IT’S HARD TO SAY GOODBYE

Today, my dear friend, Marilyn Meredith (F.M. Meredith), writes about ending her long-running Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series. I have been privileged to edit not only this great series but also her other books. She is a wonderful mystery writer.

If you haven’t yet discovered her books, pick one up. (All books in this series as well as her Deputy Tempe Crabtree series can be read out-of-sequence.)

It's hard to say goodbye.

In this case, it’s saying goodbye to all the folks in Rocky Bluff. Reversal of Fortune, number 17, is the last in this mystery series.

Believe me, it was a hard decision to make, but I had multiple reasons. The first one being police procedure has grown far beyond what I’m capable of writing. Yes, Rocky Bluff is a small town, and the police department is woefully understaffed and underpaid. This has been a good excuse to have a lot of work done in a bigger city. In my mind, I see changes coming in the form of higher salaries and more man (and woman) power.

Another reason is I’m moving along in years and have slowed down quite a bit. Though my characters haven’t aged as fast as I have, I felt it was time to wrap up some of the plot threads which have gone on for a while.

And lastly, it’s become harder and harder to come up with new crimes and plausible murder victims and motives.

It will definitely be hard to say goodbye to the characters I’ve created and grown fond of, including my two detectives: Doug Milligan and Felix Zachary and their families. And of course, there is Officer Gordon Butler, a reader favorite. He’s probably the character who has changed the most over the years, going from a by-the-book cop, who nevertheless, stumbled along in so many areas. His love life was always troubled, too, until he met the woman who becomes his wife.

There are also many folks who have appeared from time to time over the years, sometimes playing bigger roles in what goes on in Rocky Bluff in some books than others. In my mind, each and every one is as real to me as the people I’ve been friends with in my ordinary life.

I’m going to miss the folks who live in Rocky Bluff, the good ones and the ones who aren’t so good.

F.M. Meredith will now go back to being Marilyn Meredith.

To see what happens in the final Rocky Bluff mystery check out Reversal of Fortune.

A fortune teller is murdered in the small beach town of Rocky Bluff, California. The RBPD’s investigation uncovers several suspects—all with motives and opportunity. But which one killed her?

The body of a suspect is discovered on the fortune teller’s property. Clearly, the two killings are related, but how? And who killed them?

Meanwhile, the mayor’s daughter, Kayla, whose best friend is Detective Doug Milligan’s daughter, is upset because her mother’s sister wants her to leave Rocky Bluff to live with her in Los Angeles. Can her friends convince Kayla’s aunt to leave her there with her father?

F.M. Meredith, more commonly known as Marilyn, is the author of over 40 books, mostly mysteries including the popular Tempe Crabtree series. She is a member of two chapters of Sisters in Crime and Public Safety Writers Association. She lives with her husband in the foothills of the Southern Sierra.

Check out her F.M. Meredith page on Amazon as well as her Marilyn Meredith page. And find her book page on Facebook.

When Fiction Becomes Reality

 Today, fellow author and friend, Amy M. Bennett, describes what happens when fiction becomes reality.

 

When an author releases a new book, it’s usually a time of celebration. It was what I anticipated when I released my latest Black Horse Campground mystery, In The Heat of the Moment.

Little did I know when I wrote the fictional story that the events I described would soon become a terrifying reality.

Anyone who has lived in New Mexico for any length of time knows that wildfire season occurs whenever the combination of dry conditions and high winds meet in areas with plenty of fuel for flames. Since we have been in a drought for most of the last few years and since late winter/early spring brings the strongest winds, the Lincoln National Forest, where I live (and where my fictional campground is located), has become a high-risk area for fires.

When I started writing the book a year ago, I recalled the high emotions that accompanied the tragedy of the Little Bear Fire of 2012. This wildfire burned over 44,000 acres in roughly the same area. I used this event as a springboard for the story and figured nine years would be enough time to process it all. I wrote how the fire affected the village of Bonney, the people in the village, and the areas around it, displacing people and destroying property and homes. It added heightened tension to the other, more personal, events taking place in the book. I also wrote how the village came together to help. As Corrie says to J.D. in the book, “When people help when they’re struggling, that’s not just help. That’s love.”

