Marilyn's Musings

There may be a real town somewhere called Bear Creek--and I'm sure there is--but the one I'm writing about though based on the town where I live, is not an actual place. My Bear Creek, the mountain community where Deputy Tempe Crabtree lives and works, is located in the Southern Sierra at about the altitude of 2000 feet. The town itself is on both side so the highway that leads into the mountains with the river it is named after running through. Though the town itself only has an Inn which years ago was a stage coach stop, it doesn't have much else in the way of eateries. There's the Cafe' which is the best place to get a great hamburger. Only one grocery store with a gas station is the only place to gas up and get supplies. Of course there's a post office, though not much has been said about it. One of the most important places is the fire station. There is a paid Fire Captain but everyone else is a volunteer. Volunteers are only paid when they actually...

I've touched on this subject before. What can you do when you have a series (or two) that are set in a small town so that it doesn't become like Cabot Cove? Those who watched Murder She Wrote joked about the fact that so many died that perhaps Jessica might be the killer. It didn't get much better when she traveled, no matter where she went someone died. In my Rocky Bluff P.D. series, even though the beach town is small it is on the California coast between two larger cities, Ventura and Santa Barbara. There is direct access to the town from the 101 freeway. This makes it much easier for bad guys to come in from somewhere else--though the town itself has it's share of not so wonderful inhabitants. Though I write about a police department and crime, my books border on being cozies as the focus is as much on the families of the police officers as it is on them. And as I said yesterday, I don't use bad words; I also shut the bedroom door. It's a different story...