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Pat Montella #1
By Blood Possessed
Pat Montella is summoned from her dreary office job in suburban Pennsylvania by an unusual request from a stranger. Ninety-one-year-old Magnolia Shelby wants to bequeath to Pat, in her will, her house and acreage in rural Virginia. The only condition is that Pat must visit during the first week of May in order to learn what this is all about.
What she finds is Bell Run, a Civil War-era estate and battleground inhabited by the enigmatic Miss Maggie, a retired history teacher with a passion for the Civil War. And that's not all, for just as Pat begins to get the lay of the land, she finds herself noticing curiously out-of-date details, like the vibrations of bullets hitting old wood, and the smell of campfire coffee and roast pork, and the faraway hissing of a steam engine. Before too long, she has to admit that what she's hearing, seeing, and smelling are the details of an era long past, the sights and sounds of 1863.
Pat soon begins to "see" enough about these long-ago events to put some of the facts together. But then she learns something extraordinary, and how this knowledge affects Pat and Maggie in 1990s Virginia stirs up some very modern, very real danger.
What she finds is Bell Run, a Civil War-era estate and battleground inhabited by the enigmatic Miss Maggie, a retired history teacher with a passion for the Civil War. And that's not all, for just as Pat begins to get the lay of the land, she finds herself noticing curiously out-of-date details, like the vibrations of bullets hitting old wood, and the smell of campfire coffee and roast pork, and the faraway hissing of a steam engine. Before too long, she has to admit that what she's hearing, seeing, and smelling are the details of an era long past, the sights and sounds of 1863.
Pat soon begins to "see" enough about these long-ago events to put some of the facts together. But then she learns something extraordinary, and how this knowledge affects Pat and Maggie in 1990s Virginia stirs up some very modern, very real danger.
326 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
About the author
Elena Santangelo
36 books51 followersELENA SANTANGELO pens the Possessed Mystery series, including Agatha Award finalist BY BLOOD POSSESSED. The series features laid-off office clerk turned ghostbuster, Pat Montella, and her 91 year-old sidekick, Miss Maggie. These novels combine murder, ghosts, history, and a protagonist brought up on Italian cooking and superstitions. Latest in the series is FEAR ITSELF, in which a ghost from the Great Depression helps Pat solve a present day murder in her hometown.
Elena's Twins Mystery Series begins with the novel TWO-FACED, which introduces Gen Ziegler, forensic psychologist, and her mirror-image twin, Sara. In THE TODD CHRONICLES, Todd MacBride, a geeky psych student, appoints himself as Gen Ziegler's "Dr. Watson" as he puts a hilarious spin on her Tucson cases. The series continues most recently with DOUBLE CROSS, when the sisters become stranded in a West Texas town, surrounded by secrets, outlaws, danger, and murder.
DAME AGATHA'S SHORTS is Elena's armchair companion to Christie's more than one hundred and fifty short stories. DAME AGATHA'S SHORTS won the 2009 Agatha Award for Best Non-Fiction and is an Anthony Award and Macavity Award finalist.
Elena's short stories have been published in the United States and Japan and most are available individually on Kindle. You can also find 16 of them in the SHORT CUTS TO MAYHEM anthology. She co-edited the short story anthologies, DEATH KNELL IV and DEATH KNELL V.
YESTERDAY, TODAY & FOREVER is a non-fiction book about Elena's uncle, Joseph B. Chicco, the journal he kept while serving aboard the U.S.S. Mobile in 1945 during World War II, and the PTSD that plagued him the rest of his life.
Contact her at www.elenasantangelo.com"
Elena's Twins Mystery Series begins with the novel TWO-FACED, which introduces Gen Ziegler, forensic psychologist, and her mirror-image twin, Sara. In THE TODD CHRONICLES, Todd MacBride, a geeky psych student, appoints himself as Gen Ziegler's "Dr. Watson" as he puts a hilarious spin on her Tucson cases. The series continues most recently with DOUBLE CROSS, when the sisters become stranded in a West Texas town, surrounded by secrets, outlaws, danger, and murder.
