Marilyn's Musings

What does it take to sit down and write a book? It took me a while to figure it out.
I hemmed and hawed for a long time. Started to write something, put it away. Took it back out. Then stopped and forgot about it. Started something new. Stopped writing again and didn’t touch it for years. Then finally, another idea flared, I started once more, but this time, I kept going.
I wish I could say what it was that finally triggered me to continue putting pen to paper or what kept my butt in the seat. Part of it was I had a story I loved. And the characters that emerged drove it forward. I remember I had a moment where I almost stopped. I could have chosen to put the story down. But I didn’t listen. I found the more I wrote, the more the story grew and developed, until I reached a point where I couldn’t stop. I had to write.
I didn’t think about whether it was good or not, if anyone would read it, or even like it. I didn’t worry about editing. I focused only on getting the story on the page, and…

Judgment Fire as the title suggests, has fire in it as do several other of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries. But for me, what I think the biggest attraction for this tale is that Tempe finally realizes why she was so reluctant to embrace her Native American background.

Chapter 1
            The massive rock barrier of the southern Sierra and its jagged snow-covered pinnacles never failed to inspire Tempe.   Normally, the  pine, aspen and cedar forest bordering the winding highway calmed and reassured her--until this afternoon.             A face popped into her mind.  Someone she hadn't seen or thought of for quite awhile, which added to the apprehension she couldn't shake. Deputy Tempe Crabtree attributed her uneasiness to the fact that her assigned beat, the tiny community of Bear Creek and the surrounding area, would soon be swollen with Memorial Day weekend tourists.  Fishermen, swimmers, and water skiers would swarm the banks of LakeDennison, and visitors in all sorts of …

I remember being on a panel in one of my first Bouchercons with authors Sharon Newman and Laurie King, and since we all wrote historical mysteries, the discussion naturally rolled over to “authenticity vs accuracy.” When you write historically, history is king. You never change the history to serve the plot, it’s always the other way around. If your plot doesn’t work with the history, then it’s back to the drawing board for that plot. It’s the contract the author has with the reader that the author will try to get the novel as historically accurate as they can. That’s why readers tune in to historicals. They like history with their mystery.
But what do we mean when we say “authenticity vs accuracy”? Well, for one my books are set in late fourteenth century London. And there isn’t a publisher in the world that would publish my books if I wrote them in the more accurate Middle English instead of modern English. Some accuracy must be sacrificed for readers to be able to, well…read it. S…

The following  reviews will probably tell you what you ought to know about Invisible Path.
Invisible Path is phenomenal! The series improves as time goes on. The last book, Dispel the Mist, included the Native American legend of the Hairy Man. He also helps to move the plot in this new installment along. This, and Tempe's continued confusing dreams, which Nick Two John (the innkeeper and Tempe's friend) doesn't really help Tempe decipher, give this mystery series a unique element.

What the author has always done well in both her series is showcase how a law enforcement career can impact family life. While for Tempe that usually means missing dinners or working on her day off, this makes her a character that readers can relate to.

I eagerly await the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery novel. –Cheryl Malandrinos, The Book Connection
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Marilyn Meredith brings readers another Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery with “Invisible Path”. Set in the approaching Christmas season, Cra…

When I was a kid, we celebrated usually with sparklers and other firecrackers that my dad managed.

One year, I was probably 10, I organized all the kids in the neighborhood and we decorated our bikes and wagons with red-white-and blue crepe paper and had our own 4th of July parade.

I don't remember us ever having 4th of July barbecues.

As an adult, married with children, and when we lived in Oxnard, I remember one big parade that the military and the scouts and Camp Fire Girls participated in.

To watch fireworks, hubby and the kids all climbed up a ladder and sat on the roof of our family room to see the display done at Hueneme Beach. They had a perfect view.

I climbed up the ladder, but couldn't bring myself to get on the roof. (Fear of heights, still suffer from that.)

After we had our residential care home, we'd load up our ladies and drive down to Porterville and find a good place to park and watch the fireworks. (We didn't go in the stadium because our gals could…

Seldom Traveled is one of my favorites in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. Here are the reasons why:

The mystery itself becomes complicated because of a fugitive on the loose and a surprise ending--one that was a surprise to me too.

I love the representation of the eagle on the cover and in the story.

Because the area I live in often has wild fires, a wild fire becomes very important to the plot--and I am fortunate that one of my critique group members has been a fire fighter, and still works as a truck drive on fire crews and he gave me lots of much needed information.

(After this book came out, we had a scary wildfire that came way too close to the little town I live in.)

As always, I love writing about Tempe and finding out more about her strengths and weaknesses.

If you haven't read it already, I do hope you'll try it in its newly edited form.

Available as a trade paperback and for Kindle.

Marilyn

https://www.amazon.com/Seldom-Traveled-Tempe-Crabtree-Mystery/dp/1594264333/…