Two weeks after the release of In the Heat of the Moment, the McBride Fire erupted in the village of Ruidoso, a real town near the fictional town of Bonney in my books. Within two days, the fire spread to over four thousand acres and destroyed many homes, including the home of my employer and fellow co-workers. Suddenly, all the emotions I poured into the book came rushing over me, and I felt a horrible dread, almost as if I had been responsible for bringing this tragedy upon my friends and our hometown. Of course, an event as common as a wildfire isn’t something triggered by a writer describing what happened before, but the feelings are there.

What is also there is the reminder that the community has emerged like a phoenix from this type of tragedy before and will rise again, with the help—the love—of those who are struggling as well. This is, fortunately, not just fiction.

In the Heat of the Moment

Things are about to heat up in Bonney County. While winter winds aren't blowing snow, a different storm front brings cold, hard truths to Corrie Black, Sheriff Rick Sutton, and Detective J.D. Wilder. A lack of guests threatens the future of Corrie's campground. Rick's ex-wife, Meghan, now owns the company that carries Corrie's insurance. The person with shocking proof from Meghan's past ends up dead. To what lengths will Rick go to secure a future for Corrie and himself? And where does J.D. fit in all of this? Tempers flare until a raging inferno jeopardizes the Black Horse Campground and the lives of those connected with it.

Amy M. Bennett is the author of The Black Horse Campground mystery series. She currently works as a cake decorator in Alamogordo, NM and a "vino slinger" with Noisy Water Winery in Ruidoso, NM. End of the Road, her first Black Horse Campground mystery, started as a project for National Novel Writing Month in 2009. It won the Oak Tree Press 2012 Dark Oak Mystery contest. This book and her second book in the series, No Lifeguard on Duty, were both awarded The Catholic Writers Guild Seal of Approval.

She and husband, Paul, currently reside in Bent, New Mexico, with their son, Paul Michael, who grew up believing that having a mother who writes mystery novels is normal.

Visit her website at: http://www.amymbennettbooks.com/ and The Back Deck Blog at: http://amymbennettbooks.blogspot.ca/

Sexual Harassment in Novels

Today, fellow author and friend, Janet Greger (J.L. Greger), talks about writing sexual harassment in novels.

 

Sexual harassment is common in the workplace. #MeToo moments are a way to build empathy in readers for characters and to show, not tell, about what motivates these characters.

The following is an excerpt from the mystery Games for Couples. It’s closely based on a real incident. The character is describing “her longest moment” more than twenty years later to her current partner:

 

“I seldom speak of it. I was an assistant professor at Michigan State and up for tenure. My department head called me at five and ordered me to come to his office at five-thirty. When I arrived, the main office was empty and dark. There was only a desk light on in his attached office.”

 

I closed my eyes and remembered. “My department head was standing in front of the big arched window in his office watering his fig tree, which was at least five feet tall. He turned to me and said, ‘The campus tenure committee doesn’t think you are ready for tenure unless I provide more details. I don’t want to bow to their whims.’”

 

Sanders (the character’s partner) was silent but he put his hand on my shoulder.

 

“I remember I was angry. I blurted out, ‘I have twenty publications in scientific journals—more than enough to win tenure.’ My department head said, ‘They agreed but doubted your teaching credentials.’ I was even angrier as I pointed out that I’d received a small teaching award and had favorable reviews from my classes. He said, ‘Yes, but I didn’t include that info in your file because I didn’t think those details were necessary. Now I’m too busy to bother.’”

 

Sanders grip tightened on my shoulder.

 

“My department head stepped toward me and said, ‘There’s an easy way... to gain my cooperation.’ His brown eyes stared expectantly at me as his right hand reached toward me. The next minute was my longest one. Each second felt like an hour.”

 

You’ll have to read the novel to learn the character’s response, but her comment below gives insight into the long-term effect of the incident.

 

“I forgave that department head years ago. What I couldn’t forget was what I learned about myself… That minute changed me.”