DAME AGATHA'S SHORTS is Elena's armchair companion to Christie's more than one hundred and fifty short stories. DAME AGATHA'S SHORTS won the 2009 Agatha Award for Best Non-Fiction and is an Anthony Award and Macavity Award finalist.
Elena's short stories have been published in the United States and Japan and most are available individually on Kindle. You can also find 16 of them in the SHORT CUTS TO MAYHEM anthology. She co-edited the short story anthologies, DEATH KNELL IV and DEATH KNELL V.
YESTERDAY, TODAY & FOREVER is a non-fiction book about Elena's uncle, Joseph B. Chicco, the journal he kept while serving aboard the U.S.S. Mobile in 1945 during World War II, and the PTSD that plagued him the rest of his life.
Contact her at www.elenasantangelo.com"
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 2, 2022
A satisfying story in the vein of Barbara Michaels' novels featuring a plucky heroine, colorful, well-thought-out characters, a mystery based on history and a supernatural theme. The story is interesting in itself without the mystery angle, although that's okay, too.
August 30, 2024
Never been a fan of Victoria Holt, but this one is reminiscent. Enjoyed it. Maybe I should try one of Ms. Holts...
October 15, 2016
Marginally interesting mystery novel involving Civil War flashbacks.
December 17, 2011
BY BLOOD POSSESSED by Elena Santangelo is 311 pages in paperback form. It is #1 in the Pat Montella Series.
Brief Description:
A VERY CONTEMPORARY WOMAN DISCOVERS A RICH PAST--AND AN EXCITING FUTURE...
The dreary days of Pat Montella's life come to a screeching halt when she's summoned to the history-laden estate of Bell Run, Virginia, where she's to inherit its old farmhouse and lovely, spacious woodlands. Ninety-one-year-old Miss Magnolia Shelby reveals the surprising reason she has chosen Pat to be her heir. Energetic Miss Maggie's passion is the Civil War, and through uncanny visions, Pat soon discovers that history can indeed come alive: in the pungent scent of roasting pork and coffee... the sudden fearsome sight of long-ago battles ... the sound of bullets striking wood.
What Pat "sees" while piecing together the tragic, poignant truth about Bell Run and the people who fought for it over a century ago, seduces her deeper into the past and into a dancer more frightening and immediate than she can possibly know...
I loved this book. It had history, it was set in the South and it went from present times to the Civil War era. For a first book, I thought it was very well done. Most of the chapters were two part, one set in modern times and one that was the history part or what the ghost wanted you to know.
There were a couple of surprises in this book and when you discover them, you almost want to go back and start over again to see how you could have missed this. At first I didn't think it tied together, but you have to keep reading to see how it all works out.
There is a little romance, but nothing that overpowers the mystery. Robert E Lee even makes an appearance.
I am giving this 5 out of 5 stars and can't wait to find the next one to see what ghost visits Pat the next time.
BUY NOW: Conniesbookshelf.com $2.99 in paperback.
Brief Description:
A VERY CONTEMPORARY WOMAN DISCOVERS A RICH PAST--AND AN EXCITING FUTURE...
The dreary days of Pat Montella's life come to a screeching halt when she's summoned to the history-laden estate of Bell Run, Virginia, where she's to inherit its old farmhouse and lovely, spacious woodlands. Ninety-one-year-old Miss Magnolia Shelby reveals the surprising reason she has chosen Pat to be her heir. Energetic Miss Maggie's passion is the Civil War, and through uncanny visions, Pat soon discovers that history can indeed come alive: in the pungent scent of roasting pork and coffee... the sudden fearsome sight of long-ago battles ... the sound of bullets striking wood.
What Pat "sees" while piecing together the tragic, poignant truth about Bell Run and the people who fought for it over a century ago, seduces her deeper into the past and into a dancer more frightening and immediate than she can possibly know...
