Marilyn's Musings

Scarlett is one of my great-grands, and she's sitting on daughter, Lisa's lap. I'm guessing all the rest of you have been busy this last week as I have. Time sort of got away from me--and then Thanksgiving arrived. We drove all the way to Coarsegold, which is up in the foothills on the way to Yosemite, a two hour plus drive. But it was well worth going. First because of all the relatives we got to see, two grands, four great grands, in-laws, and good friends. The food was top notch since the cook, our host grandson's father-in-law, is a Master Chef, and he had help from his wife and daughter and others.  I love seeing the young ones, not so sure they feel the same way about me--see Scarlett's expression, but I got lots of hugs from all the others. On our way home in the dark--on the highway, we nearly ran into a wrecked car. No emergency vehicles had arrived on the scene yet--the truck in front of us who swerved out of the way alerted us to the problem. So thankful

WHY DID I DECIDE TO WRITE ABOUT INDIANS? This is an easy one to answer. Until I moved to Springville, I'd only met one Native American, a movie actor named Rod Redwing. He was a good friend of my dad's and I saw a lot of him when I was growing up and once more as an adult.  Once we moved from Oxnard to Springville, I learned we were neighbors with the Tule River Indian Reservation, and it wasn't long before I met a beautiful Indian woman, and saw more Indians at various places around town. I did some research about our neighbors and was hooked. Tempe Crabtree became a real person to me. I met other Indians at a Pow Wow and learned even more--reflected in the 2nd book in the series: Deadly Omen. Of course, I had to do a lot more research for other books, but do remember I'm writing fiction. A lot of imagination is mixed into every plot. I do hope you'll enjoy reading the series. To buy for .99 cents go to: https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Shapes-Tempe-Crabtree-Mysteries

The whole idea of offering a book for less than the regular price, of course, is to interest readers in other books in the series. Because I started writing this series in the mid-eighties, technology was not very evolved. Yes, there were computers, and clunky cell phones, but the lack of what we're used to now is quite evident in the earlier books. I believe Tempe has evolved and grown over the years, and to be honest, I've kept writing about her because I wanted to see what would happen in her life next. I hope as you read the series, you'll want to find out what happens to her next, too. To buy for .99 cents go to: https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Shapes-Tempe-Crabtree-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07RPBXHD1/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Spirit+Shapes+by+Marilyn+Meredith&qid=1635790586&s=books&sr=1-1 Blurb for  Spirit Shapes : Ghost hunters stumble upon a murdered teen in a haunted house. Deputy Tempe Crabtree's investigation pulls her into a whirlwind of restless

I love the cover, depicts a lot of the story.   Weather can play a big part in any mystery. At times it can be as important as a character. Fog is a major player in Spirit Shapes . Fog swirls around the deserted Wilkinson House adding to its haunted mystic Fog adds to the gloomy atmosphere. Fog cuts down on visibility making the reader and the characters not know and frear what it might be hiding. Fog gives everything a gray, colorless appearance. Fog makes the air damp. Fog causes the temperature to drop—as does the presence of ghosts and evil spirits. That gives you a taste of what one kind of weather can do and does in Spirit Shapes . To buy for .99 cents starting go to: https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Shapes-Tempe-Crabtree-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07RPBXHD1/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Spirit+Shapes+by+Marilyn+Meredith&qid=1635790586&s=books&sr=1-1 Blurb for  Spirit Shapes : Ghost hunters stumble upon a murdered teen in a haunted house. Deputy Tempe Cra

My love of horror movies has had a influence on my writing. When my children were little and my husband was overseas, if a horror movie was on television, everyone piled into my bed to watch, which meant between 3 to 5 kids joined me. Because the movies were scary, often the whole bunch spent the rest of the night with me. Back during that time period, the horror movies that were on TV were pretty campy by today’s standards—Frankenstein, Dracula, and other mad scientist tales. But once in a while there was a really good (meaning really scary) like the Spiral Staircase. That was far scarier than any monster movie. I’ve continued to enjoy watching scary movies, but I don’t like the slash and gash types that are more blood and gore than storytelling, or the ones about the group of young people stranded in a house, on an island, in a campground and are killed one by one. I loved "The Woman in White" and other such movies set back in some early time period with lots of fog and atm

Where in the World is Bear Creek?  (formerly on Ilene Schneider's blog) Bear Creek is where Deputy Tempe Crabtree lives and works. It’s located in Central California in the Southern Sierra. (Sierra means mountains and this refers to the southern end of the mountain range.)   Though Bear Creek is a fictional place it is very similar in many ways to Springville where I live. One big difference is I moved Bear Creek up in the mountains 1,000 feet. Why? I wanted better trees and more change in the seasons. I use weather a lot in my Tempe mysteries and I wanted more variety. Another similarity to my town is that it runs alongside a river and there’s only one main street that runs through it. Though some businesses are similar, they have different names because with the exception of a couple, businesses don’t seem to last long in Springville. Most people have never heard of Springville or Porterville, the closest city, that is changing now that the local Indian reservation now