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 OUR BELIEFS ARE CHALLENGED

Today, my friend and fellow author, Janet Greger (J.L. Greger), will share with you some of the challenges of being a novelist. Sometimes our expectations for the characters or the plot don’t go as we plan. And sometimes our own expectations take an unexpected turn.  Lorna

 

In my latest novel Dirty Holy Water, I wanted to explore what happens when our basic beliefs are challenged. Specifically, what happens when we feel sorrier for villains than victims?

 Let me set the scene. Life is complicated for Sara Almquist. She's about to become engaged and leave for a vacation in India with her boyfriend when she becomes a suspect in the murder of a friend. Sara is used to being a trusted scientific consultant for the FBI and finds being a suspect unnerving, but not enough to prevent her from trying to help the police uncover evidence about the murder. The police and Sara quickly realize that the murder victim, Lurleen Jansen, was killed by a member of her own family. But which one and why?

 Read this excerpt from the first chapter and see if you can guess reasons why a family member killed Lurleen?

 Lurleen Jansen must have been a pretty woman once. Now Sara Almquist could see little attractive about Lurleen, except her expressive green eyes. Lurleen had called Monday and almost demanded that Sara drive her to El Santuario de Chimayó this week. Sara had hesitated but finally agreed to the field trip because Lurleen needed a friend.

 Although Sara had pushed the front passenger seat of her Subaru Forester back to the maximum, Lurleen looked like she was a piece of pimento stuffed in a green olive. Her face was red as she tried to close the clamp shut on the seat belt that strained around her green camouflage cargo pants and T-shirt. “Should have brought my seat belt extender along. Too much work to walk back inside for it.”

 Sara felt a twinge of guilt. She considered volunteering to get the seat belt extender but knew she wouldn’t. Lurleen had been her neighbor in the adults-only community of La Bendita until Lurleen and her husband Pete decided about five years ago that the two- and three-bedroom houses of the gated neighborhood were too small to meet their needs. It wasn’t jealousy that kept Sara from looking for the seat belt extender in Lurleen’s large house. Her reasons were simpler—she knew it would be difficult to locate something small, like a seat belt extender, among the stack of boxes and piles of junk in the house. She was also afraid what she might find. Lurleen didn’t waste time cleaning her house and only hired someone to clean it when a new infestation problem appeared. Some sort of pest, usually bigger than ants, appeared every year.

 Lurleen appeared to hold her breath and clicked the seat belt shut. “Pete’s being tight with me.” She smiled. “But I’ll get what I want.”

 Before Sara could make a catty comment, such as you must have asked for the moon this time, Lurleen changed the subject. “Thanks for agreeing to take me to Chimayó to get some holy dirt for Matt. He’s talking less these days.”

 Sara gave a soft sigh because Lurleen had reminded her why they were making this trip. Lurleen’s daughter Mitzi had become a foster parent for a one-year-old girl named Kayla almost twelve years ago. About that time, Kayla’s biological parents had another child, Matt. He was born addicted to cocaine and quickly displayed developmental delays. The New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department, better known as CYFD, had decided the two children must be kept together, and Mitzi had reluctantly agreed to become Matt’s foster care mother, too. When she was five, Kayla had been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. Eventually Mitzi had adopted both children. Lurleen had been supportive of Mitzi and her two adopted children during the long adoption process.

 Sara admired both women because it took guts to adopt special needs children. Although Sara doubted the holy dirt dispensed from a small pit at El Santuario de Chimayó had curative properties, she recognized faith was sometimes effective in helping patients. 

Buy Dirty Holy Water (paperback or ebook) at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0960028587   

 

The Kirkus Review for Dirty Holy Water is: "A thought-provoking, disturbing, and engaging mystery with a likable, strong-willed female lead."

The author incorporated her experiences in India into the novel

 

J.L. Greger is a biology professor and research administrator from the University of Wisconsin-Madison turned novelist. She has consulted on scientific issues worldwide and loves to travel. Thus, she likes to include both science and her travel experiences in her thriller/mystery novels in the Science Traveler series. Award-winning books in the series include: Murder: A Way to Lose Weight, The Flu Is Coming, Malignancy, Riddled with Clues, and A Pound of Flesh, Sorta. Learn more at: http://www.jlgreger.com

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/

WITH A LOT OF HELP FROM A FRIEND

My guest this week is my favorite mystery writer and good friend Marilyn Meredith. She has a brand-new book in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series called End of the Trail. She’ll tell you all about it.

My latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, End of the Trail, is now available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle. The friend who made it possible was none other than my host for today, Lorna Collins, who did the editing and publishing. A big thank you to her and her hubby, Larry, who designed the cover.

When I started writing this book, I had lots of ideas of how it should unfold. However, when the coronavirus struck, it became harder and harder for me to write. I had plenty of time but lacked motivation. Not because I was worried about getting the sickness, but because the venues where I had planned to promote this book and others started to cancel their events.

The best part of any writing conference, or other such gathering, is seeing old friends and making new ones. The first event canceled was writing conference put on by Writers of Kern. Bakersfield is an easy drive, they had some great speakers lined up, and I paid for a table to have my books on display. It was scheduled for March.

The second event to go was a conference put on by the Central Coast chapter of Sisters in Crime. Because I’d already made hotel reservations, they offered me the opportunity to be their guest speaker at their regular meeting which they planned to hold the same day. When their meeting place, a library, closed, that was the end of that.

I’ve already received notice a book fair I’ve attended regularly scheduled in October will not be happening this year.

I’m still hoping other upcoming events written in on my calendar will go ahead as planned.

So, I guess disappointment was my biggest hurdle to finishing End of the Trail. Encouragement came from Lorna as I sent her the manuscript, which certainly helped.

Now that it’s published and available in paperback and for Kindle, I will find other ways to promote it.

Here’s a short blurb:

Deputy Tempe Crabtree joins the search for a missing hiker which results in a murder investigation, a near death experience, an unexpected rescue, and an unhappy ghost.

An important P.S.: Lorna Collins, the ghost hunter, makes an appearance in The End of the Trail.

Marilyn Meredith is the author of over forty published books. She lives in a mountain community, much like Bear Creek, the one where Deputy Tempe Crabtree is the resident deputy. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys being with her family.

Guest Blogger - Marilyn Meredith

Today my dear friend and favorite mystery writer, Marilyn Meredith, is my guest. We met at EPICon in San Antonio, Texas in 2006 when our first book, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park was one of two nonfiction finalists. We arrived a day early. The gal who was supposed to be in charge of the book room had emergency surgery, so they asked for volunteers. This was where Larry and I met Marilyn and her husband, Hap. We hit it off right away and spent several hours getting to know them. We attended other EPICons in Portland, OR, Las Vegas, NV, and a couple of others in San Antonio in addition to the ones Marilyn mentions below. When our mutual publisher died, Larry and I re-edited an republished twelve of Marilyn's books--including a couple she had forgotten about (like her cookbook). When the publisher of her Deputy Tempe Crabtree series closed its doors this summer, we again re-edited and re-published all new editions. She now owns them all and will never lose her rights again. She and Hap are very dear friends, and I am pleased to have her here as my guest.

FRIENDSHIPS

Today is my 68^th wedding anniversary. If you find that hard to believe, so do I. My husband has not only been the love of my life, he’s also been my best friend. We’ve been through all sorts of problems and wonderful experiences. The secret to the longevity of our marriage? Never giving up.

Today, I want to expound on another friendship, the one I have with the hostess of this blog, Lorna Collins. I have no idea how long we’ve been friends but I have some great memories shared with her and her husband.

An early one was at an EPICon in Virginia Beach in the dead of winter. We were in a great resort hotel with no one there but the members of our group.

Many of our times together were spent at EPICons, and I remember two special ones in San Antonio Texas, as well as in Oklahoma and other places. We had a wonderful time in Monterey for a Left Coast Crime.

However, my favorite memory is when my husband and I traveled to visit Lorna and her husband, Larry, at their home in Dana Point. It was a most special time.

Lorna and her husband are the ones who rescued my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series when the publishing house closed its doors. Lorna re-edited each one and put them up on Amazon, and her husband redid the covers.  I can’t thank them enough.

One other big link between Lorna and me is the fact that we celebrate our birthdays on the same day. Over the years, we’ve discovered we share many traits. Often I’ve called her my daughter from a different mother. Not everyone is as fortunate as I am to have a friend like Lorna.

In my latest book, Bones in the Attic, which Lorna edited for me, there are many important friendships—those between the police officers who work together, and the ongoing friendship of two teens, who both have seen trauma in their lives.

I bet Lorna can remember other places we’ve been together.

