Using Fires and Other Natural Disasters in My Mystereis

Because I've lived through a lot of these kinds of disasters, I've used different ones in my books.

Fires have been used the most. Everywhere I've lived in California, there have been big fires all through the years. Fires have played a big part in several of my books.

My favorite is probably Seldom Traveled where Tempe is trapped in forest fire with a fugitive from justice. I'm particular fond of the Native American touch in this one. My friend, Brent Gill, who has a lot of experience as a fire fighter helped me a lot on this one.

Early in the series, house fires become a major part of the mystery and the answer to a big question that has been in Tempe's life for years, in Judgment Fire. There is also a fire that is part of a murder in Kindred Spirits.

A brush fire heightens the suspense in the latest Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery, Bones in the Attic.

A devastating earthquake is a major factor in another Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery, Murder in the Worst Degree. 

This is probably my favorite book in this series, with the best opening sentence! What can go wrong in a tale about surfing, old guys hanging out in McDonald's, a mysterious romance, and a homeless woman? Plenty.

An earthquake starts out the mystery in Spirit Wind, the latest in the Tempe Crabtree series.

Torrential rain, a mud slide, and a rampaging river trap a murderer in the town of Bear Creek, in Raging Water.

No doubt there's more that I don't remember.

For you other authors, how about you? Any of  you use such natural disasters in your books? 

Marilyn