Escape to Storyville

Reading is the best way I know to escape reality. If you're feeling the need to escape - and I think most of us are these days - I have a suggestion. Escape to Storyville, a small, fictional town in southwest Ohio where there are no Big Box stores, only family-owned businesses, traffic is never an issue and neighbors look out for neighbors.

https://tinyurl.com/y4ledcgp

Kate Morgan, a single mother, lives in the small town of Storyville, Ohio where she grew up. A want-to-be author, she works as a sales clerk in the town’s only department store doing what she describes as “a job a monkey could do.” Although she’s bored with her job, she’s reluctant to consider making any major changes in her life. However, she’s about to find out that change is inevitable.

When Kate’s ten-year-old daughter, Mandy, tells the family she plans to do a family tree for a school project, the negative reaction of Kate’s parents and grandmother shocks her but also arouses her curiosity. Why are they so against Mandy’s project? Surely her family is too “normal” to have any skeletons in their closet.

Kate decides to support her daughter even if that means defying her parents. As she searches for the truth, she discovers some long buried secrets that, if she decides to reveal them, will change her life and the lives of the people she loves - forever.

https://tinyurl.com/wmkwmvf

Kate Morgan loves a good mystery. She’s an avid reader and she recently finished writing a murder mystery. The story takes place at the fictionalized version of Maple Ridge, the real life home of Chad Hollingsworth, the man Kate has been dating for the past year.

Chad has invited Kate to his parents’ annual New Year’s Eve party where Kate will meet the other members of his family. On the drive to Maple Ridge, he tells her, “I have to warn you. When the Hollingsworth family gets together, there’s always a lot of drinking and drama.” He has no way of knowing there will be a murder.

In a strange twist of fate, there are numerous similarities between Kate’s manuscript and what actually happens. Kate is determined to separate fact from fiction by figuring out the identity of the killer. But she soon discovers that solving a murder in real life is a lot harder than figuring out whodunit in a mystery novel.

https://tinyurl.com/ybgn8myf

Kate Morgan, a single mother raising her eleven-year-old daughter, Mandy, in Storyville, Ohio, feels like she’s finally getting her life together, both professionally and personally. Her first mystery novel is about to be published and she and Chad Hollingsworth are engaged to be married. She’s looking forward to a bright future. Until the past comes back to haunt her.

Eleven years ago, a string of home invasions took place in Kate’s hometown, threatening the safety and security of the elderly residents. The burglaries stopped abruptly – until now.

And, eleven years ago, Bobby Benton, Mandy’s father, left town, never returning – until now. The police consider Bobby a person of interest in the crimes and, for the sake of her daughter, Kate is determined to figure out the identity of the perpetrator in order to clear his name. However, she quickly discovers that’s easier said than done.

The Legend, the fourth book in my Small Town mystery series, is due to be published in June 2021.

Had enough of reality?

We're living in a scary time. Every day, when we turn on the TV or the radio or go online, we're told there's something else to be concerned about - as if the current pandemic isn't enough. To me, the scariest part is all the misinformation out there, which makes it difficult to know what to believe. 

If we aren't careful, we can become negative and depressed because what we "take in" - whether we want it to or not - will affect us. But we have choices. Instead of worrying about what's next and letting reality overwhelm us, we can turn to fiction where the characters will have their own problems, which will take our minds off of ours.

Escape to the fictional town of Storyville, Ohio and immerse yourself in Kate's world.

Small towns are known for being good places to live and to raise a family. But there are secrets behind all closed doors (Secrets in Storyville) and crime in all places (Murder at Maple Ridge) and Storyville is no exception. After a string of burglaries (Out of the Woods), Kate's mother says, “First the home invasions and now this. I’m afraid to ask what’s next.”

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B007VDDUPQ

A Different Kind of Cozy

"Secrets in Storyville," a small town mystery, is the first book in a new series and it's a different kind of cozy mystery. There is no murder. The mystery is the family secret the main character, Kate, discovers. The idea for the book came to me after I watched an episode of "Finding Your Roots" on PBS. 

