Pati Nagle
Author of A Fatal Twist of Lemon
About the Author
Image credit: Patrice Greenwood pseudonym of Pati Nagle
Series
Works by Pati Nagle
A Call to Arms: The Civil War Adventures of Sarah Emma Edmonds, alias Private Frank Thompson (2014) 47 copies, 29 reviews
Intermezzo: Household Matters: A Wisteria Tearoom Interlude (Wisteria Tearoom Mysteries) (2021) 4 copies
The Missing Forget-me-nots: A Wisteria Tearoom Short Story (Wisteria Tearoom Mysteries) (2021) 3 copies
Draw 2 copies
Arroyo de Oro 2 copies
The Cornfield (short) 1 copy
The Ruby Tear 1 copy
Kind Hunter 1 copy
Associated Works
Lord of the Fantastic: Stories in Honor of Roger Zelazny (1998) — Contributor — 174 copies, 1 review
Nevertheless, She Persisted: A Book View Cafe Anthology (2017) — Contributor — 48 copies, 18 reviews
Infinite Loop: Stories About the Future by the People Creating It: Software Development's Own Anthology of Science Fiction (1994) — Contributor — 12 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Nagle, Pati
- Other names
- Greenwood, Patrice
Nagle, P. G. - Gender
- female
- Organizations
- Co-founder Book View Cafe
- Short biography
- Pati Nagle was born and raised in the mountains of northern New Mexico. An avid student of music, history, and humans in general, she loves the outdoors but hides from the sun. Her stories have appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Cicada, Cricket, and in various anthologies, including collections honoring New Mexico writers Jack Williamson and Roger Zelazny. Her short story "Coyote Ugly" received an honorable mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror and was honored as a finalist for the Theodore Sturgeon Award.
*******************
Patrice Greenwood was born and raised in New Mexico, and remembers when dusty dogs rolled in the Santa Fe Plaza. She has been writing fiction for over twenty years.
She loves afternoon tea, old buildings, gourmet tailgating at the opera, games, costumes, and solving puzzles. Her popular Wisteria Tearoom Mysteries are informed by many of these interests. She is presently collapsed on her chaise longue, planning the next book in the series. [from Author Page, Amazon.com, retrieved 10/04/2015 - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
- Places of residence
- Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- New Mexico, USA
Members
Reviews
Five murdered poker players from different eras are brought back from the dead for one last tournament. The prize is life itself.
The book opens with Wild Bill Hickok finding himself pulled from the grave, his bones clothing themselves with flesh and the flesh with clothes. The reader follows along with Bill as he tries to work out what's going on and why he feels an urge to go to Atlantic City, although the reader has an advantage over him in being able to recognise the present day and just show more how much time has passed. Another four men from different time periods have the same experience, although one is so recently dead that he is able to convince friends and family that he'd been kidnapped and held incommunicado for several years. As they gradually assemble, they discover that they have been revived for the greatest poker tournament in history - between the greatest players, no matter when they lived.
The result is an atmospheric blend of ghost story and mystery, with some superb world-building going into the strange casino that has revived the men. The characters are well developed, and it's a joy to watch their interaction, and their different reactions to the present day. Those reactions are driven in part by their different reasons for wanting the prize; not just a new life in a recreated body, but what they want to do with that life. A chance at love, a chance at revenge, fascination with this new world they find themselves in... Even for the four losers, their short time walking the earth again allows them to do at least a little of what was left undone.
A lovely short ghost novel for Halloween, with the emphasis on the human soul rather than on horror. show less
The book opens with Wild Bill Hickok finding himself pulled from the grave, his bones clothing themselves with flesh and the flesh with clothes. The reader follows along with Bill as he tries to work out what's going on and why he feels an urge to go to Atlantic City, although the reader has an advantage over him in being able to recognise the present day and just show more how much time has passed. Another four men from different time periods have the same experience, although one is so recently dead that he is able to convince friends and family that he'd been kidnapped and held incommunicado for several years. As they gradually assemble, they discover that they have been revived for the greatest poker tournament in history - between the greatest players, no matter when they lived.
The result is an atmospheric blend of ghost story and mystery, with some superb world-building going into the strange casino that has revived the men. The characters are well developed, and it's a joy to watch their interaction, and their different reactions to the present day. Those reactions are driven in part by their different reasons for wanting the prize; not just a new life in a recreated body, but what they want to do with that life. A chance at love, a chance at revenge, fascination with this new world they find themselves in... Even for the four losers, their short time walking the earth again allows them to do at least a little of what was left undone.
A lovely short ghost novel for Halloween, with the emphasis on the human soul rather than on horror. show less
Depressed after the death of her parents, Ellen Rosing is slowly rebuilding her life and decides to open a Victorian Tea Room. She has invested everything in the Tea Room and wants desperately for it to succeed. Her plans seemed doomed to failure, however, when a guest is murdered before the Tea Room officially opens to the public. Ellen doesn't think Detective Tony Aragon (whom she quickly nicknames Detective Arrogant) is doing enough to solve the crime so she takes matters into her own show more hands to try and solve the crime and save her Tea Room.
“A Fatal Twist of Lemon” is the nicely done first book in Patrice Greenwood's Wisteria Tea Room cozy mystery series. At first I wasn't sure I was going to like the book because it started with the murder - I like to get to know the characters, including the victim, in a cozy mystery before the murder - that way I can “solve” the mystery alongside the heroine. Since readers weren't shown the events leading up to the murder I was sure I would not enjoy the book - boy was I wrong! I was quickly caught up in Ellen’s story - both her past story and present story and liked her character. The Tea Room setting is not unique but nicely done and I could almost taste the food while reading the book. The mystery was well done with plenty of suspects and some tense moments. The only thing I didn't like about the book is that there were a few too many loose ends. I realize there will probably be more books in the series but the paranormal aspects especially could have been developed/explained more by the end of this book.
