by Patricia Gligor
My Malone mystery series has been an important part of my
life for many years. The release of the first book, Mixed Messages, and the subsequent publication of Unfinished Business, Desperate Deeds,
Mistaken Identity and, finally, Marnie
Malone, has been a dream come true. My characters are people I’ve come to
know and love.
My series is character driven. What that means (for
non-writers) is that my characters are the most important element in my books.
Plot is important, of course, as is setting but, to me, knowing why my characters say and do what they
say and do is of utmost importance.
Which brings me to the topic of this post: Why I became a
mystery writer. What motivated me to choose to write in the first place? And,
why mystery/suspense novels?
To answer those questions, we’re going to take a trip back
in time.
I grew up in a big, old house with lots of nooks and
crannies to explore and a woods behind it stretching as far as the eye could
see. There was a small cemetery at the top of the hill in those woods. So eerie
and mysterious! The perfect setting for a young girl with an active imagination
who loved to read Judy Bolton and Nancy Drew mysteries.
I used to make up stories about what was happening (and had
happened) in the house and the woods and I told them to my brother and two of
our playmates. They were all younger than me and I know I frightened them with
my tales of mystery and suspense.
When I was ten years old, I wrote a poem called “The Night”
and submitted it to my Sunday school magazine. To my amazement (and delight),
it was published! When I saw my name printed under the title, I was hooked for
life. I didn’t know how and I didn’t know when but I did know that someday I
would be an author. Deciding which genre to write in wasn’t a problem for me. I
knew I wanted to write mysteries.
A lot of years have passed since then but I remember myself
as a child who was excited to write mysteries and who would go off to be alone
to daydream. That little girl is still inside me and she still sees mystery
everywhere!
Blurb for Marnie Malone
Someone is stalking Marnie.
It’s Marnie’s last week at the law firm of Cliburn & Reeves and she feels like she’s riding an emotional roller coaster. Up when she wins the divorce and custody battle for Callie Jackson against her abusive husband, Jed. And plummeting down when one witness after another decides not to testify against Mark Hall, an attorney at another Charleston firm and an “alleged” serial rapist.
Marnie receives one threat after another and she constantly feels the need to look over her shoulder, convinced that someone is stalking her. With Sam out of town on business, she’s alone in the big, old farmhouse and strange things are happening. Noises in the attic, creaking floorboards and someone watching her from the woods.
As she tries to determine the identity of the stalker, the list of men who have grudges against her grows longer each day. In her line of work she’s made enemies. Is the stalker someone from the past or one of the men on her list? And, how far will he go?
About the Author:
Patricia Gligor is a Cincinnati native. She enjoys reading mystery/suspense novels, touring and photographing old houses and traveling. She has worked as an administrative assistant, the sole proprietor of a resume writing service and the manager of a sporting goods department but her passion has always been writing fiction.
Ms. Gligor writes the Malone Mystery series. The first three books, Mixed Messages, Unfinished Business, and Desperate Deeds take place in Cincinnati but in Mistaken Identity, the fourth book, her characters are vacationing on Fripp Island in South Carolina. Marnie Malone, the fifth book in her series, is also set in South Carolina.
Her books are available at:
Visit her website at: http://pat-writersforum.blogspot.com/