Mystery at Sag Bridge by Pat Camalliere Review!

A century-old murder mystery
A dangerous ghost
An amateur historian…
What binds them together?

Cora Tozzi is a retired businesswoman who, after nursing her mother through her final illness, wishes only for a peaceful orderly world in her suburban Chicago home. When an angry spirit begins to leave cryptic messages on her computer and threatens those around her, Cora is forced to dig into the town’s notorious past to uncover secrets that will free the bonds that tie her and the spirit. With the help of her husband and their friend, Frannie, Cora uses her skills as an amateur historian in a search that takes them into unexpected terrain including subterranean passages, an eerie graveyard, and shadowy paths in isolated forests where a sinister predator is awakened. As they battle unpredictable supernatural powers, the story takes a poignant turn: the spirit’s life is revealed, and both women, a century apart, examine threads into the past and the future, their loss, and longing linked across the generations. 

An avid reader of mysteries and historical fiction, Pat Camalliere recently utilized her skills—developed writing historical papers and programs, newsletters, and website content—to create her debut novel, The Mystery at Sag Bridge. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Chicago Writers Association. She lives with her husband in Lemont, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Visit her website at patcamallierebooks.com.

My Thoughts

The Mystery at Sag Bridge is a fictional story of a haunting in a real place. The haunting is imagined by the author but the location is real. Lemont Illinois is a suburb of Chicago and according to history, has a number of hauntings in it's past. 

Cora Tozzi is now retired and just wants to live the years she has left with her husband Cisco. Cora has always been the victim of happenings that she can not explain in her life. Things being moved or misplaced, drawers opening on their own and other unexplained events. Cora has given  this 'ghost' the name of Angel as she thinks it might be a guardian angel protecting her. She gets used to these events and life goes on. She took care of her parents and her mother is recently deceased and the odd occurrences happen with more frequency. She decideds to try and figure out what she can and this leads her to an elderly woman who gives Cora a diary. This diary is from a young woman who lived in Lemont taking care of her mother and the farm along with her husband, her sister, and brother in law. 

Cora reads the diary and she starts to get messages on her computer that start to frighten her. Something wanting her help. As Cora gets further into the diary she is confused as what the spirit wants from her so she enlists the help of a priest from St.James Church. The spirit does not like this at all and on a visit to Cora and Cisco's home, he is attacked buy a wolf right in their front yard. The priest is badly hurt and can not help Cora in figuring out what she should do to get these manifestations to stop. She gets her hubby, who is skeptical at this point, and her friend Frannie to help. They scour old records that they find at the historical society and in the tunnel that they discover. 

Back in the day, there were tunnels under the town that made it easier for owners of shops to get their goods. Ships unloaded and then the goods were taken to each shop underground. The tunnels were eventually closed as the town back in the late 1800's started to suffer as business's started moving out of the area. As the 'ghost' becomes more ominous, it is imperative that Cora finds out what happened to cause the scary events that she and her husband are experiencing. 

As the story emerges it seems that a man was murdered in the churchyard along with his wife and infant  The killer was never found and Cora comes to the conclusion that the ghost is the woman wanting justice to be done. Now, Cora, Cisco, and Frannie are in a race against the clock to make things right before their own lives are endangered.

This is one of the best ghost stories I have read in a long time, I actually read this book in one sitting. I often wonder when you look at old pictures what were their lives like and what tragedy's befell them because most everyone has had some sort of tragedy in their family history. Pat Camalliere tells a story that is fiction but you never know, something like this could and maybe did happen. You just have to imagine. The cover? That is a picture of the church in the story that really existed and is not the site of the Lemont Historical Society.

I received a copy of this book for review and was not monetarily compensated for my thoughts.