“A Fatal Twist of Lemon” is a tasty beginning to a promising cozy mystery series. show less
“A Fatal Twist of Lemon” is the nicely done first book in Patrice Greenwood's Wisteria Tea Room cozy mystery series. At first I wasn't sure I was going to like the book because it started with the murder - I like to get to know the characters, including the victim, in a cozy mystery before the murder - that way I can “solve” the mystery alongside the heroine. Since readers weren't shown the events leading up to the murder I was sure I would not enjoy the book - boy was I wrong! I was quickly caught up in Ellen’s story - both her past story and present story and liked her character. The Tea Room setting is not unique but nicely done and I could almost taste the food while reading the book. The mystery was well done with plenty of suspects and some tense moments. The only thing I didn't like about the book is that there were a few too many loose ends. I realize there will probably be more books in the series but the paranormal aspects especially could have been developed/explained more by the end of this book.
“A Fatal Twist of Lemon” is a tasty beginning to a promising cozy mystery series. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Romance among the elven vampires. What more could you want?! Really enjoyable, well written, well plotted and inventive in a small world. Very much looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy and finding out where the author is taking this.
We follow both populations of elves, the 'normal' ones, living contented lives of plenty, following a sanctimonious creed, of true love and respect to all living things, even those they slaughter for food; and dark elves, cursed long ago and show more expelled in a Bitter War, who subsist on the fringes of the land, surviving only by their cunning, drinking the blood of the kobolds to get by - even they have honour. We follow a pair of young lovers newly caught in the joy of each other. And also the leader of the dark elves who has a plan to regain their city they lost so long ago - but it requires a bit of luck and sacrifice.
It's just all nicely woven together and enjoyable reading. The characters have charisma personality and sparkle, the plot makes sense with motivations that are believable ,and all set in a world that makes sense. show less
We follow both populations of elves, the 'normal' ones, living contented lives of plenty, following a sanctimonious creed, of true love and respect to all living things, even those they slaughter for food; and dark elves, cursed long ago and show more expelled in a Bitter War, who subsist on the fringes of the land, surviving only by their cunning, drinking the blood of the kobolds to get by - even they have honour. We follow a pair of young lovers newly caught in the joy of each other. And also the leader of the dark elves who has a plan to regain their city they lost so long ago - but it requires a bit of luck and sacrifice.
It's just all nicely woven together and enjoyable reading. The characters have charisma personality and sparkle, the plot makes sense with motivations that are believable ,and all set in a world that makes sense. show less
Fifth in a series of cozy mysteries set in the Wisteria Tearoom in Santa Fe, this one is set around a Halloween masquerade.
This is actually the first book in the series that I've read and I did not find that any barrier to figuring out who was who and what was going on with the story, there were a few pieces of history I'm sure I didn't fully get but the writing and characters are so strong it stood well on its own.
I like the setting of Santa Fe, for me it is not a part of the country I've show more read many books in and the mix of Hispanic and Anglo cultures is one I'm enjoying. I also liked the non-stereotypical representation of the Goth subculture and the art scene, from what I read in this book I get a strong sense of the authors ability to represent various groups respectfully and not make them into caricatures.
As for the characters, I really enjoyed meeting everyone in this book, from the nice ones to the annoying ones to the ones you can tell were just going to be making an appearance in this book. They felt like real people, with histories and their own motivations and even after one book I already feel attached to several of them.
The mystery was solid and the conclusion was not quite what I was expecting, which was a nice surprise and I also liked the hints at the deeper ongoing mystery of Captain Dusenberry and am really looking forward to going back to the first book and finding out more about him and his story.
The main recipes mentioned are included at the end of the book, and I especially appreciated the photos, those were an unusual and very nice touch.
A fun book, a genuine page-turner for me, I had a very hard time stopping reading when responsibilities or sleep called. I am very happy to find a new cozy series to enjoy. show less
This is actually the first book in the series that I've read and I did not find that any barrier to figuring out who was who and what was going on with the story, there were a few pieces of history I'm sure I didn't fully get but the writing and characters are so strong it stood well on its own.
I like the setting of Santa Fe, for me it is not a part of the country I've show more read many books in and the mix of Hispanic and Anglo cultures is one I'm enjoying. I also liked the non-stereotypical representation of the Goth subculture and the art scene, from what I read in this book I get a strong sense of the authors ability to represent various groups respectfully and not make them into caricatures.
As for the characters, I really enjoyed meeting everyone in this book, from the nice ones to the annoying ones to the ones you can tell were just going to be making an appearance in this book. They felt like real people, with histories and their own motivations and even after one book I already feel attached to several of them.
The mystery was solid and the conclusion was not quite what I was expecting, which was a nice surprise and I also liked the hints at the deeper ongoing mystery of Captain Dusenberry and am really looking forward to going back to the first book and finding out more about him and his story.
The main recipes mentioned are included at the end of the book, and I especially appreciated the photos, those were an unusual and very nice touch.
A fun book, a genuine page-turner for me, I had a very hard time stopping reading when responsibilities or sleep called. I am very happy to find a new cozy series to enjoy. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 46
- Also by
- 17
- Members
- 942
- Popularity
- #27,278
- Rating
- 3.4
- Reviews
- 315
- ISBNs
- 69
- Favorited
- 1
