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.

REPUBLISHING ACHES AND PAINS

This week, my dear friend, Marilyn Meredith, writes about the republishing process. In the past several years, she has now republished almost all of her books as self-published.

It all began when my good friend, Lorna, urged me to self-publish the Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series. She and her husband had already done the same for my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series when the publisher closed its doors. Lorna and I both re-edited every book in the series, and her husband, Larry, redid the new covers for publication. And of course, Lorna did the actual job of putting the books on Amazon as trade paperback and for Kindle.

When the publisher of the RBPD series passed away, another publisher picked up the authors’ books, including mine. However, I had so many, the republishing process was slow. I’d already experienced the advantage of the Crabtree series being self-published because of my ability to actually see what books were being purchased, and if the promotion of a particular book worked.

As with the other series, the process began with Lorna editing each book and then my going over it, too. This was an eye-opener. These books had first been heard and critiqued by my writers’ group, re-edited by me, edited by the first publisher, then the second publisher, but Lorna discovered many mistakes, and then, I went through them, too. Not only did I find more mistakes like simple typos, but also character’s name changes, and a few discrepancies. Despite all that work, I’m sure we still missed some errors.

Larry redid all the covers, each one in a different color, with a wonderful RBPD badge on each one. An entire set of the books creates a wonderful rainbow.

The whole series is now available on Amazon.

This may sound easy, but it was a lot of work. At times, I wondered if it would be worth it—and I’ll bet there were moments when Lorna wished she hadn’t urged me to switch to self-publishing.

I must say, I wasn’t up to doing this myself. I’m at a stage in life where I have trouble learning how to do new things. None of this would have happened without Lorna’s and Larry’s expertise, and I’m forever grateful.

If you’d like to start at the beginning of the series, here’s the link to Final Respects:

https://tinyurl.com/y8ggfa4r

However, each book is written as a stand-alone. There are continuing characters, but the crime or crimes are solved by the end of the book.

One of my favorites is Murder in the Worst Degree.

https://tinyurl.com/yagpv3hq  The Kindle version of this book will be FREE from today, July 24, through the 28th. If you downloaded the old version, you may want to try this one. See if you can find any differences.

Marilyn writes the RBPD series as F. M. Meredith. She is the author of over forty published books. She lived for over twenty years in a beach town with many similarities to Rocky Bluff. She’s a member of two chapters of Sisters in Crime, Public Safety Writers Association and other writers’ groups.

Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com

Blog: https://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com/