Marilyn

The discovery of a skeleton, a welfare check on a senior citizen, and a wildfire challenge the Rocky Bluff P.D.

Buy link: https://tinyurl.com/yxpd8mxy

Marilyn Meredith, who writes the RBPD mystery series as F.M. Meredith, is the author of over 40 published books. She once lived in a small beach town much like Rocky Bluff, and has many relatives and friends in law enforcement.

Webpage: http://fictionforyou.com/

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.meredith

Twitter: https://twitter.com/marilynmeredith/

And she’s a regular on these blogs:

2^nd and 4^th Tuesday: https://makeminemystery.blogspot.com/

4^th Monday of the month: https://ladiesofmystery.com/

California Crime Writers Conference – Part 2

 Today, I am writing about the second day of the California Crime Writers Conference 2019.

Day two of the conference was jam packed with lots of learning opportunities. Larry and I chose different workshops for the first period.

I went to the presentation on Your Author Website. I was pleased to see that we were doing everything the presenter recommended, thanks to our fabulous webmaster, our son, Toshi. Several years ago, he offered to redesign it. Actually, he begged to do it. I must admit my former quick-and-dirty one was terribly old-fashioned looking. The new one is beautiful, and we love it. He promised he’d keep it updated, and he has. I can’t ever thank him enough!

Larry attended the presentation on Creating Audiobooks. Since we have most of ours on audio, he wanted to know what we should think about. He discovered ACX/Amazon dominate the field. It takes about six hours for each hour of completed narration. You can either pay up-front or share royalties. (We always do the latter.) However, if you are a major author with lots of sales, paying up-front makes sense. (The cost is $200-$400 and can go up to $1000, based on the length of the book and the reputation of the narrator.)

We both attended the panel on Cozies on the Edge: Meeting and Subverting Reader Expectations. This one was fun because each of the panelists writes books which differ from traditional cozies. Yet they meet some of the criteria: the incident (murder, etc.) happens offstage and they usually feature an amateur detective. Several friends were on this panel, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The next one was on A Winning Team: Author, Agent, and Editor. Since we don’t have an agent, and I do my own editing (not just for our books, but for others), it was interesting. The takeaway for me was getting an agent mostly depends on luck and timing. In the age of self-publishing, it is no longer necessary to have an agent unless you are aiming for a New York publisher, and those are fewer and fewer all the time.

The keynote speaker at lunch was Catroina McPherson. She spoke about writing with passion. I totally agree with her. Authors should never write anything unless they are emotionally committed. She is a witty and totally enjoyable speaker.

After lunch, we attended a panel on Marketing Without a Budget. This one was especially interesting since we are both cheap. We have done many of the things suggested. (A few actually sounded pretty expensive.)

The last panel of the day was How to Build a Long Career. My takeaway was: keep writing. I’ll never begin to catch up with A.J. Lewellyn with over 300 titles! But we now have twenty published between us. Neither of us writes quickly. We do research. And we both “craft” our writing, analyzing each word choice and sentence. This takes time, and it’s time we are willing to spend to produce books we can be proud of.

Tess Gerritsen gave the final presentation: How to Find Your What If. She talked about where she gets her ideas. Some come from current events. She keeps newspaper clippings she finds interesting. Later on, something else may happen, and she realizes the two things can be woven into a cohesive story. She has also written books based on her dreams. She is a terrific speaker as well as a wonderful author.

The last event was interviews of Tess and Catroina by the organizers of the conference. It was nice to learn a bit more about them and their backgrounds.

We thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and plan to attend the next one in two years. This is one we highly recommend for mystery writers.

California Crime Writers Conference

We spent the past two days at the California Crime Writers Conference.

This one is held every two years, and we always enjoy it. We have attended several in the past. Why do we attend? Because we always learn something, and we get to see old friends we don’t see anywhere else.

For each Panel/Workshop session, several options are offered. It’s a regular smorgasbord of choices.

Since we write historical fiction, we chose “Bringing the Past to Life” for the first one. All of the panelists write in different eras, so the discussion was most interesting. Someone suggested looking for old maps as a resource. We’d never really thought about it, although we saw some doing the research for The Memory Keeper, and the book itself contains one. 

We already knew a couple of the panelists, but we met Rosemary Lord. She writes about the history of Hollywood, and did some voice-overs for one of my favorite movies, The Holiday. We’re now Facebook friends.