I loved this book. It had history, it was set in the South and it went from present times to the Civil War era. For a first book, I thought it was very well done. Most of the chapters were two part, one set in modern times and one that was the history part or what the ghost wanted you to know.
There were a couple of surprises in this book and when you discover them, you almost want to go back and start over again to see how you could have missed this. At first I didn't think it tied together, but you have to keep reading to see how it all works out.
There is a little romance, but nothing that overpowers the mystery. Robert E Lee even makes an appearance.
I am giving this 5 out of 5 stars and can't wait to find the next one to see what ghost visits Pat the next time.
BUY NOW: Conniesbookshelf.com $2.99 in paperback.
July 31, 2011
Elena Santangelo's first novel of the Pat Montella mystery series, set near Fredericksburg Virginia, was a Finalist for the 1999 Agatha Award for Best First Novel. The story weaves a tale of Civil War history with modern-day crime. Pat Montella is a modern-day woman living and working in Pennsylvania, who learns she may inherit property in Virginia with one stipulation: she must come and stay 2 weeks with the current owner. Since Pat hates her job, she welcomes the vacation, even though her employer will only grudge her one week. Pat is from a large Italian family, and is surprised to learn she may also have a Virginian ancestor. Once Pat walks on the land, she begins to "hear" and "see" the past through an ancestor's experiences. Pat is charmed by the owner of Bell Run, befriends a young teenager and becomes infatuated with an estate lawyer. But someone wants her to leave...she is warned away, threatened and shot. As her personal danger increases, Pat refuses to leave because she is increasingly drawn to learning her ancestor's long-ago fate.
At first I considered the story overly concerned with Civil War troop-movement minutiae that only a dedicated CW buff would love, but I continued reading because I enjoy the style of alternating chapters from the past with the present. The first plot twist (past the halfway point) caught my attention, then I never put the book down until I finished it. The story blends elements of romance novels, historical fiction, mysteries, time-travel, feminism, and family drama. I feel the most effective part of the novel is when reading her ancestors' letters of Civil War events draws Pat into discovering what really happened to her family in the distant past.
At first I considered the story overly concerned with Civil War troop-movement minutiae that only a dedicated CW buff would love, but I continued reading because I enjoy the style of alternating chapters from the past with the present. The first plot twist (past the halfway point) caught my attention, then I never put the book down until I finished it. The story blends elements of romance novels, historical fiction, mysteries, time-travel, feminism, and family drama. I feel the most effective part of the novel is when reading her ancestors' letters of Civil War events draws Pat into discovering what really happened to her family in the distant past.
June 24, 2015
Pat Montella, living a dreary life as a single cubicle worker in New Jersey (or is it Pennsylvania? it's dreary, anyway), receives a mysterious invitation to an old house in Virginia which may someday be hers. She enjoys meeting the house's owner, an elderly lady who wants to leave the house and grounds to Pat in her will. Some of the neighbors are not so friendly, and developers are eager to get her to promise in advance to sell the land to them. And, Pat begins having some very strange feelings -- visions? hallucinations? -- as if she is back in Civil War days on this same land. The reasons for all this eventually become clear and there is a thrilling climax. This book reminded me of some of Barbara Michaels' work, which is high praise indeed. I'm glad there are more books in this series. Recommended for those who like history, genealogy, and, while it's not strictly time travel, it's good for time travel aficionados as well.
March 12, 2016
I loved this book. It's the first in a series that was just beginning, and since then I've read all the books as they've come out. This is a mystery, and the sleuth is Pat Montella, a very lively and likable character. Other good characters, and lots of action. Special features to this book, but I won't spoil the surprises by mentioning.
July 7, 2009
about a young woman who inherits a mysterious old house and her experiences as she attempts to piece together the old houses past history
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July 31, 2009One of my favorites - historical as well as mysterious
September 9, 2012
Not having that much interest in the Civil War, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. Good mystery twists in both the modern and fast stories.
December 5, 2012
Great first novel. Really enjoyed the historical/present day connection.
April 15, 2021
Great mystery from a Norristown author. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews