Marilyn's Musings

Unresolved   has two murders, both are unusual. However, the second one is particularly unusual, and the idea was give to me by one of the members of our writers' group--a pediatrician, a great writer and a really sweet guy. This tale has two victims, the mayor who has many enemies, and a not so nice old woman. Whether or not the two crimes are connected you'll have to read the story to find out.  Many of the regular members of the Rocky Bluff P.D. have important parts in this story and a new bunch of interesting characters are introduced.  Members of PSWA will recognize the names of two of the characters--they won a contest to appear in the book--but believe me, neither one looks like or acts like the characters they loaned their names to. Don't let the title worry you, the murders are solved by the end of the book. Want to fin out more? The book is available for Kindle and in paper.  https://www.amazon.com/Unresolved-Rocky-Bluff-P-D-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B08C3VPP...

What  I've mostly been writing about in this blog series about the RBPD books is the research I had to do for each of the Rocky Bluff P.D. mysteries. For Murder in the Worst Degree  I didn't have to do much, I relied on memories and things happening around me. First, though, you might be interested in the fact that the title was given to me by a friend. I liked it, but wasn't sure how I was going to tie it into the plot until I was nearly finished writing the book. I do think this book has the best first line of any book I've written. You'll have to read it to find out what it is. A group of men who meet every day at McDonald's came from the group of men who gather at one of our local McD's. Hubby and I used to go there for breakfast and we saw these fellows a lot, and most of them were veterans.  An earthquake plays a big part in Murder in the Worst Degree , I've experienced several, but I did do some research into the damage a big one might cause in a ...

The title refers to either having to deliver or receiving bad news--and there is plenty in this mystery. Warning: Bad Tidings  is darker than most of the others in the series, and more gruesome. Much of what happens came from real life--of course, with names and circumstances changed. The main character in this one is a police detective with a hound-dog face. We had a good friend whose wife always described her husband in those terms. Some of what really happened to his wife is also part of this story. The murder of the police officer's wife is based on a similar murder, though the officer who was the first suspect, had a good alibi, he was at a poker game with other police officers. (I know because I was present when the husband received the phone call about his wife.) There is another murder and I think that one was probably triggered by a newspaper article but changed a lot. Of course I drew a lot on my life at the time I was living in the beach...

Over the next few days I'll be giving a few tidbits about what we all heard at the Public Safety Writers Association's conference. Our first presentation was by Editor (and president of PSWA), Marilyn Olsen and Billie Johnson of Oak Tree Press about publishing and your options. Both agreed that you should provide as many details as possible about what you'll do to sell your book. You should match your goals to your expectations. With the big publishing houses, there is top down distribution that won't happen with a small press. Big presses will submit books for review in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal--and the review will happen. Small presses must work to get reviews. The author must be tremendously involed in the marketing. If you're self-pubbed, you do all the work. Those who do it successfully must be admired  Self-published books must look like they were done by a publishing company. Billie Johnson told about all the the things that must ...

I'm working on a new Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery. No title as yet, but besides the murder, here are the things I want to do. The RBPD is still under staffed, will that be a factor in what's going wrong in town? Learn more about Barbara Stickland's pregnancy. Things are not going to go smoothly. Though Felix and Wendy Zachary's baby girl, Ruby, is perfect, not all is perfect. A new hire, a female, is paired with Gordon Butler. Does it mean he'll have a new love interests? Vaughn Aragon is back though on limited duty. Stacey Milligan will play an important part in an investigation apart from the murder--or is it? Instead of talking about it, I need to get down to writing. Marilyn

Come to the shore, but don't expect to relax - not if the town is Rocky Bluff, California! F.M. Meredith takes us into the inner workings of the Rocky Bluff Police Department and the lives of its officers and their  families in her upcoming release, "Angel Lost." And Rocky Bluff has its share of issues. Take Officer Stacey Wilbur. She's a single mom, raising a young son. If that wasn't enough of a challenge, she's also a one-cop vice squad and a new challenge has come her way. There's a serial flasher stalking the beach and she goes undercover to catch him. Oh, yes, she's also trying to plan her wedding at the same time. Talk about multitasking! Then there's Doug Milligan, Stacy's fiancé and superior on the force. He's not thrilled about her undercover assignment, but understands that it goes with the job. He just wants a chance to spend some time with her, but that seems to be hard to come by. There are other members of the force an...