Customer Reviews

By Blood Possessed

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wisecracking Patricia "Pat" Montella is in a dead-end job and in a nowhere life when out-of-the-blue this Pennsylvania native is notified that a stranger is considering bequeathing property in Virginia to her.

The stranger is retired school teacher, Civil War historian and present owner, Magnolia "Miss Maggie" Shelby. Her one stipulation is that Pat spend one week in May at Bell Run, the estate in question, to learn about the land, the Bell Family and ultimately about Pat, herself.

Laying claim to Bell Run is no easy task for Pat Montella. Not only is there a long-lost descendant of the Bell clan competing for the family homestead, but there are also land developers itching to get their hands on this prime real estate property. Threats, murder and eerie happenings move the plot to a predictable but very satisfying climax, with plenty of suspense to spare.

This book is a real find. Not only do you fall in love with Pat Montella in the first chapter as she humorously fantasizes the demise of her obnoxious boss in a barrage of rifle fire, but you can really empathize with a petite but broad-hipped, short woman in white slacks crawling through Virginia woodland.

Elena Santangelo has created very real characters that are warm, funny, flawed and tragic. She has blended character with the passage of time into an engrossing and atmospheric plot that toggles between presend day Virginia and the ravaged Virginia of the Civil War. I'm looking forward to the sequel!

I should know better than to start a mystery novel before bedtime. Especially one as gripping and well-written as BY BLOOD POSSESSED. After several sleepless hours, completely engrossed in the novel, I realized that Elena Santangelo is definitely a force to be reckoned with. And no, I did not get to sleep until I finished the book.

This, her first mystery novel, not only delivers one of the best stories I've read, but skillfully weaves both the historical "back" story with the contemporary primary storyline with seamless integration, combining them into a finished, polished tale that will hold its own among the best of the genre. Santangelo bears watching - she may just sneak up and snatch an award or two. Brava!

I don't like historical mysteries. I don't like mysteries about time travel. I don't like flash backs and forwards. I'm not a Civil War buff. But I LOVED By Blood Possessed by Elena Santangelo. If you like the aforementioned items, you might love this book even more.

The main protagonist is from the Philadelphia area and, while she's surprised to discover Civil War era Virginia ancestors, she's well aware of her Philly Italian heritage from the Montella's, Giamo's etc.

Pat is refreshingly real. She hates her job. Her life is going nowhere. Her description of the outcome of her five dating relationships (only two getting beyond date #1) is worth the price of the book.

This is a story short on terrifying suspense, yet I couldn't put it down. I think there's a big future for Pat.

Elena Santangelo's first novel is a winner. This book is about a woman who unexpectedly gets a reprieve from her dead-end job and mundane life by learning of an opportunity to inherit some land in northern Virginia. City-bred Pat Montella learns to love the Virginia woods where elderly Magnolia Shelby lives, and who plans to leave Pat the land in her will. Pat decides to check it out by spending a week with Miss Maggie, which is a condition of getting the land. Pat is inexplicably drawn to the land in ways she cannot fathom at first. Later, it becomes clear to her. The author uses a most interesting technique of having 2 first-person characters in the book, one from the current day (Pat) and another from Civil War times. The reader is drawn into the connection between the two, with a few surprises along the way. I love Civil War fiction, so I expected to like this book. I didn't just like it, I devoured it. This book has humor, Civil War history, romance, and suspense. Thank goodness the flyleaf tells us Santangelo is already working on a sequel.

Pat Montella works in an office in Southeast Pennsylvania. She plans to vacation in a Bell Run, Virginia where a civil war estate exists in a rural part of the state. Though she does not know the current owner, if she stays for one week she inherits the property when Magnolia Shelby dies. Pat plans to sell the land until she meets its owner and sees the property.

Pat begins to sense events that occurred during the Civil War. Apparently, the estate resides on a window to the past and Pat can see through the opening to the 1860s. Someone else prefers Pat to not inherit Bell Run. That unknown individual tries to kill Pat. When a murder happens, Pat, accompanied by a smart teen, seeks to learn the truth.

BY BLOOD POSSESSED is a combination family saga wrapped inside an interesting mystery. Elena Santangelo provides readers with different views of Bell Run by alternating chapters between the past and the present. The author also furnishes the audience with the horror of battle. If this debut tale is any indication, Ms. Santangelo will gift readers with many future novels.

Harriet Klausner

Elena Santangelo is a very good writer and she has written an outstanding book with two equally compelling stories. Pat Montello, who needs a change, discovers that she is in line to inherit a house in rural Virginia from a 91-year-old woman who wants it to revert to the family that was almost wiped out in the Civil War. Pat knows only her Italian and Sicilian heritage, but finds an almost psychic connection with a woman who lived during that time. Santangelo combines a "puzzle" from the Civil War with a modern day mystery and does it in superb and page-turning style with just the right amount of humor from the oft irreverent Pat. Highly recommended for mystery fans, historical fans or those who crave a well-crafted, beautifully written story with a great plot.

What a fantastic read! I don't usually like history, and I'm not a Civil War buff at all. However, I LOVED this. The main characters Pat and Miss Maggie are refreshing and fun to follow along this journey. There is a hint of supernatural which lends the air of mystery just that much more punch. I loved the first person voices, it was an approach I found delightful.
we get to hear a voice from the past and the present intertwine into a double mystery that will grip you until the very end. I've never found history so fascinating.

A satisfying story in the vein of Barbara Michaels' novels featuring a plucky heroine, colorful, well-thought-out characters, a mystery based on history and a supernatural theme. The story is interesting in itself without the mystery angle, although that's okay, too.

This is a story about a woman named Pat Montella, who finds out that she stands to inherit a Civil War-era estate in Virginia. Pat is single, and doesn't understand how she can inherit this property from a stranger in the South. How is she related? She takes time off her job to meet Miss Maggie Shelby, a lovable but eccentric old lady, and the story begins. Pat receives some death threats, but from who?
I really loved this story! There is the mystery of who wants to kill Pat, and the mystery of what really happened to the Bell family, who originally owned the estate. Pat has dreams about a past ancestor, and she ends up solving the present and past mystery.
Elena Santangelo is a wonderful writer! She made Pat humorous and compelling at the same time. It made me laugh to see how Patricia, an Italian girl from back East, tries to fit in with Southern folks. I liked all the other characters in the book as well. The author would weave from the past back to the present in a way that wasn't distracting or choppy. I stayed up late to read this book, and it had a very satisfactory ending. I look forward to reading
her other books!

A young woman, in a dead end job that she hates, receives a mysterious message from a lawyer in Virginia regarding a possible bequest. It sounds like an old formula, and it is, but the author adeptly keeps the reader interested. This book has everything, mystery, romance, and the ghost of a long dead relative. The characters are very well drawn and the mystery was difficult to solve. Enjoy it.