This week I’m please to host mystery author, Patricia Gligor.
Patricia Gligor is a Cincinnati native. She enjoys reading mystery/suspense novels, touring and photographing old houses and traveling. Mixed Messages and Unfinished Business, the first two novels in her Malone Mystery series, were published by Post Mortem Press. Desperate Deeds is the third novel in the series.
Using the weather to create suspense
Most of us realize that there’s little in life we can control. The weather is one of those things we can’t do a thing about but it does have an effect on our lives. Sometimes, it forces us to change our plans and even, on occasion, makes us housebound. In fiction, it can create an element of suspense.
Here’s an excerpt from Desperate Deeds where Ann, her two children, her landlady, Olivia, and Olivia’s son, Lawrence, have gone to the basement of Olivia’s old Victorian to wait out a storm.
“Look at that sky!” Olivia exclaimed, rolling over to one of the windows and pointing up.
They all walked closer and looked out. The sky was an eerie shade of green. Lawrence pushed the window up about an inch and they could hear a loud roar. It sounded like a freight train was going by. “Wow! This is bad! It’s really close by.”
Hail began to pelt the window and Lawrence slammed it shut. He went over to the stack of metal folding chairs that was leaning against the wall in a corner and carried them across the room two at a time. He unfolded one for each of them. Ann and Danielle immediately sat down. “We need to stay back, away from any windows. I know these chairs aren’t the most comfortable chairs in the world but we may as well all sit down while we wait out this storm.”
“Ooh, Mommy! A twister!” Davey twirled around the basement, bumping into boxes that were stacked there and almost knocking a few of them over.
Ann shot him a warning glance. “Davey Kern, stop it!”
“But it’s just like in The Wizard of Oz!”
Danielle pulled her chair closer to her mother’s. “Davey, this isn’t funny; this is for real. Tornados kill people!” She looked up at her mother. “Mom, I’m scared! At least, in The Wizard of Oz they had a storm shelter to go to.”
As Ann Kern starts her new business as an interior decorator, the temperatures have risen, tulips and daffodils are in bloom and there’s a feeling of endless possibilities in the air. She has no idea that her world is about to be turned upside down.
When Janis Riley, a woman for whom money is no object, contacts Ann to redecorate her house, Ann is elated. But her initial visit with her first client leaves her with mixed emotions. Why did Janis react so strangely to seeing a photo of Ann’s six-year-old son, Davey?
But Ann has bigger problems. Her husband, David, a recovering alcoholic, has lost both his mother and his job and Ann worries that he’ll start drinking again. To add to her concerns, their next-door-neighbor, Dorothy Baker, is severely depressed but Ann’s efforts to help her are rebuffed.
Ann is terrified when she wakes up the day before Easter to find Davey gone. Another child, Kelly Kramer, has been missing since December. Does some pervert have both children and what, if anything, can Ann do to get her son back?
Purchase Desperate Deeds on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=
Visit Patricia at her website: http://pat-writersforum.blogspot.com/
Pat and I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.
Hi, Pat,
Weather is another element that creates atmosphere or setting in a novel. Obviously you’ve used it to advantage in your new novel. Congrats.
Thanks, Cleo! I hope you’ll read “Desperate Deeds.”
I’m reading the book now and just reached the part where the son disappears. You’ve really done a wonderful job in building the suspense.
Thank you, Marja! Wait till you see what happens next.
Evelyn,
Thank you for inviting me to be your guest today. The release of a new book is always an exciting and busy time, as you well know, and promotion is of the utmost importance. I appreciate the opportunity to tell your blog readers about “Desperate Deeds.”