Kate Morgan, a single mother, lives in the small town of Storyville, Ohio where she grew up. A want-to-be author, she works as a sales clerk in the town’s only department store doing what she describes as “a job a monkey could do.” Although she’s bored with her job, she’s reluctant to consider making any major changes in her life. However, she’s about to find out that change is inevitable.

When Kate’s ten-year-old daughter, Mandy, tells the family she plans to do a family tree for a school project, the negative reaction of Kate’s parents and grandmother shocks her but also arouses her curiosity. Why are they so against Mandy’s project? Surely her family is too “normal” to have any skeletons in their closet.

Kate decides to support her daughter even if that means defying her parents. As she searches for the truth, she discovers some long buried family secrets that, if she decides to reveal them, will change her life and the lives of the people she loves - forever. 

 

5 Star Reviews:

"Secrets of Storyville is a good read on a rainy day. Pat Gligor’s writing style captured me. I had to put the book down a couple of times but couldn’t wait to get back to it. There’s enough foreshadowing that the plots twists didn’t come as a surprise, but I couldn’t wait to see how the protagonist was going to react to them. I did love that character."
Dac Crossley

"Kate Morgan has uneasily settled for her life as a single mom, and has always thought she had the perfect parents. But when her daughter decides to do a family tree for her school project, things between Kate, her parents, and her grandmother begin to get tense, especially when she starts dating a handsome stranger. When her daughter drops the family tree project for another, Kate continues to do genealogy research on her own, and what she finds sets her on a roller coaster of troubled emotions.
I really enjoyed reading this novel. It was hard to put down. The characters are wonderful, but then, Ms. Gligor is great at characterization. I loved Kate’s romance. The novel was easy reading with a satisfying twist at the end. I highly recommend it to everyone who is looking for a mystery, without murder."
Evelyn Cullet

"From the opening, Patricia Gligor took me to Storyville through Kate's eyes. To be taken "there" is a really important aspect for me to enjoy a story, I could visualize Storyville even knowing nothing about Ohio. I was also immediately captivated by Kate and her family. Really liked them. And her job situations and predicaments seemed so real. The plot was interesting, because I think there are many secrets in many families, and the story is in how you address them when found out, if they ever are. Also liked the good feeling I had at the end. Well done and enjoyable book. Definitely recommend."
Madeline Gornell

What inspired me to write Secrets in Storyville?

As a reader, I’ve always loved a good mystery. Most of the books I’d read were standalone mystery/suspense novels. But, several years ago, I picked up a cozy mystery, which took place in a small town, and I was hooked on cozies. Now, I still love a good suspense novel but I find that I read more cozies than any other mystery sub-genre. Some are standalones and some are part of a series.

As a writer, I never know where inspiration for a story will come from. But it’s always from people, places and things that have crossed my path. Sometimes they’re recent and other times they emerge from my memory bank.

When I finished writing my fifth Malone mystery, Marnie Malone, I wasn’t sure what my next book would be. I’d spent so many years on the series and had become so involved in the lives of the characters. I knew I’d miss the Malones but I also realized it was time to end the series and to do something totally different.

My Malone mysteries are all written in the third person and they are set in real locations, places that really exist. An old Victorian in my neighborhood was the inspiration for the series.

For a long time, I’d wanted to write a cozy mystery in the first person and set it in a fictional small town. Now I had my chance. Secrets in Storyville is completely separate from and different than my Malone mysteries but the books have one thing in common: an old house inspired me. As it turned out, I didn’t use that house as the main setting in my new book but it is a secondary setting and important to the plot. 

The other elements of the book came to me in the usual way – bits and pieces that somehow eventually coalesced to form a book. A book that was so much fun to write!

I hope you enjoy reading Secrets in Storyville as much as I enjoyed writing it.