Marilyn's Musings

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,...

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 w...

In Judgment Fire Tempe discovers why she hasn't embraced her Native American heritage. Though all of the Tempe Crabtree mysteries have some reference to Indian legends and rituals, from the beginning, Tempe hasn't known much about them, or even seemed to want to learn. Nick Two John has been the one person who has relentlessly given Tempe bits and pieces of knowledge about what it means to be an Indian, but she hasn't accepted it as much as one might expect. Now there are only two days left for this sale: http://mundania.com/book.php?title=Judgment%20Fire Marilyn

Today I gave a presentation at the Porterville Women's Club. I love talking about writing and my books. It's been a long while since I've talked to this group, but amazingly I recognized several of the faces and people recognized me too. I took the last three books in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series-- Calling the Dead, Kindred Spirits and Judgment Fire . I told them about the three women who inspired my main character, Tempe Crabtree : The resident deputy of Springville who I interviewed for a personality piece in the newspaper who told me about her job and how difficult it was to work with the male deputies; the Porterville P.D. office I rode along with one night and when there were no calls for about three hourse told me all about her life as a single mother and her hardships in a male-oriented profession; and the lovely Indian woman who grew up on the reservation and told me stories about her growing up years. I also gave them a thumb nail sketch of each book. In C...

If you've been wanting to buy a Mundania book, (the last three books in my Deputy Tempe Crabtree books are from Mundania: Kindred Spirits , Judgment Fire , and Calling Back the Dead , now is a great time to do so! Until January 1st, you can get 25% off your purchase of books through the Mundania store. At checkout, just include the coupon code SANTA and you get your discount! http://www.mundania.com Marilyn http://fictionforyou.com

The Fresno Newcomer's Book Club ordered a book for each of its members with an invitation for me to come to the meeting where they would discuss the book. The book in question was my latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Judgment Fire . The meeting was held in a beautiful home in a newer section of Fresno. The women, for the most part, weren't quite as old as I am, but came close. Several told me they loved the book. They had plenty of questions about the book and about me. I visited with them for nearly two hours and enjoyed every minute of it. Though I have another Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery about half done, right now I've been busy on a ghost writing project. Though I can't tell you much about it, what I can say is that the book is something I've never attempted before and has required quite a bit of research. I've ghost written other projects, a couple of autobiographys and a fantasy. What's interesting about ghost writing is it belongs to the person ...

How on earth could I possibly have a daughter who is old enough to retire? I don't have the answer to that question--what I do know is hubby and I traveled to Oxnard yesterday to attend daughter Dana's retirement celebration from her job as an administrative assistant of the Oxnard School District. The party was given by her boss and held in her boss' home--a gorgeous home beautifully decorated for Christmas. Besides about 50 of Dana's fellow employees, of course her husband attended, along with her daughter (my granddaughter, Genie) and her two kids (my great-grands--Peyton and Garrett), and my youngest daughter, Lori, and her hubby. The food was abundant and delicious. Everyone was friendly and spoke so highly of Dana--it really made me proud. One of the highlights of the evening was when Peyton who is four, donned her dance costume and performed her Irish dance. She did wonderfully. I met the current superintendent of schools and it certainly brought back lots of mem...

Nothing like having a reviewer burst your euphoria about having a new book out by letting you know about an error on one of the pages. Actually I appreciated her doing that. Ironically, I got the message on my Blackberry while I was in Tampa at the WOW conference. My editor was there too and I told him. What he's decided to do is correct the error and issue a second edition. By the way, the conference was terrific. I have copies of the "first edition" of Judgment Fire with the mistake and I am offering them to anyone who would like a copy for the $10 price and $2.50 for shipping along with a copy of the first book in the series, Deadly Omen , both autographed of course. Who knows, it may become a collector's copy. Anyway, if your interested, email me at mmeredith@ocsnet.net and tell me you'd like to order the book and I'll send you my address. Next week I'm leaving for Anchorage to attend Bouchercon. I'm staying over a few days to participate in the ...

Judgment Fire is now available. If you go to my website: http://fictionforyou and purchase through the Buy Now button you'll receive a 10% discount from the publisher. I've been hosting authors on my blog and I'm also on a Virtual Book Tour. Here's where I'll be in the next few days: August 14, 2007Boomer Chick www.overthehillchick.blogspot.com August 16, 2007Plug Your Book! www.plugyourbook.blogspot.com August 20, 2007 The Story Behind the Books www.thestorybehindthebooks.blogspot.com August 21, 2007 Virtual Book Tour de Net (featured author) www.virtualbooktourdenet.blogspot.com August 22, 2007 Virtual Book Tour de Net (interview) www.virtualbooktourdenet.blogspot.com August 23, 2007 Straight from the Author's Mouthv www.straightfromtheauthorsmouth.blogspot.com August 27, 2007 Storycraftersv www.storycrafters.blogspot.com August 28, 2007 Author Talksv www.authortalks.blogspot.com August 29, 2007 The Book Connection www.thebookconnectioinccm.blogspot.com Au...

The galleys arrived for Judgment Fire. I made the corrections and sent the pages back the fastest way possible. I'm on a panel about publishing at the San Joaquin chapter of Sisters in Crime on August 4th in Fresno--it'll be a miracle if I have books for that. I have been promised books by August 11th when my book launch is scheduled at the Springville Visitor's Center (my hometown). I'm publicizing it, so all I can do is pray. Speaking of praying, since Monday I've been one of the helpers at Vacation Bible School at our church. I've been herding around 6 12 year-olds, 3 boys --2 act like they are about 6, and 3 girls, one who acts or thinks she's does anyway, 18. We have lots of older teen helpers and the girls flirt with the males outrageously. My job is making sure they all behave as we go from Missions, Music, Recreation (wild and involves getting wet), Bible Study and Crafts. I'm not sure this is such a wonderful job for a 73 year old great-grandma...

Starting next Wednesday, I'll be hosting a couple of authors on their virtual book tours. The next one will be for Vicki Taylor. I do hope you'll stop by and learn about her and her books. I'll be having a virtual book tour myself in August to promote Judgment Fire , the next book in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. I'll post the schedule as soon as I have it. On Saturday, June 23 from 1 to 2:30, I'll be Ventura CA at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore with a few other authors to sign books--I'll be signing Calling the Dead . Anyone who is in the area, please come and see me. I've been really busy. Spent last weekend in Reno with the Public Safety Writers Association Board--and yes, we did work. I didn't put one nickle in a slot machine--it isn't my thing. Besides getting a lot done, we did laugh a lot. There's nothing like hanging out with a trio of retired cops and listening to their wild tales. To learn more about PSWA, visit http://www.policewr...