  I thought the story was interesting.  I wasn't crazy about the ending, though ... I didn't find her potential love interest believable at that point.

This book is the first in the Cait Morgan mystery series and I look forward to reading the others.