The Corpse’s Secret Life (A PIP Inc. Mystery) by Nancy Lynn Jarvis #GuestPost / #Giveaway – Great Escapes Book Tour

The Corpse’s Secret Life (A PIP Inc Mystery)
by Nancy Lynn Jarvis

I am delighted to welcome Syda to Escape With Dollycas today!

I’m complicated…
by Nancy Lynn Jarvis

Starting with my name which is Syda.  Syda Gonzales. My question for you is how do you pronounce Syda? I ask because it depends where you’re from. In Australia where my family lived until I was three it’s pronounced Sida with a long i. Most other places it’s Sida with a soft i.

I liked Pat Pirard the minute I met her at UC Santa Cruz where we were both undergrads because she could hear the tiniest remnant of an Aussie accent―she’s good at subtlety―and knew about my name’s region-distinct pronunciation so she called me Syda with a long i without me having to explain my name to her.

Even though we hit it off from the start, we probably shouldn’t have become best friends. She was getting her degree in library science which is such a structured field and I’m an artist: creative and loosey-goosey. But, although she’s organized and methodical, she has an adventurous and free-spirity side to her―other things I liked about her instantly―so maybe that’s why we work so well as friends.

I’ve been her pal through many ups and downs, but when her long term boyfriend ended their relationship I felt it was up to me to find a nice rebound romance for her. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem impressed with any of my suggestions. It’s not that I think a woman, especially a successful one who loved her career like Pat did can’t be complete without a man, it’s just that she’s my BFF and I’m happily married, so I know how nice that is and I wanted the best for her.

Then, the day before her thirty-fifth birthday, she got downsized out of her job as the Santa Cruz County Law Librarian. Her life was totally unfair. No boyfriend, no job, and no money, either, because she just spent every dime she had on a sunburst yellow convertible Mercedes.

Leave it to Pat, though. She has a creative side, too―or a need to keep a roof over her and her pets, a cat named Lord Peter Wimsey and her Dalmatian, Dot, heads―so in no time at all she printed up business cards and started a private investigating business―PIP. Inc. which stands for Private Investigator Pat. Isn’t that clever? I gave her a burglary set to show my support for her new endeavor and because I thought as a PI she might need it.

Her first gig was working for a gorgeous, single attorney who was defending a man Pat knew couldn’t be a murderer. She met the attorney when she was a law librarian and kind of had a crush on him. She proved she was a good detective and I thought all her romantic problems might be solved and I was sort of right…but that’s a story for The Glass House.

Now she’s on her third case, still sporting a cast on her wrist because of a confrontation with a killer―I won’t go into details about what happened, but you can read all about it in The Funeral Murder―and this one is a humdinger. There’s a moldering corpse with multiple identities, tarot cards and a Goth named Damien, sin eaters―you’ll have to Google them or read The Corpse’s Secret Life to find out about them, and complications at every turn.

But enough about Pat and her investigating. Let’s get back to me. When I’m not painting, of making glass art, or writing―that’s one creative enterprise I struggle with―or my latest, making jewelry, I’m her partner, at least sort of. I help her with disguises, interviewing suspects, and distracting potential killers so Pat can slip into places she shouldn’t be to investigate. In the process, we have a great time, and, yes, we’ve had a few close calls. My husband, Greg, who is a Deputy Sheriff and his occasional partner and friend Sergeant Tim Lindsey worry about us sometimes, but they know better than to try and change our minds about what we do.

I can’t show you a picture of us in one of our disguises because, well, we might need the same disguise in the future, but I can show you some of my ‘Syda’s Garden Gems’ earrings. I think they’re fabulous; Pat likes them, too. What do you think?

Pat’s coming over today. We’ll have coffee and some of her grandmother’s recipe chocolate cake while we plan our next scheme and the big event in her life that’s coming up in the future, or should I say in the next book? I have an important role to play in the big event, too, so stay tuned. (Hint: I offered my jewelry making skills, but Pat says that part of the day is already covered.)

Keep reading for more information about Nancy Lynn Jarvis’ new release!

 

About The Corpse’s Secret Life

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
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09SX9RHN4

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.

 

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 – Facebook – Goodreads

Purchase Links –

Amazon – 

Great Escapes Praise for The Corpse’s Secret Life (A PIP Inc Mystery)
by Nancy Lynn Jarvis

Makes for a fabulously fun read as it all plays out. Sure to be enjoyed by cozy fans. I really liked it so I give it 4/5 stars
~Books a Plenty Book Reviews

The story is more a clean international mystery than Cozy, but it is a great read with wonderfully layered characters, plenty of suspense, and a classic whodunnit ending.
~I Read What You Write

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