Guest author Patricia Gligor: Novel Vacations

Patricia Gligor

I love to travel and I love to read mystery novels! Whenever I visit a city I've never been to before, I search for a local bookstore where I scan the shelves, looking for mystery/suspense novels by local authors. I do this for two reasons. First, I think it's important to support writers everywhere and second, because, when I come home and return to my daily life, I can open the pages and escape to the place I've just visited. It's a way to hang on to the "vacation" mode. For example:

In 2004, I visited Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, my favorite of the three. I found a bookstore on Martha's Vineyard and purchased a mystery novel, Murder on Martha's Vineyard, by David Osborn, a local writer. Back at home, I read the book and really enjoyed it. When I looked up the author, I was pleasantly surprised to see that he’d written more books in the series so I ordered them. I read all of David Osborn’s books and was able to “stay” on Martha's Vineyard a lot longer than my vacation time allowed.

In 2009, I went to Wilmington, North Carolina. I loved exploring the city. So much history! The old Cotton Exchange, which now houses several delightful shops, including a bookstore, intrigued me, as did the horse drawn carriages and the theater where John Wilkes Booth once performed. I bought two mystery novels by Wanda Canada, Island Murders and Cape Fear Murders. When I got home, I read both books and felt as if I were still sitting on a pier, gazing out at the Cape Fear River, watching the boats go by.

But, what happens if you can’t take a vacation this year? You’re certainly not alone! With the current economy and the sometimes demanding circumstances in our daily lives (illnesses, aging parents, small children, etc.), there are years when we have to “settle” for staying at home. Instead of feeling let down and deprived, why not go on vacation in your mind? Why not let your imagination transport you to places you’ve already visited and to places you’ve never gone before?

My vacation destinations this year have included another trip to Wilmington and the Cape Fear coast when I read Sin Creek by Susan Whitfield. I went on an archaeological expedition to Peru with William Doonan’s American Caliphate. I explored an old ghost town in Arizona with Old Murders Never Die by Marja McGraw and I journeyed to an isolated village on the New England coast with J.R. Lindermuth’s The Limping Dog. That’s just a few of the places I’ve “traveled” to so far this year.

Books can take you anywhere you want to go at any time of the year and you don’t even have to go through security at the airport or fill your gas tank.

By the way, have you ever been to Cincinnati? :)

A serial killer is on the loose on the west side of Cincinnati. Is it someone close to Ann? With all the mixed messages she's been getting, she can't be sure it's not.

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 for a local retail chain but her passion has always been writing fiction. Mixed Messages is the first novel in her Malone Mystery Series. She is currently working on the sequel, Unfinished Business.

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Trailer for Mixed Messages