Patricia Stoltey Books In Order

Publication Order of Sylvia & Willie Mystery Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Pat Stoltey is the author of two Sylvia and Willie mystery novels that feature older amateur sleuths. Her novels have been finalists for several awards including the Colorado Book Award in 2015 for the standalone novel “Dead Wrong” and in 2018 for frontier fiction “Wishing Caswell Dead.” Her work in progress, “A Bad Week in Wampo” was a finalist in the Killer Nashville Claymore Award competition.

A short story “Three Sisters of Ring Island” was included in the “Tales in Firelight and Shadow Anthology” in 2014. “Good Work for a Girl” appeared in the anthology, “The Spoilt Quilt and Other Frontier Stories: Pioneering Women of the West.”

Stoltey spent much of her adult life as an accounts payable manager, before she got into writing in her retirement. Over the years she has lived in Illinois, Florida, the South of France, Indiana and Oklahoma. She currently lives in Colorado with her husband, a Scottish terrier named Sassy, and Katie Cat their brown tabby. She has four grown up children who live in California and Arizona.

Stoltey did not present much of her early work for publishing, though she always hoped that she would one day get a novel published. She had always loved mysteries and grew up on the likes of Nancy Drew before she graduated to reading Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner, authors in her mother’s library. She first made an attempt at writing in the 1970s when she tried putting down her brother’s experiences working in transportation. Her brother offered the trucker jargon, the technical specifications of eighteen wheelers, and the overall plot. “The Troubleshooter” was published only in audio book. Her next attempt was a thriller in which her lead character was taken hostage by Middle Eastern terrorists in Lebanon. That novel is still on her shelf to this day.

With her next novel, “The Prairie Grass Murders” she decided to set it in a contemporary environment and a familiar setting, central Illinois. In the sequel “The Desert Hedge Murders” she moved the story to Laughlin, NV and northwest Arizona though she stuck with the same familiar characters. In the standalone thriller, “Dead Wrong,” the protagonist is on the run and travels from South Florida to Colorado. The novel is based on a check theft ring Stoltey learned about when she worked for a company that had been victim to a similar crime.

“Wishing Caswell Dead” (2017) and “In Defense of Delia” (to be released 11/23/22) are historical fiction set in early 1830s in East Central Illinois where Stoltey grew up.

“The Prairie Grass Murders” is the first novel in the Sylvia and Willie series and introduces circuit court judge Sylvia Thorn who is sister to Willie Grisseljon, a man with PTSD from his war experiences. He is also intuitive, especially tuned into Sylvia’s moods and emotions. When Willie discovers a body while he is visiting their former home in Illinois, his behavior is treated as suspicious and delusional by a local deputy. Willie calls Sylvia to travel from Florida to get him out of jail. The two team up and their investigations soon unearth several clues that could be critical in solving the murder. But as Sylvia investigates further, she lands herself in trouble when the lead suspects find her snooping around the old homestead. Hiding from the villains, she overhears a conspiracy to commit another murder and narrowly escapes death. When the two return home to Florida, Sylvia soon realizes they are not safe. She digs up information from a legal database about a mysterious new neighbor that she believes will help law enforcement nab the killers.

“The Desert Hedge Murders” has an explosive start when Sylvia Thorn learns a body has been found in one of the Nevada hotel rooms where her mother’s travel club is staying. The club members get down to investigating even though they are a motley crew of elderly women that have never investigated a case before. They keep Sylvia on her toes until the Nevada detectives turn up to interview one of the members and find her missing. The Florida Flippers soon find the body during a tour of the Lone Cactus Gold Mine, making Sylvia believe that someone in the group may have something to do with the murdered man in the hotel room. To add to the internal turmoil and confusion, the much younger and handsome FBI agent that Sylvia met in Florida is on the case. The intuitive Willie and his father take off for Nevada from Florida to join the jumbled mess of puzzles they find hard to make sense of, forcing them to work with the FBI, the Mohave County Sheriff and the Florida Flippers.

As a writer, Patricia loves being part of the community and is a member of Sisters in Crime Colorado, Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Pikes Peak Writers, and Northern Colorado Writers.