About

About Pat Camalliere

Author of The Mystery at Sag Bridge

I think I always wanted to be a writer, but I never had the time or the guts to follow through on a complete novel until a couple of years after I retired. A career in medical group administration, all thirty-seven years of it, was personally satisfying, but left no time for anything else. Immediately after retirement I took on other commitments, Vice-President for Development of a community chorus, Vice President of the local library board, and archive volunteer for the local historical society. Finally I decided to limit my writing of procedure manuals, reports, newsletters, grant proposals, speeches, website content, and history programs, and write what I always wanted — mysteries. The Mystery at Sag Bridge was my first effort.

A lifelong avid reader with a varied appetite for novels of all genres as well as classic literature, I developed a keen interest in local history about twenty years ago, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Thus it was only natural that the mysteries I wanted to write would have a strong historical component, and be set in Lemont, Illinois, a suburb 25 miles southwest of Chicago. The Mystery at Sag Bridge is the first of a series that will features Cora Tozzi involved in a present day mystery tied to another mystery in the past.

In March of 2016, as a volunteer for the Lemont Area Historical Society, I revised an in-house publication of History & Anecdotes of Lemont, Illinois. I updated the book with another editor, added new material, designed a cover, and published the book on Amazon and Kindle, making a local resource more available to readers.

In August of 2016 I released my second novel, The Mystery at Black Partridge Woods, fulfilling a long-time longing to write a book with a Native American woman as an amateur sleuth. 

Then came a few years of personal medical problems that delayed my next book, and another setback when The Mystery of Mount Forest Island came out after the first month of the pandemic. I love most to talk to people about my books face to face, and that was impossible for longer than any of us anticipated.

Toward the end of 2022, I published The Miracle at Assisi Hill, which features a woman with ties to Lemont who is a single step from being canonized as a saint, Mother Mary Therese Dudzik. I hope the book promotes her candidacy and that she will be named “Saint” in my lifetime.

I have more stories in my head, and hope to live long enough to bring them all to my readers!

What else might my readers want to know about me? I have a very tolerant husband who does more than his share of daily tasks to allow me time to write. Chris, I couldn’t do it without you. I have two successful sons, who both were lucky enough to find wonderful wives to share their lives (and mine!), and two brilliant and energetic grandsons, and a delightful granddaughter was added to our family in July of 2015. In addition to the fact that a book is never more than an arm-reach away, I sing with a classical chorus, I enjoy my garden, I’m a decent cook, and I knit and crochet, especially during football season. I like sports and I’m a Bears  and a Bulls fan, but during games I like to keep my hands busy–it’s a woman’s way of enjoying sports. And, if my books haven’t already tipped you off, I enjoy walking the trails of the County Forest Preserves and exploring the delights of my home town.