Today I welcome one of my favorite authors and good friend, Marilyn (F.M.) Meredith. I asked her why she wrote about a ghost in her latest book, Violent Departures. Since my own book Ghost Writer, features a ghost, I wanted to know why she chose one as a character.
My host for today
posed this question, and it’s a good one.
Stories in my Deputy
Tempe Crabtree series often have ghosts in them. Tempe is a Native American and
she’s quite open to the spirit world. I’ve done a lot of research about spirits
and ghostly visitations for this series and other books I’ve written.
I’ve never had a
ghost in my Rocky Bluff P.D. series before, but there is one in ViolentDepartures. I’m not going to tell you about it because I don’t want to
spoil the story.
I’m not sure how I
feel about ghosts, but the idea has always intrigued me. Perhaps they are just
a residue of a person, a remembrance that remains in a place, or maybe as some
have said, they are not ready to move on or have unfinished business that is
keeping them here.
My grandkids think
the house hubby and I call home is haunted. Yes, doors do open and close on
their own, and our two big cats have always acted like they see things we
don’t. Does it bother us? No, because I don’t think ghostly beings can do any
harm.
Hubby and I have
stayed in a few reportedly haunted places. The Menger Hotel in San Antonio is
one. It’s a beautiful old hotel built in 1859. My experience with a ghost there
happened at night. Someone kept knocking on a nearby door. I finally stepped
into the hall to see what the problem was. The knocking continued, but no one
was there.
Room
17 in the Bella Maggiore Inn in Ventura CA is supposed to be haunted by a
prostitute. Of course we asked for that room—but no ghost. Daughter said it was
because I was there with my husband. Because it’s an old hotel, it does have
the ambience of having ghostly residents.
And
then there’s the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. We’ve stayed there several
times. It’s fun to take the ghost tour where you can see manufactured ghosts.
One time when I left an event and came down in the elevator to my deck, I was
completely disoriented. Nothing looked the same as it had earlier. I felt like
I’d stepped back in time. I couldn’t find my room. I went to the center of the
deck, turned around and walked back and everything returned to normal.
That’s
as close as I can come to telling you why I write about ghosts.
If you’ve
had a ghostly encounter, do write about it in the comments.
F. M. aka Marilyn
Meredith
Blurb for Violent Departures:
College student,
Veronica Randall, disappears from her car in her own driveway, everyone in the
Rocky Bluff P.D. is looking for her. Detective Milligan and family move into a
house that may be haunted. Officer Butler is assigned to train a new hire and
faces several major challenges.
F.M. Meredith, also known as Marilyn
Meredith , is the author of over thirty published novels.
Marilyn is a member of three chapters of Sisters in
Crime , Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the
Public Safety Writers of America. Besides having family members in law
enforcement, she lived in a town much like Rocky Bluff with many police
families as neighbors.
Contest:
Because it has been popular on my other blog tours, once
again I’m offering the chance for the person who comments on the most blog
posts during this tour to have a character named for him or her in the next
Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery.
Or if that doesn’t appeal, the person may choose one of the
earlier books in the series—either a print book or Kindle copy.
Links:
I tackled the topic of
reading reviews of my books at http://jlgreger.blogspot.com/ and you can read it
tomorrow.
Thank you so much, Lorna, for hosting me today. I love spending time with you.
ReplyDeleteI must be having a ghostly encounter doing this because this is the third time I've had to do it over. After our grandson died tragically in 2010, we've had "spiritual" encounters. While shopping one day, hubby's cell rang and it kept saying "Please listen. Please listen." He handed it to me, asking what it was doing. Distracted, I checked his Caller ID with intent to call whoever it was back later. It said Pete in red letters. An hour later, it hit me - IT SAID PETE! That's our deceased grandson. I called hubby's cell back with my own and, like I knew, caller ID only shows up in black on both our phones. A psychic friend told me cell phones are the easiest way for those who've transitioned to contact the living. Marilyn, I've been on the Queen Mary and never knew about the ghost tour. Your experience is very spooky.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jackie, so glad you shared. I love the Queen Mary and all of its ghosts.
DeleteAlthough I've had some odd things happen, I don't think there were ghosts involved. Someone should take a look at Virginia City, Nevada. They have quite a reputation for ghosts. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteMarja McGraw
Sounds like a field trip!
DeleteVirginia City is another place I visited once. Loved it, but didn't feel turned in to ghosts, probably because I was more interested in the history of the place. Good idea, though, Marja!
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ReplyDeleteHave to start by saying I'm enjoying reading Spirit Shapes right now. And the spookiest encounter I have experienced will be fictionalized in the novel I'm currently writing, so won't detail it here. Have been on ghost tours in Charleston, SC, and Savannah, GA, where my hair stood on end and I thought someone touched me when nobody was standing near me.
ReplyDeleteNancy, I'll be looking forward to reading that book. And I love using real people's names for characters.
DeletePS--don't count this as another comment because I'd feel bad if I won again, but I can't believe I forgot to mention how fun it was to open Spirit Shapes and see the character's name, Lorna Collins :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVED it! And I keep hoping she'll come back again sometime.
DeleteWe did the Ghost Tour of San Antonio a couple of years ago. One of the little kids on the tour with us got the distinct image of a woman on his photo--of an empty room. Quite a few people took photos, but his was the only one with this extra image on it. We also took the Ghost Tour in San Juan Capistrano. It's the weekend before Halloween, and actors portray the many ghosts which are said to haunt the town.We took tow little kids with us, and they loved it. So did we.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know they had a Ghost Tour of San Antonio, maybe one day I'll get back there.
Deletelived in an old house that I am pretty sure had a ghost. He would walk through the house at night and sometimes, during the day. You could here his footsteps and breathing, occasionally a sigh. And yes, I am pretty sure it was a "he". He would never come in to the room where I was but would come to the doorway and stop. He was banging around in the kitchen one night and woke us up. I told him to knock it off because I was tired and wanted to sleep. Ghost was quiet for the rest of the night but it freaked my husband out beyond words. After we moved out they couldn't keep the house rented, no one would stay longer than a month or two. About a year later it was torn down.
ReplyDeleteVery cool! (I'm a lot like you. The ghost could stay as long as 'he' respected my feelings.) The only ghost we ever had in our house was a cat. He'd prowl at night and walk across the foot of our bed. One day, the former owner showed up and asked if we'd seen a cat. After that, our friendly ghost disappeared.
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