Marilyn's Musings

Marilyn has asked me to describe the characters in my latest mainstream mystery, RAVEN TALKS BACK . I hope I don’t leave any out, they might come after me more than they do anyway, since I’m already starting book #2 in the Raven Morressey series.  Raven Morressey : 39 years old. Alaska Native, Athabascan tribe. If you want to know how she looks, think Sandra Bullock. Very beautiful woman, she straddles two cultures because she is Athabascan and her husband is Caucasian. Raven was educated in ‘the lower forty-eight’ as Alaskans put it. Dark hair, dark eyes, medium-dark skin, around size 10. Soft spoken, kind, very trusting but self-contained person. Red Morressey . Raven’s husband, same age as Raven. Tall, medium height and build, red hair, ruddy skin. Very complicated and secretive. Sometimes harsh, sometimes nice. You just never know from day to day which Red is going to show up. Raven’s children:     Timmy . Eight years old. Long black hair, slightly stocky ...

THE FOG Almost immediately after I retired early from my 23-year position in accounting and finance, I happened to receive an unexpected invitation to work on a six-week contract with a company in Valdez, Alaska, which is at the end of the Alaska Pipeline. I would be doing some of the same work I had done over a period of years while taking care of my former company's fixedsset system. I thought, what a wonderful opportunity to see Alaska, not to mention the salary they offered, which was more three times what I had been making here. Off I went on this great adventure, thinking maybe, just maybe,I might also find something I wanted to write about, but not really counting on it because I knew I'd be working five, six days a week in an office there. Not much time left over for finding inspiration for a seventh novel. Not in a small town like that, surely, with only a little over 4,500 inhabitants. On my first day there before I started working, I stood in the back yard watching f...

Doesn't seem like anyone with good sense would actually do that, but it happens all the time among the mystery community. Every time a mystery convention draws close appeals for roommates turn up on various lists, they usually say something like: Looking for female roommate, Non smoker--or male roommate,non smoker. What makes it so intriguing, is that among these potential female or male roommates are people who figure out ways to kill people. I know this, because these same folks turn up on the same or other lists asking questions like: What would be a good poison that would look like natural causes? Or what kind of medication put into a drink wouldn't taste bad and would knock a man out for at least two hours? What kind of gun could kill someone who was shooting from 50 yards away? Actually the questions posed are far more intricate than what I made up here. So, you ask for the roommate and hope he or she doesn't want to experiment on you, right? Actually, I've been o...

Bouchercon was absolutely wonderful! I met the most interesting people and visited with old friends. After my panel about Ethnic Detectives which I was on with Victoria Heckman, also my roommate, I did an Author Special with one person who was a good friend from the midwest, Boobye Johnson. Great catching up with her. Most of the other panels I attended were on Forensics of one sort or another. My favorite was a Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard who was a real "Guardian" rescue swimmer out of Fairbanks, AK. For some unknown reason, the person who was supposed to arrange my visit to the schools didn't do it. She also wanted me to drive a rental car which I didn't want to do. One day on the sidewalk, I met a woman who was attending the con. I told her my dilemma and she offered not only to drive me to the home where I was staying in Wasila, but also to the schools if I ever had one to go to. What a God send! After the closing ceremonies, Pat, my new friend drove m...

After trying to figure out what to pack for Alaska, I'm finally ready to go. We were told to bring layers--so that's what I've packed. I'll be there for 8 days, so I packed things I could wear a second time. Because I'm taking books too, my big suitcase is heavy. Since I'm going alone, I'm the one who will have to haul them around. Hubby doesn't like Alaska. He was there once during his Navy career. Hubby and I are driving to Fresno where we'll stay in a hotel close to the airport overnight. Otherwise we'd have to get up soon after we went to bed in order to get there in time. The plane leaves at 6 a.m. It leaves at 6 a.m. when I'm coming home too--no telling how I'll get to the airport on time then. I guess I'd better not cross that bridge until I come to it. My travel home is taking much longer than getting there. Not exactly sure why. There is an hour time difference between Alaska and California but I don't know which way. I...