 

Advice for writers: Dramatic moments, like the above #MeToo moment, should not be overly long or overpower the pIot. They are simply tools for developing multi-dimensional characters. As an author you want to build empathy, not sympathy, for the character.

Games for Couples has interesting characters and a strong plot. Here’s a thumbnail sketch:

 

A biotechnology company is desperately racing to develop cultured meat products—meat made from cells in a test tube—-before their competitors. Disaster strikes. A subject in a clinical trial testing one of their new cultured meat product dies. Was his death caused by sloppy mistakes made by the biotechnology company, sabotage by a competitor, or hidden past incidents?

 

In this mystery, four women react differently to sexual harassment but all are changed by their #MeToo moments. The book is available on www.Amazon.com.

J. L. Greger writes is a biologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison who consulted internationally. The pet therapy dog Bug (shown in the picture) in her novels is exactly like her own stoical Japanese Chin. https://www.jlgreger.com

LOSING ONE’S PUBLISHER

 

Today, fellow writer, John Lindermuth, writes about what happens when an author loses a publisher. We were both published by the same independent publisher who died. It was a challenge for all of us.

 

What's a writer to do when they lose a publisher?

It's a dilemma many of us have faced. It was the situation confronting me with the death of Billie Johnson, publisher of Oak Tree Press. Regaining the rights to Fallen From Grace and Sooner Than Gold, the first two books in my Sheriff Tilghman mystery series published by Oak Tree, was not a problem.

What to do with the books did pose a problem, though.

The two obvious choices were to find another publisher or self-publish. I've always preferred to work with publishers and didn't feel confident in having the technological skills needed to do a good job of self-publishing.

Fortunately, Lawrence Knorr, my publisher at Sunbury Press, had published The Bartered Bride, third book in the series, and he agreed to reissue the first two books under Sunbury's Milford House imprint.

Dilemma solved.

We'd hoped the books would have been out sooner, but the pandemic and other issues slowed the process. Fallen From Grace and Sooner Than Gold were released on January 31 of this year and are now available from the publisher, on Amazon, and from other popular outlets in both print and Kindle formats.

 Sheriff Sylvester Tilghman is the third of his family to serve as sheriff of the small Pennsylvania town of Arahpot in the waning days of the 19th century.

As Fallen From Grace opens, Syl is a man focused on two problems: finding a new deputy and convincing Lydia Longlow, his true love, to accept his latest marriage proposal. The murder of a stranger in town suddenly makes his life more complicated.

In Sooner Than Gold, he confronts a murder victim with too many enemies, a band of gypsies hunting a man who stole one of their young women, a female horse thief, and other problems while still trying to convince Lydia to marry him.

The books were popular with readers in their first inception, and I believe, for those who haven't read them, lovers of cozy and historical mysteries will enjoy them. Oh, and I might mention, By Strangers Mourn'd, a fourth book in the series will be coming next.

Here's a short blurb for Fallen From Grace:

The 19th century is coming to a close, and Sheriff Tilghman is focused on his two biggest problems: Finding a new deputy and convincing his true love, Lydia, to marry him.

But his problems are about to get more complicated.

The town’s usual tranquility is shaken to the core.

A stranger has been killed.

And one for Sooner Than Gold:

It’s the summer of 1898. The nation, just coming out of an economic slump, has been at war with Spain since April. And Sylvester Tilghman, sheriff of Arahpot, Jordan County, Pennsylvania, has a murder victim with too many enemies. There’s Claude, who is found standing with a knife in his hand over the body. There’s Rachel, a surly teen who admits she intended to cause harm. Then there’s the band of gypsies who claim the victim is the goryo who stole one of their young women. If this isn’t enough to complicate Tilghman’s life, add in threats to his job, a run-in with a female horse thief; scary predictions by a gypsy fortuneteller, and the theft of Doc Mariner’s new motorcar, plus, plenty of good eating, church-going and socializing. And, before all is over, Sylvester solves the crime and even comes a little closer to his goal of finally marrying longtime girlfriend Lydia Longlow.