The next panel I attended was called “Killer Dialogue.” Anne Cleeland moderated a great group of authors. I so enjoyed some of their suggestions of how to make dialogue authentic and interesting, including using humor.

At lunch, Tess Gerritsen delivered the keynote speech on writing with emotion. We had heard her in 2005 at the Maui Writers Conference and enjoyed her both then and now. She talked about finding the thing you felt compelled to write about, but making sure you included the character(s) emotions. Since I have a short attention span, I keep finding different things I want to write, and some of the others move to the back burner. I know I do my best writing when I am fully engaged in the subject. And when Larry and I write together, I'm the one who writes most of the emotional scenes.

The panel on “Hallmark Mysteries” was fascinating. They had a producer, writer, and show runner for the channel. No surprises here. Their stories are formulaic (a single woman amateur sleuth—played by an actress too old for the part). How do you get your story made into a Hallmark movie? It’s really all a matter of luck and who you know. Sorry about that. However, they also pointed out that with so many places now producing content (Hulu, Amazon, Lifetime, Netflix, etc) the chances of your book or series being selected are much better than they were in the past.

On Saturday afternoon, they lined up quite a few “experts.” We then played a form of “speed dating.” The attendees sat at tables, and the “experts” moved from table to table. We each got to hear three different people, and their assignments were random. The first at our table was Scott Williams, the executive producer for writing on NCIS. He shared some terrific stories.

Next, we got to chat with Valerie Woods, who is a writer on the Queen Sugar series. She was fascinating. She is clearly someone who loves writing.

Last, was Cindi Parent CFO of Tule Publishing, a relative newcomer to the world of publishing.

The last event of the day was another keynote from Catroina McPherson. She was a delight. Born in Scotland, she has a terrific sense of humor. She titled her talk “Deep in a Bowl of Porridge.” She spoke about clues and how and when to insert them.

And this was only on Saturday!

My next blog will be on Sunday of the conference.

Another Book Suggestion

Here’s another suggestion for Christmas gift books. Do you live in cold country? Want to take a virtual trip to Hawaii? Do you (or your friends) like mysteries? Do we have a great gift suggestion for you.

Our mysteries are set in Hawaii!

We wrote the first one after attending the old Maui Writers’ Conference in 2005 after the publication of our first book. 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park. We met a fellow who was working security for the conference. We only talked with him for about ten minutes, but when we walked away, I said to Larry, “We have to write that guy.”

The result was out first mystery, Murder…They Wrote, set at a writers’ conference in Hawaii. Whiskey Creek Press (now Start Publishing) published the book in 2010. (Our ebooks are now distributed through Simon & Schuster.)

“What if a retired NYPD officer is asked to investigate a mysterious death at the National Authors Conference where various attendees offer their theories and suspicions? Murder…They Wrote answers this question as Agapé Jones, retired NYPD detective, tries to determine the truth surrounding the death of Robert Dyer, noted poet and critic. Confusing and confounding him are Robert’s award-winning romance novelist ex-girlfriend, current young girlfriend, ex-wife, recently discovered illegitimate daughter, agent, an action/adventure author, famous psychic, long-time friend, and the mysterious countess. While Agapé enjoys getting a chance to exercise his old skills, his wife, Geraldine, isn’t pleased, even though she talked him into volunteering as head of security for the conference. Peopled by a cast of quirky and deliciously amusing characters, Murder…They Wrote will quickly engage the reader. It is filled with accusations, theories, twists, turns and surprises. The authors each have unique personalities and bring them to the creation of the fictional authors.”

Two years later, we published the second in the series, Murder in Paradise. This time, the action takes place both on Maui and on Oahu as Agapé becomes a special investigator.

“On an early morning paddle, Agapé Jones' outrigger team finds a body in the water off Maui, thrusting him into unexpected danger. Agapé Jones, retired NYPD detective, is asked to act as special investigator in the murder of famous surfer Philip Fowler, the son of Hawaii State Senator Thomas Fowler. The assignment takes Agapé to the North Shore of Oahu where he discovers that he’s investigating more than just a murder. The young man had no enemies, and Agapé is frustrated by little evidence and few possible suspects. Agapé enjoys exercising his old skills, but he misses his wife, Gerry. He encounters several people who become more than acquaintances, and in the end, discovers the truth. Murder in Paradise allows readers to discover the answers along with the detective while experiencing a virtual trip to the real Paradise that is Hawaii.”

