Pen Name:
Patricia Smith Wood
Genre:
Mystery
Website:
Social Media:
Bio
Patricia Smith Wood’s father, a career FBI agent, sparked her interest in law, crime solving and mystery. After retiring from a business career that included working at the FBI, being a security officer, and owning her own computer company, she published her first mystery, The Easter Egg Murder, a 2013 NM/AZ Book Awards Finalist in the Mystery Category. Her second book in the series, Murder on Sagebrush Lane, was published in March 2015. The third, Murder on Frequency, was released in 2017.
Books
Title: Raising Ruby: The Amazing True Story of a Twentieth Century Woman
Publisher: Aakenbaaken & Kent (2023)
Genre: Historical Biography/Memoir
By the onset of her fifties, Patricia Smith Wood, author of the Harriet McKinsey murder mysteries, began to think about the amazing life of her mother, Ruby Ellen Scott Smith. Ruby had overcome a great deal of trauma and unhappiness in her early years. She lived in five different states throughout her life. She met many new people she wouldn’t have known had she stayed in her childhood home. She attended Embassy parties in Washington, D.C., met politicians and statesmen alike, and hosted parties of her own. Ruby lived a rich, full life, and her friends and family were proud of her accomplishments.
When Patricia realized the dawn of the 21st Century was now 23 years past, she thought about how many new “adults” had been born since then. If she could tell her mother’s story and liberally include the history of her time, perhaps these “new” adults would have a better understanding about older generations. Unless people learn how different life was for their ancestors, they can’t comprehend the struggles, the hard work, and a raft of other issues they lived with. Patricia particularly wants her audience to know how different life was 100 or even 50 years ago. By telling Ruby’s story and intertwining the history she lived, she hopes the reader will give the older generation some slack.
Available for Sale
Amazon: paperback
Amazon: ebook
Title: Murder at the Petroglyphs
Publisher: Aakenbaaken & Kent (2019)
Genre: Cozy Mystery
The Ancient Ones walk among the sacred rocks at Petroglyphs National Monument. But are they responsible for the body discovered there one night during the full moon? Multiple jurisdictions of law enforcement are at a loss to find the identity of the dead man. The FBI, National Park Service, and Albuquerque Police wait for answers from the Office of the Medical Examiner (OMI), but they’re stumped too. The CIA, lurking in the background, seems no better at finding solutions. Enter Harrie McKinsey, a dreamer of prophetic dreams, wife of FBI agent DJ Scott, co-owner of Southwest Editing Services, and the consistent fly-in-the-ointment for all the above. But Harrie’s dreams always lead to answers, so what’s a law enforcement agency to do? Join the guessing game to solve Murder at the Petroglyphs. Will Harrie come through again, or will this be her last hurrah.
Available for Sale
Title: Murder on Frequency
Publisher: Aakenbaaken & Kent (2017)
Genre: Cozy Mystery
There’s nothing unusual about a ham operator contacting other radio enthusiasts. Unless he’s been dead for five years. When Harrie McKinsey and Ginger Vaughn—who have been described as the Lucy Ricardo and Ethyl Mertz of murder mystery—decide to study for their ham radio licenses, they get pulled into this mystery and find a trail leading to a long-lost treasure somewhere in New Mexico. Before it’s over, there’s another murder, an abduction, and a showdown with an aging Mafia don who values treasure more than human life. Harrie, Ginger, and their merry band of FBI, APD, and private detectives have to be on their toes to prevent another murder and save a family.
Available for Sale
Title: Murder on Sagebrush Lane
Publisher: Aakenbaaken & Kent (2015)
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Instead of her newspaper, Harrie McKinsey Scott discovers a small child sitting in the flower bed, her pajamas smeared with blood. Harrie’s search for the child’s parents involves her in a grisly murder investigation, a second murder, an attempted kidnapping, stolen top-secret data, and a killer who intends to make her his final victim.
Available for Sale
Title: The Easter Egg Murder
Publisher: Aakenbaaken & Kent (2013)
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Harrie McKinsey and her best friend and business partner Ginger Vaughn discover that some secrets are best left buried when retired Senator Philip Lawrence hires their editing firm to assist him with a book about the famous unsolved 1950 murder of a cocktail waitress that led to the end of illegal casinos in New Mexico. When the Albuquerque newspaper announces that Senator Lawrence is writing the book, one person with a connection to the case is murdered and another narrowly escapes death. Despite the best efforts of Ginger’s husband and an FBI agent Harrie finds infuriatingly attractive, the energetic pair cannot resist trying to discover who is so anxious to destroy the book, the senator, and his big secret. But will their proficiency and pluck be up to the challenge when they land in a dark house with a cold, calculating killer who has nothing else to lose?
Hi! I was wondering when Murder on Frequency is due out. I’m anxiously waiting!!
Thanks, Elizabeth, for your wonderful question! I hope it will be available by October 1, 2016. I’m working diligently to make that happen. If all goes well, and we don’t run into any glitches, that’s the date. Check out my website: http://www.patriciasmithwood.com, for further updates and information.
Again, thanks for being a fan. I do love fans, especially ones who are eager for the next book!