About Pat Camalliere

 

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 use my experience writing 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 was the first of a series that 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 Covid 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 helps to promote her candidacy and that she will be named “Saint” in my lifetime.

Two years later, in 2024, I published my memoir, Staying Alive Is a Lot of Work: Me and My Cancer. I had worked almost forty years in health care, providing care to cancer patients, when in 2018 I was treated for cancer myself. As a fortunate cancer survivor who understands both the medical and patient side of cancer and who has the skills needed to explain the disease to others, I felt I had to tell that story to help other cancer patients, the people who love them, and their medical providers. In addition to making the story of a head and neck cancer patient available to others, I am now and Ambassador for the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance and a Mentor for Immerman Angels, a one-on-one cancer support organization. I will also speak to groups about my cancer experience.

My most recent book is Last Call at Smokey Row, published in 2025. It is a standalone about a woman in her mid-thirties who takes steps to reinvent herself with the help of friends from a neighborhood bar.

I am now working on a new story in the Cora Tozzi series that involves a woman who is a hoarder and becomes tangled in the unsolved murder of a Lemont high school student in 1971.

I have more stories in my head and hope to live long enough to bring more 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 were both lucky enough to find wonderful wives to share their lives (and mine!), and three brilliant and energetic grandchildren. I’m still a board member of the Lemont Public Library, and actively involved in the Lemont Area Historical Society. In addition to the fact that a book is never more than an arm-reach away, 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 hometown, Lemont.