This book was a 2012 EPIC eBook Award Finalist.

If you are stuck in the cold and want to escape to Paradise, try reading one of our mysteries. Or give them as gifts to friends who are tired of the cold weather.

Marilyn Meredith's Early Life

Today my dear friend, Marilyn Meredith returns as my guest. She is one of the most prolific writers I know, publishing two mysteries each year—one in each of her series. Although I’ve known her for quite a few years, I didn’t know much about her early life. So I asked her about it.

My Early Life

Lorna, who is a good friend as well as a fellow author, asked me the following questions about my early life.

Where did you grow up?

My first five years were spent in my grandparents’ second house in South Pasadena. It was at the end of the depression, and my father didn’t have a job for a while. When the economy got better and my father went to work for Paramount Studios as a plumber, my parents were able to buy a house in Eagle Rock (a suburb of Los Angeles). I lived there until I was eighteen, graduated from high school, and left by train to travel to Cambridge, MD to be marry the cutest sailor I met on a blind date.

How large was your family?

Mom, Dad, and my younger sister. When we moved to Eagle Rock, my grandparents on my mom’s side moved into the house in South Pasadena. My grandparents on my dad’s side lived in Highland Park as did my dad’s sister, husband, and her four boys. Her eldest son had cerebral palsy, though no one knew what it was at the time. My dad’s youngest brother and family lived one block away from us and another brother and his family were close by. My mom’s only sister and family weren’t far either. We had many family dinners, picnics and celebrations with everyone.

What were your interests?

I love to read. I’m sure that is no surprise. I would get ten books every week from the library and wished they’d let me have more. Of course, I also wrote my own stories and plays for the neighborhood kids to act in. During junior high, I put out a magazine I wrote and illustrated.

As for sports, the only thing I was really good at as a kid was swimming. I loved to swim in the ocean. (Something I can’t even imagine doing anymore.)

Did you travel as a kid?

I grew up during World War II, and there was gas rationing. My dad rode his bike to work at Paramount Studies (at least 10 miles away) to save gas ration stamps so we could go on vacation. The first vacations I remember were camping at Yosemite National Park. We made many trips to the beach, and later, when my dad built two boats, one outboard and inboard for water skiing, we spent many summer vacations camping at Bass Lake. And yes, I loved to water ski too.

Were you a good student?

Yes, in everything but math, though I managed to pass. I wasn’t too great in chemistry either—blew up a test tube once. I loved my English classes.

Did you go to college? Where?

Marilyn with her first child

Marilyn, Hap, Dana, Lisa & Mark

I didn’t go to college until my youngest child (of five) was in kindergarten. Started at Ventura College with one class, then two, and kept adding them. I was working at the same time, plus raising the kids who were still at home. I graduated with an AA degree in Early Childhood Education, and took other college classes at Oxnard College, and later at Porterville College.

Did any of these impact your writing? How?

Reading, of course, had the greatest impact on my writing. My love of the beach and the ocean is reflected in the setting for the Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series. Because of my cousin with cerebral palsy, I had a great interest in children and adults with developmental disabilities. I ended up working in many situations with persons with developmental disabilities and I’ve included them as characters in many of my books.

Thanks for asking these questions, Lorna, it was fun to answer them.

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith

A Crushing Death

A pile of rocks is found on a dead body beneath the condemned pier, a teacher is accused of molesting a student, the new police chief is threatened by someone she once arrested for attacking women, and Detective Milligan’s teenage daughter has a big problem.

F. M. Meredith (also known as Marilyn Meredith) is nearing the number of forty published books. Besides being an author, she is a wife, mother, grandma, and great-grandmother. Though the Rocky Bluff she writes about is fictional, she lived for over twenty years in a similar small beach town. Besides having many law enforcement officers in her family, she is counts many as friends. She teaches writing, loves to give presentations to writing and other groups, and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, and on the board of Public Safety Writers Association.

Website: http://fictionforyou.com

Blog: http://marilynmeredith.blogspot.com

Facebook: Marilyn Meredith

Twitter: @MarilynMeredith

Contest: Once again, the person who comments on the most blogs during this tour, can have a character named after them in the next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery. Tomorrow you can find me here:

http://www.lindathorne.com/blog/

Guest Interview with Marilyn Meredith

Today my guest is one of my favorite authors and good friends, Marilyn Meredith. Her latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Not as It Seems, is now available. I realized we have something in common, so I’ve asked Marilyn to address this common theme.

