Patricia Gligor, Guest Author

My guest this week is my friend and author Patricia Gligor, and I think you'll enjoy her take on humorous children. We need something to lighten the mood once in a while, and these kids will surprise you. I’m in the midst of reading Mistaken Identity right now and I’m enjoying it immensely. Welcome, Pat! What's the funny word today?(Read the post and you'll see why my last comment is a small play on words.)

Kids Say the Darndest Things

As Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby have each illustrated in their TV shows, “Kids say the darndest things.” Children, especially young children, can brighten up a day with the humorous things they say and do. In my Malone mystery series, I use my main character’s two children, Danielle and Davey, to inject humor into the very serious topics in my books. After all, there isn’t anything funny about a serial killer, a child abduction, a murder or the other topics of future books in my series. And that’s fine; it’s what mysteries are made of. But, we all need to lighten up a bit. Here’s an excerpt from Mistaken Identity:

“Mommy, what’s a fuddy-duddy? That’s a funny word.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“At the fireworks tonight. That’s what that lady called the man with the white hair.”

“What man?”

“You know, Mommy, the one Mrs. Brunner introduced us to.”

“Robert Harrington?”

Davey shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. He told the lady that she’s a married woman and she shouldn’t dress like a slut. So, what’s a fuddy-duddy? And what’s a slut?”

Danielle giggled and Marnie turned her head and covered her mouth with her hand.

Davey put his hands on his hips and glared at Danielle. “What’s so funny? I’m allowed to learn new words too, you know.” He looked up at his mother, waiting for her reply.

“Oh boy!” Ann reached down and tousled his hair. “A fuddy-duddy is someone who is old-fashioned, stuck in their ways of thinking and doing things and not open to new ideas.”

“A stick-in-the-mud,” Marnie said, walking up behind Ann.

Davey giggled. “A stick-in-the mud!”

Danielle rolled her eyes. “Aunt Marnie, you have to understand that Davey takes everything literally. Right now he’s picturing a real stick stuck in the mud.

Blurb for “Mistaken Identity”

  

Ann feels like she’s in Paradise as she digs her toes into the soft, white sand and gazes out at the ocean. She’s looked forward to this trip to South Carolina for a long time and all she wants to do is bask in the sun, resting and relaxing.

She and her two young children are enjoying their time on Fripp Island with Ann’s sister, Marnie, and Marnie’s elderly friend and former neighbor, Clara Brunner, a long time resident with a vast knowledge of the island and the people who live there. At the fourth of July fireworks, Clara introduces them to newlyweds Jenny and Mark Hall and their families.

But Ann’s plans for a peaceful vacation are shattered the next morning. When she goes for a solitary walk on the beach, she discovers the body of a young woman with the chain of a gold locket twisted around her neck and she immediately recognizes the locket as the one Jenny Hall was wearing the night before.

Shocked and saddened, Ann is determined to try to find the killer and to see them brought to justice. She convinces Marnie and Clara to join her in conducting an investigation but, in the process, she places her own life in jeopardy.

 

Patricia Gligor Bio:

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 but her passion has always been writing fiction. Ms. Gligor writes the Malone Mystery series. The first three books, Mixed Messages, Unfinished Business, and Desperate Deeds take place in Cincinnati but in Mistaken Identity, the fourth book, her characters are vacationing on Fripp Island in South Carolina.

Her books are available at:

http://tinyurl.com/ntujm7s

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/patricia-gligor?keyword=patricia+gligor&store=book

http://postmortem-press.com

Visit her website at: http://pat-writersforum.blogspot.com/

 

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Don't forget, purple cows and elderly spies can be found keeping company with a Humphrey Bogart lookalike in How Now Purple Cow - A Bogey Man Mystery .