J. R. Lindermuth is the author of 19 novels, including eight in the Sticks Hetrick mystery series set in a fictional rural community near Harrisburg, PA. A retired newspaper editor/writer, he is now librarian of his county's historical society where he assists patrons with research and genealogy. He has published stories and articles in a variety of magazines, both print and on line. He is a member of International Thriller Writers and is a past vice president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Additional information on his books and writing is available at www.jrlindermuth.net

THE IRISH SIDE

Several years ago, I wrote about some of my Danish ancestors. My dad’s mother was Irish, and her family is interesting, too.

My second great-grandmother, Margaret Lyons, was born in Skibbereen, Cork, Ireland in 1843. She arrived in the US in 1853 when she was nine-years-old with her parents, Timothy Lyons and Catherine Lane. Both were from County Cork, Ireland. (I have traced their families farther back, but I will write about those who came to this country.)

In 1861, She married Edward Eamon (or Joseph—records differ) Connolly, born in 1834 in Carrickmacross, Monaghan, Ireland. He was twenty-seven, and she was eighteen.

Their daughter, Catherine (Kit or Kate) Connolly, born in 1862 in Danville, Illinois, was my great-grandmother.

She married Thomas Anthony McNamara, born in 1860 in Streator, Illinois in 1881 in LaSalle County, Illinois. She was nineteen-years-old and he was twenty-one. I have no photos of Thomas.

They had seven children, of whom my grandmother, Margaret Imelda, was number five. She was born in Streator, Illinois in 1897.

In 1915, when Margaret was eighteen-years-old, she married Henry Ramsbottom Lund in Utah. He was twenty-nine. (I think my brother resembled the photo below.)

Their marriage was a bit of a problem because he came from a Utah Mormon pioneer family, and Margaret’s family was Catholic. Grandpa once told me he had a shotgun wedding. “Her brother came after me with a shotgun!”

They moved to Nevada, where my dad, Henry LaRay Lund, was born in Ely in 1916.

Grandpa grew up on a cattle ranch in Spring City, Utah. He was also a blacksmith and a talented cabinetmaker. During the Great Depression, he was never out of work. (He worked in the smithy behind his house until about two years before he died.)

Grandpa’s older brother homesteaded in Alberta, Canada. He had a large ranch. So, Grandpa packed up his family and moved there.

While living on the ranch, my two aunts, Rose Imelda and Mary Evelyn, were born.

The family moved again, this time to California to join several of Grandpa’s siblings.

When Dad was six, Rose was three, and Mary Evelyn was eighteen months, their mother died. (I was told the photo above was taken after their mother passed away, and she was added.)

The children were sent to live with Grandpa’s older sister, Sarah Edith. She had raised Grandpa and several of his siblings after his own mother passed away when he was nine-years-old. (She had given birth to thirteen children.)

When Rose was old enough to go to school, the girls moved in with their McNamara aunts in Alhambra, California. Dad lived with Aunt Edith in Riverside, CA, and Grandpa lived in Hawthorne, CA. They didn’t see him often.

When Dad was fourteen and ready to start high school, he returned to live with his dad. When Rose entered high school, Dad brought the girls home. He saw to it that both finished high school.

Dad married my mother, Vera Mary Methven, in 1942. He was twenty-eight, and she was twenty-four.

Dad was serving in the US Army in WWII at the time. Until the end of 1945, they were apart.

Dad returned home, and in 1946, I was born. In 1949, my brother, Ronald Travis Lund joined the family.

We moved to a brand-new house in Alhambra, California in November of 1948, just months before Ron was born.

Dad died in 1954. I was seven. Ron was four.

When Ron passed away in August of 2020, we found an outline for a book about an idealized childhood among his things. Larry and I decided to complete the book. Since we all grew up in the same neighborhood, the memories in the book include both of ours as well as my brother’s. The book, Dominic Drive, was published in January of 2021.

I wrote about more than my Irish roots, but they led to my being where I am today.

Are you interested in your own genealogy? I have done extensive researched on mine and Larry’s. We have found many surprises along the way.