When we were talking about this visit to her blog, Lorna asked the following questions: “We wrote our historical novel, The Memory Keeper, from the POV of a Juaneño Indian. What is different in writing from the POV of Tempe, another Native American, from writing your non-Indian characters? How do you research the information on your local Indians? How does Tempe’s Indian background affect her worldview, and how she goes about her work?

Here are my answers:

At the beginning of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series, Tempe knows very little about her Indian heritage. The part owner of the local inn, also an Indian, takes it upon himself to educate her. In each book, she learns more and more about her heritage.

Her point-of-view isn’t much different from non-Indian characters. In fact, though the detectives she often works with think she should be the one to investigate crimes involving Indians, she is still an outsider to those living on the reservation.

I’ve met many of the local Indians, researched by going on the reservation, but as I often tell them, what I’ve done mostly is borrow from them rather than actually writing about a particular group of Indians who live on the res. Even the fictional reservation in my series, though it has many resemblances to the real reservation, has some differences.

This particular book is set in Morro Bay and the surrounding area and deals with two different Indian tribes, which I had to research—and was quite surprised by what I discovered.

Because of Tempe’s previous contacts with the dead and the spirit world, she has some unique and sometimes unsettling experiences while trying to locate a missing woman. I don’t think her Indian background has as much effect on her worldview as her supernatural encounters.

Not as It Seems Blurb:

Tempe and Hutch travel to Morro Bay for son Blair’s wedding, but when the maid-of-honor disappears, Tempe tries to find her. The search is complicated by ghosts and Native spirits.

Character Naming Contest:

Once again, I’ll name a character after the person who leaves a comment on the most blogs.

Tomorrow I’ll be stopping by John M. Wills blog http://jwillsbooks.com/blog-posts/and talking about the setting for Not as it Seems.

Bio:

Marilyn Meredith now lives in the foothills of the Southern Sierra, about 1000 feet lower than Tempe’s Bear Creek, but the area much resembles the fictional town and surroundings. She has nearly 40 books published, mostly mysteries. Besides writing, she loves to give presentations to writers’ groups. She’s on the board of the Public Safety Writers Association, and a member of Mystery Writers of America and three chapters of Sisters in Crime, including the Central Coast chapter.

A New Book by Marilyn Meredith

My guest today is my prolific friend, mystery writer Marilyn Meredith. She produces two books every year, one each for two different series. I don’t know how she does it. And they are all TERRIFIC!

After Writing So Many Books, Where Do I Get My Inspiration?

That is the question Lorna asked me to answer. What first popped into mind was this: I haven't got a clue.

Usually when I finish a book in my other series, I'm already thinking about what I might write about in the new one for the next series.

With River Spirits, I had no idea what I was going to write at first. I remembered once when a movie was being made in the mountains and the crew and stars were staying in and around town. The major stars were housed at the Springville Inn. When we had dinner at the local Mexican Inn, it wasn't hard to pick out the folks who were working on the movie—besides being strangers, they had on new clothes that they thought people wore in the mountains. Brand new outdoors outfits from places like Lands’ End and J. Crew, instead of normal clothes like all the rest of us wore.

That gave me the idea to write about a movie being made on the Bear Creek Indian Reservation. Once I started writing notes (my version of brainstorming) I knew that I wanted to revisit the legend of the Hairy Man, the local Indians' version of Big Foot.

Because I write mysteries, I began to figure out which of the new characters I should kill off and why. What could this person be guilty of that would be enough of a motive for someone to want him or her dead?

One idea just builds on another until a plot begins to develop.

Marilyn

Blurb for River Spirits:

While filming a movie on the Bear Creek Indian Reservation, the film crew trespasses on sacred ground, threats are made against the female stars, a missing woman is found by the Hairy Man, an actor is murdered and Deputy Tempe Crabtree has no idea who is guilty. Once again, the elusive and legendary Hairy Man plays an important role in this newest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery.

Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty-five published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest River Spirits from Mundania Press. 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. She lives in the foothills of the Sierra. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and her blog at http://marilymeredith.blogspot.com/

  

Contest: The winner will be the person who comments on the most blog posts during the tour.

He or she can either have a character in my next book named after them, or choose an earlier book in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series—either a paper book or e-book.

Tomorrow you can find me hanging out at Mason Canyon’s place, http://masoncanyon.blogspot.com/