Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for The Corpse’s Secret Life (A PIP Inc Mystery) by Nancy Lynn Jarvis. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
The Corpse’s Secret Life (A PIP Inc Mystery)
by Nancy Lynn Jarvis
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The Corpse’s Secret Life (A PIP Inc. Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Santa Cruz, CA.
Good Read Mysteries (March 16, 2022)
Number of Pages 245
Pat’s fledgling private investigation company, PIP Inc., has a promising new case.
Pat is still wearing a wrist cast after breaking her arm in a confrontation with a killer, so when she’s hired by the City of Watsonville to unearth the identity of an older woman who died in her bed, she’s delighted that her next job promises to be a simple computer-based research project.
Why is it that things are never as simple as she thinks they will be? Pat soon discovers nothing is as it seems, beginning with a corpse who had secret identities, murder, and a post-death ritual thought to have last been performed decades ago.
Character Guest Post
Animals don’t talk in my books…
but just for today, I thought it would be fun to get Pat Pirard’s pets, her Dalmatian, Dot, and her cat, Lord Peter Wimsey’s quick perspective on life with private investigator Pat. Take it away, guys.
“I’ll go first,” Dot said offering a big Dalmatian smile and wagging her tail.
“You would want to, wouldn’t you? Sometimes your enthusiasm is exhausting.”
“Oh, come on Wimsey, this is going to be fun.”
“Fine. You go first. I’ll just take a little mini bath while you talk,” Wimsey said, licking a paw and rubbing it on his cheek.
“Wimsey met our person-Pat a couple of years before I did. I’m not saying Wimsey’s old, but..” Dot grinned mischievously.
“You better not be. In dog years, you’re in your thirties and I’m still on my first life,” Wimsey fired back.
“Our person-Pat adopted me when I was a puppy …”
“Our person-Pat brought Dot home before all her spots had developed―did you know Dalmatians look like white rats when they’re born―and before she had even learned to use a litter box. I shouldn’t have liked her because she’s a dog, but I couldn’t help myself because she was so little and helpless. Instead of hating her, I ‘adopted’ her and even tried to show her how civilized animals like cats attend to their business, but she refused to learn and still goes outside even in the rain when nature calls. But,” Wimsey sighed, “even with all that―I’m sort of embarrassed to say it―we’re…we’re kind of best friends.”
“Aww, Wims.” Dot leaned toward Wimsey with her tongue out.
“Don’t you dare give me a doggie kiss.”
Dot sucked in her tongue and closed her mouth.
“I thought life was purrfect when our person-Pat was a law librarian. We lived in a cute house with an afternoon sunbeam that hit the top a wingchair in her office where I like to nap, a nice backyard, a really good cat door that swung easily, and a friendly girl cat who lived next door. Dinner was served at a reliable time when our person-Pat got home from work, but then our person-Pat lost her job and everything changed.”
“We could both see our person-Pat was worried about how she was going to pay the rent and feed us,” Dot shook her head enough to make her ears flap. “Fortunately she’s smart, that one is, so she printed business cards that said something about her being Private Investigator Pat and found a new way to support us.”
“It’s true. I didn’t even have to resort to catching my own dinner for one day, but things really did change and you know how much cats despise change. Right about the time all that was happening, our person-Pat got involved with a boy-person with big feet. He stepped on me in the dark.”
“Give him a break, Wims. He’s a nice guy. He didn’t do it on purpose; he just didn’t see you.”
“Easy for you to say since you’re mostly white and show up in the dark unlike me who is disguised like a mini-tiger who can hide, stealthy and unseen,” Wimsey meowed, deep in a fantasy. “Besides, you like everyone who scratches your head.”
“That’s not true at all. I’m an excellent judge of character, just ask our person-Pat. If my tail is wagging, the person is alright. If it’s tucked, I’m not sure, and if I growl, our person-Pat needs to be careful. I think you like to hold grudges, Wimsey. I think that’s a cat thing. The boy-person tried so hard to make up his misstep, bringing you toys and trying to play with you.”
“Mr. Big Feet put me in a cat carrier! It’s bad enough when our person-Pat does that, but when he does, it’s unforgivable.”
“I think he was just trying to keep you from getting blown up.”
“Humph.”
“Come on, Wimsey, it was a close call. Remember the neighbors all signed a petition to get us to move after that and the boy-person invited us all to move into his house. I had to be on a leash whenever I went outside until the backyard fence got built, but you didn’t hear me complaining, did you?” Dot panted. “I could cause trouble if I wanted to, too. I can jump a six- foot-high fence, but I haven’t out of respect for how our person-Pat feels about the boy-person.”
Wimsey rolled on his back and pawed the air. “I guess you do have a point about the boy-person. He drove you to the veterinary hospital―really fast, I hear―when you were hurt trying to protect our person-Pat.”
“They seem really happy, our person-Pat and Mr. Big Feet…now you’ve got me calling him that…ever since he got down on one knee and offered Pat that shiny thing.”
“They do, don’t they? I wonder what that’s all about.”
“No idea. Maybe we’ll find out in the next book.”
About Nancy Lynn Jarvis
Nancy Lynn Jarvis left the real estate profession after she started having so much fun writing the Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries series that she let her license lapse. She’s enjoyed writing about Regan and her husband, Tom, but decided it was time to do a new series.
PIP Inc. introduces protagonist downsized law librarian and not-quite-licensed Private Investigator Pat Pirard. “The Funeral Murder” is the second book in the series.
After earning a BA in behavioral science from San Jose State University, Nancy worked in the advertising department of the San Jose Mercury News. A move to Santa Cruz meant a new job as a librarian and later a stint as the business manager for Shakespeare/Santa Cruz at UCSC.
Currently, she’s enjoying being a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Santa Cruz Women of Mystery.
Author Links
Website https://www.nancylynnjarvis.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SantaCruzBooksforyou
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard?ref=nav_profile_authordash
Purchase Link – Amazon
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The Corpse’s Secret Life TOUR PARTICIPANTS
April 1 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
April 1 – Novels Alive – SPOTLIGHT
April 2 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
April 3 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT
April 4 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
April 5 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
April 6 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
April 6 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
April 7 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW
April 8 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
April 9 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – GUEST POST
April 10 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
April 11 – Books Blog – SPOTLIGHT
April 12 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
April 13 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT
April 14 – Mysteries with Character – GUEST POST
April 14 – BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT
April 14 – Girl with Pen – SPOTLIGHT
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Christy, thanks for having me on your blog this morning. Guest posts are the most fun for me to write and it was great to give Dot and Wimsey (as in Lord Peter Wimsey) a voice to hear how they feel about what’s been happening in their person-Pat’s life.
You’re welcome! Thanks for sharing it with us!